In the first half of his team’s dominating win over Florida State in the 2022 ACC Tournament’s second round on Wednesday afternoon, Syracuse basketball senior shooting guard Buddy Boeheim punched a Seminoles player.
Boeheim has issued an apology via Twitter about the incident, in which he punched Florida State senior redshirt guard Wyatt Wilkes. In his statement, Boeheim said he apologized to Wilkes several times in the handshake line after the No. 9 seed Orange crushed the No. 8 seed FSU, 96-57.
“(Wilkes) said not to worry about it, but I know it was wrong,” Boeheim said in his statement. “I pride myself in respecting the game and our opponent. I will not react that way again.”
Statement from Buddy Boeheim pic.twitter.com/1SvERy9GW7
— Syracuse Men’s Basketball (@Cuse_MBB) March 9, 2022
‘Cuse head coach Jim Boeheim, in his post-game press conference following his squad’s triumph, called Buddy Boeheim’s punch “inadvertent,” adding that the Florida State player pushed Buddy Boeheim a couple of times.
Mike Waters of Syracuse.com tweeted, “I’m also told that ACC officials are still reviewing the play and the situation.” Some ESPN college basketball analysts, though, have also weighed in on this incident.
I'm also told that ACC officials are still reviewing the play and the situation.
— Mike Waters (@MikeWatersSYR) March 9, 2022
Syracuse basketball senior guard Buddy Boeheim punched an FSU player.
In a video clip posted to the ESPN Web site, analyst LaPhonso Ellis said that he believed the punch thrown by Buddy Boeheim was, in fact, intentional.
Ellis said that Boeheim has put himself in a position to potentially be suspended. Ellis added that this incident is not in Boeheim’s character, saying that Buddy is one of the nicest young men you’ll come across. I agree with Ellis on this last statement.
Fellow ESPN analyst Seth Greenberg, a former head coach of Virginia Tech, said in the clip on ESPN’s Web site that he “suspects” the ACC will “do something significant” regarding Boeheim’s punch.
In a separate tweet from Waters, he said that he briefly spoke with ESPN analyst Jay Bilas about the incident. Bilas, who was part of the broadcast team for the Orange’s conquest of Florida State, “doesn’t think the conference should suspend Buddy Boeheim,” according to Waters’ tweet.
I spoke with ESPN's Jay Bilas briefly here at the ACC tournament and he doesn't think the conference should suspend Buddy Boeheim.
— Mike Waters (@MikeWatersSYR) March 9, 2022
We’ll obviously continue to monitor this situation. Boeheim, who led the Atlantic Coast Conference in scoring during the 2021-22 regular season, finished with 14 points against the Seminoles.
The ‘Cuse (16-16, 9-11) is scheduled to face No. 1 seed Duke in the ACC Tournament’s quarterfinal round on Thursday.