Syracuse basketball star Elijah Hughes named first-team All-ACC after a record-breaking season. Here are all the details and what it all means.
Despite getting snubbed by the Julius Erving finalist group, Elijah Hughes was named a member of the first-team All-ACC after a terrific individual season for the Syracuse basketball squad.
Hughes led the conference in scoring during the regular season with a healthy average of 18.8 points per game, a full 0.8 points per game more than the next closest guy Jordan Nwora of Louisville.
The rest of the All-ACC first-team featured Vernon Carey Jr of Duke, the aforementioned Nwora of Louisville, John Mooney of Notre Dame, and finally Tre Jones of the Blue Devils.
Elijah has joined an elite group of former Orange alum who have achieved this status: Michael Gbinije (2015-16), Rakeem Christmas (2014-15), and CJ Fair (2013-14).
The entire squad was voted on by a 75-person selection panel that featured the entire ACC’s coaching ranks and 60 select members of the media, per the Syracuse press release.
In addition to being named on the first-team All-ACC squad, Elijah Hughes also received seven votes in the ACC Player of the Year conversation. That was the fourth most of any player behind Mooney (11), Nwora (17), and Tre Jones (34) who walked away with the hardware.
This should make Syracuse fans feel a little bit better, but it doesn’t completely wash away the horrible taste left in our mouths from the disappointing overtime loss to Miami 69 to 65.
Up next for the Orange is its final opportunity to control its destiny in the ACC Tournament. Syracuse has the sixth seed in the conference tourney and will play the winner of the North Carolina vs Virginia Tech matchup on Tuesday.
Syracuse has a first-round bye but will play the winner of the Tar Heels vs the Hokies at 9:00 p.m. on Wednesday night in Greensboro.