Men's Basketball Associated Press

Boopie Miller Scores 25 and No. 11 Seed SMU Beats 14th-seeded Syracuse 86-69 in the ACC Tournament

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Boopie Miller scored 25 points to lead five starters in double figures, while Jaden Toombs and Samet Yigitoglu each had a double-double as No. 11 seed SMU beat 14th-seeded Syracuse 86-69 on Tuesday in the opening round of the 2026 T. Rowe Price ACC Men’s Basketball Tournament. 

SMU (20-12), which had lost four ACC games in a row, advanced to play 24th-ranked and sixth-seeded Louisville on Wednesday at 2:30 p.m. ET in the second round. 

Toombs had a double-double in the first half with 14 points and 10 rebounds, and Miller added 11 points to help SMU hold a 39-38 lead at the break. Nate Kingz paced Syracuse with 17 points. 

SMU pulled away midway through the second half when Jaron Pierre Jr. made three straight 3-pointers during a 13-0 run that ended in a 69-48 lead with 8:41 remaining. Pierre’s fifth 3-pointer of the second half made it 79-66. 

Pierre finished with 21 points for SMU. Toombs had 16 points, 11 rebounds and six assists; Yigitoglu had 12 points and 11 boards, and Corey Washington also scored 12. The Mustang reserves only attempted two shots. 

Kingz led Syracuse (15-17) with 25 points and Tyler Betsey added 15. The Orange shot 9-of-34 from distance (26%). 

Of Note 

  • SMU notched its second ACC Men’s Basketball Tournament victory, after also defeating the Orange in 2025.  

  • The Mustangs improve to 2-1 all-time in the ACC Men’s Basketball Tournament with an identical record in Charlotte. The Orange fall to 2-3 all-time in tournament games in Charlotte and 6-11 all-time in the ACC Men’s Basketball Tournament. 

  • Five SMU players scored in double figures, marking the 88th time in ACC Men’s Basketball Tournament history in which a team has had five double-figure scorers.  

  • The Mustangs got a pair of double-doubles from Samet Yigitoglu and Jaden Toombs. Toombs led the duo with 16 points, while each player snagged 11 rebounds.  

  • SMU did not record a single point off the bench on Tuesday, marking the first time in the ACC Men’s Basketball that a team did not tally a bench point since March 14, 2024, when both Duke and Wake Forest did so on the same day.  

  • The Mustangs made 11 3-pointers in the win, led by five apiece from Boopie Miller and Jaron Pierre Jr. 

  • Miller and Syracuse’s Nate Kingz shared the game-high in scoring with 25 points each.  

  • Syracuse’s Naithan George dished out 11 assists for the Orange – the most in a tournament loss since Virginia’s Reece Beekman in 2024.