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Syracuse Orange freshman Tyus Battle was limited in Saturday’s loss to Pittsburgh due to illness, Jim Boeheim confirmed after the game.
News broke on Twitter that Battle had posted cold medicine on his Snapchat story on Friday night, leaving many to believe he’s been battling sickness all week.
Boeheim told Matt Park after the 80-75 loss that Battle had been under the weather since the Clemson game.
In his comments to us, Coach Boeheim confirmed what we discussed - Tyus Battle has been under the weather since the Clemson trip.
— Matt Park (@MattPark1) February 11, 2017
And during his postgame press conference, Boeheim addressed it again.
Boeheim: Tyus Battle has been sick. I wanted to give him a go. He didn't have it today. Frank did a good job in there today.
— chris carlson (@ccarlsononSU) February 11, 2017
Battle played just five second-half minutes and went 0-for-2 from the field. He played 11 minutes in the first half, where he scored three points and grabbed two rebounds.
On Tuesday, with Battle presumably beginning to feel under the weather, the freshman hit a game-winning 3-pointer at the buzzer to defeat the Tigers, 82-81.
Boeheim on Battle: He just got sick this week. Didn't he make a shot this week at the end of the game?
— chris carlson (@ccarlsononSU) February 11, 2017
While rebounding was a significant part of the loss on Saturday, it’s hard not to equate Battle’s illness to some of it too. Improved guard play has been key for the Orange during its recent resurgence. Battle’s been a huge portion of that improvement.
Syracuse (16-10, 8-5) returns home to host No. 4 Louisville on Monday at 7 p.m. on ESPN.