Boeheim’s Army did it again. Cardiac ‘Cuse is alive and well in Dayton, Ohio. Tyrese Rice sealed the victory for BHA by turning defense into offense.
Rice‚Äôs steal + layup gave Boeheim’s Army the 66 points it needed to reach the Elam Ending. Rice was sensational, contributing a tournament-high 24 points in the win, along with 7 assists and 4 rebounds.
In two days, BHA has won two games that it seemed like they really had no business winning. Like yesterday, at one point in this game, BHA was down by double digits, but they didn’t care. They never quit. The boys in Orange brought it all the way back and hung around until the very end. When the Elam ending was set with just under 4 minutes left in the 4th quarter, BHA was down 5, that’s when Tyrese Rice locked in. A few clutch shots followed by clutch defense gave Boeheim’s Army the win in this one.
Tyrese Rice was obviously the big story today, but let’s focus on another guy that they couldn’t win this game without. Chris McCullough was extraordinary in today’s win and has played that way for three straight games now. Today the former SU big had 18, alongside 7 rebounds. He even drilled one from behind the arc while it seemed his teammates were unable to. 
McCullough has been the answer for this team when in an offensive drought, which is part of the reason they’ve been this successful.
Both today‚Äôs game and yesterday‚Äôs featured some really lacking offense. Today, however, was a lot worse. Outside of Rice and McCullough, Boeheim’s Army had a hard time finding the basket. Not a single other player had more than 6 points. The team shot a horrendous 6-20 (20.7%) from distance and similarly unimpressive 27-68 (39.7%) from the floor.¬†
The only other bright light for this team was C.J. Fair. The former SU forward made all three of his shot attempts for 6 points, as well as grabbing 8 boards and dishing two assists. Fair is a great guy to have on the floor, so good in fact the argument could be made he should be receiving more than 18 minutes. Especially when those minutes are being eaten by DeAndre Kane, who was 2-11 today, or D.J. Kennedy who was 1-5.
Regardless, Boeheim’s Army is going to The Basketball Tournament championship game. There, they’ll most likely need more offense than they had today.
Boeheim’s Army moves on to the Final Four with this victory. We’ll have you covered for that one on Twitter @OrangeFizz and right here, on our website.
