From walk-on to big spot, Bayer comes through

DETROIT — Braedon Bayer was surprised over winter break when Syracuse basketball coach Jim Boeheim told him he had been put on scholarship.

After spending t wo years at Division III Grinnell College in Iowa, the Lagrangeville, N.Y., native transferred to Syracuse and walked on to the basketball team, sitting out all of last season. When he was awarded the scholarship, he figured he had peaked.

“I thought that was going to be the end-all, be-all,” Bayer said.

The redshirt junior guard had played just 11 minutes across eight games during Syracuse’s 35-game season entering Sunday. And then came the unthinkable.

Starting guard Frank Howard picked up his fourth and fifth fouls within seconds of each other. Boeheim pointed at Bayer on the bench and in he went, tasked with playing the final 6:39 of an NCAA Tournament game in which t he 1 1 t h- s eeded Orange trailed No. 3 Michigan State by four.

Bayer didn’t just hit the court, he made plays as Syracuse pulled off a 55-53 stunner at Little Caesars Arena.

“When I’m going out there, I’m not even realizing this is the biggest stage of college basketball,” Bayer said. “But my number was called and I wasn’t going to be a deer in the headlights out there.”

Instead he was a thorn in the Spartans’ side.

With Syracuse holding on to a 50-49 lead in the final two minutes, Michigan State star Miles Bridges went to the rim for the goahead bucket. Except Bayer, 3 inches shorter, came in from behind to block it.

“Everyone knows who that guy is,” Bayer said. “He probably thought I was nothing and he could just go lay it up, but I had to make a play.”

And then it was 52-49 with less than 10 seconds left when Josh Langford went up for a put-back at the rim. Only Bayer didn’t let him get there, hidden in the underbelly of the Orange’s defense as he blocked it and forced a jump ball in Syracuse’s favor.

“In pickup in the summer, he’s one of the toughest dudes to play against because he plays so hard,” Howard said.

And on Sunday, he got to show it to the rest of the country. “He will scrap. He’ll fight for everything,” Boeheim said. “I like having him in the game.”