Syracuse Basketball: Chris McCullough making up for lost time for SU fans

The close-out jumper by former Syracuse basketball player Chris McCullough that propelled Boeheim’s Army past Team Heartfire, 68-62, and into The Basketball Tournament’s Sweet 16 on Monday was an 18-footer, but it came all the way from the Philippines.

After all, McCullough, the Bronx, N.Y., native who teased the Carrier Dome’s Jim Boeheim Court for an abbreviated time in 2014-15 before injury, had a stretch of success in the Philippines Basketball Association (PBA) in 2019 that would bring lasting confidence to anyone.

When you average 32 points and 16 rebounds a game over a 16-game run upon joining a 2-7 San Miguel Beermen team and lead them to the PBA Commissioner’s Cup title as McCullough did, you can rise up to take a winning shot without hesitation.

It was great for us Syracuse basketball fans to see that TBT-winning moment authored by McCullough, because we were robbed of the chance to enjoy him much in an Orange uniform. A big-time recruit, McCullough started for 16 games, averaging 9 points and 7 boards for head coach Jim Boeheim before a torn ACL ended his college career.

“I always loved Syracuse, I love Coach Boeheim, I always wanted to play in the 2-3 zone, play in the Carrier Dome with 30,000 fans watching,” McCullough told CitrusTV last year.

Former Syracuse basketball player Chris McCullough is faring well so far for Boeheim’s Army.

McCullough was drafted by the NBA’s Brooklyn Nets in the first round of the 2015 draft on potential, played a couple of years for the Nets before moving to the Washington Wizards for a year, then signed with Detroit before being waived in 2018.

That’s when the Philippines came calling.

The PBA Commissioner’s Cup lets teams have one “import” (foreign) player, with a height limit of 6-10. McCullough, who is 6-9, was the Beermen’s late replacement import player for the 2019 Cup.

He joined the Beermen (a great nickname worth repeating, by the way) with a bang. In his first game, he scored 47 points including six 3-pointers and had 10 rebounds. He kept it up, piling on the stats and putting his team in position to qualify for the finals, where he closed out the championship with 35 points, 19 rebounds and 4 assists in a deciding Game 6.

“I enjoyed the Philippines, I love the weather, I love the country,” McCullough told CitrusTV. The Asian island country revived his career. And now he’s back stateside livening up Orange hoops fans’ summer.

McCullough’s time cutting down the nets at the PBA Commissioner’s Cup actually was the reason he couldn’t play on the 2019 Boeheim’s Army squad because the events overlapped.

But he’s with the Army now. He had 9 points Monday including his Elam Ending closer, and will undoubtedly be key if Boeheim’s Army is going to win its first TBT title in its seventh try and bring home the $1 million winner-take-all prize.

McCullough would earn $80,000 as his winner’s share. But first, the next game to earn a trip to the final 8 in Ohio is Wednesday night back in Peoria, IL.

On a personal side note, the “PBA Commissioner’s Cup” owns a place in my heart, because I have held the job title of “PBA Commissioner” since 2011. Of course, my “PBA” is actually the Professional BOWLERS Association.

On another personal side note, when I first started as the Professional Bowling Association Commissioner, I noticed that the most international hits on our pba.com web page were by far from the Philippines. Naturally, I at first assumed it was because bowling is huge in the Philippines. Bowling actually is pretty big there, but I soon realized the real reason for the Philippines action on our site was from Philippine Basketball Association fans typing in pba.com to find out info. Sorry guys, we bowlers got the domain name first.