Inside the peaks and valleys of Elijah Hughes’s game for Syracuse

In the first half against North Carolina on Tuesday, there was no Syracuse Orange player more important than Elijah Hughes.

The redshirt sophomore scored 15 points on five three-pointers while pacing an offense that came out blistering despite some foul trouble and its typically methodical pace. The second half was the other side of that coin, where he didn’t hit a shot and failed to score any more points. That led to Tyus Battle filing a familiar role as lone offensive talent and source of scoring.

After the game, the Daily Orange dove into this a bit more, talking to Hughes, teammates and Jim Boeheim about the streaky nature of it all. That’s not a bad thing, necessarily, and even Boeheim mentions as much. He just has more room to grow certain aspects of his game which will help him round into a more consistent (and versatile) shooter.

More on that, plus the rest of your Syracuse-related links, below:

Streaky shooting, limited repertoire have defined Elijah Hughes’ ‘great season’ (Daily Orange)

“He’s got to be able to go by people, put the ball on the floor,” Boeheim said. “People are going to push up on him. He’s a good shooter. “You have to look and understand he didn’t play last year,” Boeheim continued. “His freshman year, he was hurt a lot. He didn’t really play a lot on a bad team that really doesn’t even help you that much.”

NBA Draft college coaches poll: The sleeper upperclassmen prospects (The Athletic)

Tyus Battle. First Coach: “He’s really talented. He can go get his own. I feel like he has an NBA game. We had no answer for him. He is one of the best guards we’ve played. He can shoot it, go 1-2 dribble pull up. Burst, athleticism, I don’t know that he has that at a high level. But he can go get buckets with the ball in his hands. They have no scheme offensively, really.”

Improved versatility has benefited Syracuse (Daily Orange)

Along with Strautmane, Syracuse’s most versatile player may be Engstler, who said “it’s more fun” to be able to handle the roles of multiple positions. The 6-foot-1 freshman plays power forward and usually checks into games for Strautmane, a starting forward. Despite her position, Engstler frequently handles the ball, a key to setting up Syracuse’s 3-point shooters on the perimeter.

Justin Lustig promoted to assistant head coach (Cuse.com)

Lustig earned the promotion after working as Syracuse’s special teams coordinator and running backs coach in 2017, and serving as the program’s special teams coordinator and outside receivers coach last season. Lustig will continue to oversee both special teams and the Orange’s outside receivers in his new role.

Syracuse targets in the 2020 top 247 (CuseNation)

Syracuse football loves their 2019 class. They feel they’ve done a great job bringing in talent and depth since Dino Babers’ arrival after the 2015 season. That has helped the roster reshape, leading to the resurgent 10-3 2018 campaign. The task now is to take that success, continue it on the field while taking recruiting to an even higher level. That is the Orange’s goal for the 2020 class.

Why isn’t freshman Jalen Carey playing more? (Syracuse.com)

No. 12 Syracuse’s tempo, spacing dictate shot quality (Daily Orange)

Pointing to the Passer: How UNC carved up the Syracuse zone (Tar Heel Blog)

Sophie Dandola transferred from Hofstra and became Syracuse’s top pitcher (Daily Orange)

Zion Williamson deserves a storybook ending (The Ringer)