Syracuse Basketball: Elijah Hughes proves he’s the straw that stirs the drink

Syracuse basketball star Elijah Hughes proved why he’s the straw that stirs the drink. Here are all the highlights from the team’s win over Daemen.

Syracuse basketball got the win vs Daemen, which isn’t a shocker, but we got our first look at the new 2019-20 version of the Orange. Here is how it played out and all the highlights.

First half

Despite running some man-to-man concepts during the foreign trip in Italy, Jim Boeheim opened up the game with some 2-3 zone. Alas, Orange fans, perhaps we’ll see it run full time at some point in the future, but not now.

Also, Syracuse rolled out the same starting lineup that we’ve seen throughout the offseason: Jalen Carey at point guard, Buddy Boeheim at the two, Elijah Hughes and Quincy Guerrier at forward, and finally a healthy Bourama Sidibe at center.

Jim Boeheim spoke at the ACC Media Day and said that his team would be a better three-point shooting team. His words paid immediate dividends vs Daemen on Saturday evening.

Elijah Hughes hitting threes is no surprise, he hit a lot of them last season. But Robert Braswell stroking it from long range was a pleasant surprise.

Braswell really came on strong at the end of the year and was labeled a raw prospect coming in, but he showed why he can be a cog in this offense on Saturday.

At the half, Syracuse led 47-28 thanks to a variety of contributors making their presence felt.

First half takeaways:

• Elijah Hughes led all scorers with nine points at the break. This shouldn’t surprise anyone, because he’s the straw that stirs the drink for the Orange in 2019-20.
• Syracuse is going to make it rain 3’s this season:
  • As a team they shot 56.7 percent overall and 47.1 percent from deep in the first-half:
    • Hughes was 2-of-4.
    • Joe Girard III was 2-of-3.
    • Braswell was 2-of-2.
    • Jalen Carey was 1-of-1.
    • Brycen Goodine was 1-of-3.
• Also, the ball movement was crispy. It felt organic and didn’t seem stagnant like the last several years. The Orange assisted on 12 of its 17 field goals, per Donna Ditota of Syracuse.com.
  • Last season the Orange were 13th out of 15 ACC squads in assists last season, what a difference a year makes with some fresh new pieces.

Second half

The cool thing about the first half is who didn’t score. Sure the Orange made it rain and that was impressive, but they did it without Buddy Boeheim one of their better long-range shooters. Don’t worry he found the bottom of the basket in the second half.

It’s hard to make any substantial claims after an exhibition game, but this team is deep, can provide teams a lot of different looks, and has shooters all over the yard.

Also, this is a team that is full of willing passers and they’re actually running plays. There’s no more stagnant isolation where one guy plays hero ball and everyone else watches.

Although some things just haven’t changed, at least yet. Jalen Carey got some run at the beginning of last season when the team was experiencing some injury issues at the guard spot, but he wasn’t able to hold on to that role because of some sloppy turnovers and loose handles.

He had a couple of moments that made Jim Boeheim, upset, to say the least. With so many options at the guard spot this year, he’ll have to be more consistent if he wants to maintain a role on this team.

Since we’re mentioning some of the negatives, getting to this actual game, the Orange defense didn’t play great in the second half allowing the Daemen Wildcats to shoot a high percentage and convert baskets. Syracuse ended up winning this one 90 to 71.

While the result was never in doubt, this is the time for the Orange to make mistakes and learn quickly from them. With four new starters, there’s going to be some growing pains.

Up next for the Orange is one more exhibition preseason game vs Carleton on Tuesday night with tipoff set for 8:00 p.m.