Boeheim's Army Coasts in TBT Opener, 99-83

Boeheim’s Army got off to a slow start, but more than made up for it, reversing an early 13-2 deficit by dominating the next 21 minutes of play and claiming a 99-83 win over Team Gibson in Monday night’s first round of the Syracuse regional in The Basketball Tournament. The Army fought back to tie the game in the waning seconds of the first quarter, then outscored Team Gibson over the middle two quarters, 57-31.

After that slow start, Boeheim’s Army spent the next 24 minutes of game time torching the nets. The squad made 31-of-47 shots from the floor in that span, good for just under 66 percent of their attempts. Team Gibson outscored the Army after that, 20-9, but the hole was too large to climb out of and Dwight Buycks, Jr. brought the Elam Ending to a close with a lay-up for the game-clinching points.

Grant Riller and Andrew White III led six Boeheim’s Army players who scored at least eight points, tallying 20 points apiece. White was red hot, making 8-of-9 shots, including 4-of-5 from deep. Buycks added 15 points while Rakeem Christmas had 11 for the Army. Ja’Quayr James topped all scorers with 28 points for Team Gibson, pouring in 23 in the second half. Four of his teammates added between ten and 12 points on the night.

Boeheim’s Army will take on The Nerd Team in second round play on Wednesday, aiming to get a measure of revenge against the team that eliminated them last summer. The Nerd Team defeated the Army in the second round in 2022, 81-74, on the strength of making 16 three-pointers at over a 55 percent clip. Wednesday’s rematch will start at 8:00pm Eastern and will be streamed on ESPN+.

There is not a whole lot to analyze about this one. Boeheim’s Army shot 22-of-35 (62.9 percent) from the field in the middle two quarters while Team Gibson made one-third of their shots at 12-of-36. That shooting differential allowed the Army to post second quarter runs of 12-0 and 9-0 and a 12-2 burst in the third.

The comfortable margin allowed for balanced playing time across the Army’s roster as 11 players were credited with between ten and 22 minutes of play. The Elam Ending does not allow for exact accounting due to the game clock being turned off, but the roster should be fresh for their matchup with The Nerd Team on Wednesday.

One of the few teams in The Basketball Tournament with lots of size on their roster, Boeheim’s Army made that pay off in their opening game. The team had a 60-36 advantage in points in the paint while shooting 61.1 percent on two-point field goals. Team Gibson could muster just a 44.9 percent mark inside the arc.

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