Syracuse Basketball: Elijah Hughes shows NBA potential in dominant win vs GT

Syracuse basketball dominates Georgia Tech from pillar to post thanks to Elijah Hughes. Here are all the details and what it means moving forward.

Syracuse basketball got exactly what the doctor ordered with a 97 to 63 thumping over the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets. Here are all the highlights, top takeaways, and some interesting statistical milestones.

First half

Elijah Hughes opened up the game with four straight triple tries to give Syracuse basketball instant offense. Over the last handful of games, Syracuse has struggled to get going offensively, that was not the case on the road.

Although Elijah wasn’t the only one making threes, he finally got some help from Buddy Boeheim who hit his first long-range attempt. The offense continued to roll with Syracuse stealing the early 19-7 edge.

Syracuse started 7-of-11 from the field, 5-of-7 from beyond the arc in the first five minutes of the game.

Georgia Tech runs a 1-3-1 zone and a matchup style zone that gave Syracuse little issues to start the game. That forced Georgia Tech head coach Josh Pastner to switch to some man-on-man concepts to try to get a spark defensively.

Heading into this game the Yellow Jackets brought in an overall inferior offensive attack, but stellar defense. So Syracuse getting off to a quick offensive start (26-9 edge in the first nine minutes of the game) was a perfect script to force Georgia Tech to get desperate to try and climb back into it.

Head coach Jim Boeheim doesn’t like to experiment with lineup changes in the middle of a game, but with Buddy Boeheim getting in some early foul trouble we got a unique look at a lineup change:

• Joe Girard at point guard.
• Elijah Hughes at shooting guard.
• Quincy Guerrier at forward.
• Marek Dolezaj at forward.
• Bourama Sidibe at center.

With all the potential you really have to love this lineup on paper and it has a ton of potential moving forward. Hughes can handle the ball and he’s Syracuse’s best player so playing guard makes a ton of sense.

It took a while for this lineup to find pay dirt, Syracuse suffered through a four-plus minute drought without a field goal with this lineup on the floor.

Howard Washington the veteran guard proved to be an interchangeable piece in this “death lineup” when JG3 needs a blow.

First-half takeaways:

• Syracuse defense held strong:
  • The ACC’s leading scorer Michael Devoe came into this game averaging 23.8 points per game, but the Orange held him to just a single point in the first stanza.
  • The Orange also forced 10 turnovers.
• Elijah Hughes having a career day is an understatement. Hughes career-best was a 28 point scoring effort, he finished the HALF with: 26 points.
• The nation’s leading shot-blocker (4.7 per game) James Banks III was held in check and got in foul trouble (3) which was a huge plus for Syracuse.

Second half

Just when you thought there’s no way Syracuse can sustain that level of offense, Buddy Boeheim took the torch from Elijah and starts making it rain.

With the Orange lead continuing to expand we got a great look at the rest of the roster. Robert Braswell got some run (mostly due to more foul trouble from the forward grouping of Quincy, Dolezaj, and Sidibe) but it was still nice to see.

Syracuse needed a win like this in the worst of ways and they snapped a three-game losing streak in the process. Now the Orange can savor this monumental win for a few days before they turn their attention to the next foe.

Final takeaways:

• Elijah Hughes becomes the sixth player in the last decade to score 30 or more points in a true road game (33 points) joining Tyus Battle (vs Boston College, vs Duke, and vs Florida State), John Gillon (vs NC State), and James Southerland (vs Arkansas).
• Buddy Boeheim also jumped in with a career day of his own. Buddy finished with a career-high 26 points (with 20 of those coming in the second half).
• Syracuse gets to .500 in conference (1-1). The Orange will play the final 18 games in the ACC starting in January.
• Howard Washington finishes with a career-high in assists. The only Syracuse player who struggled early was Joe Girard III which opened up opportunities for Howard and he deserves more run.

Up next for the Orange they continue their road trip but back in non-conference play vs Georgetown. Syracuse will enjoy a week off before facing off against the Hoyas at 1:00 p.m. on the road.