Dennis Nett | dnett@syracuse.com
Syracuse, N.Y. -- Elijah Hughes sat out the 2017-18 season after transferring to Syracuse from East Carolina.
In his one year at East Carolina, Hughes overcame an injury early in the season and wound up playing in 25 games. He started seven of those.
A native of Beacon, N.Y., Hughes spent one year at South Kent (Conn.) Prep before heading off to ECU.
Hughes, a 6-foot-6, 215-pound sophomore, is capable of playing both the shooting guard and small forward positions. He has three years' of eligibility remaining.
2016-17 statistics
In his one year at East Carolina, Hughes averaged 7.8 points and 2.3 rebounds per game.
Hughes' jump shot is considered to be one of his main assets, but he struggled with his shot as a freshman. He made just 34.9 percent of his field-goal attempts and he went 24-for-88 (27.3 percent) from 3-point range.
Stephen D. Cannerelli | scanerelli@syracuse.com
Elijah Hughes compares to -- Preston Shumpert
Hughes' freshman year numbers at ECU are very simillar to the ones put up by former Syracuse great Preston Shumpert in his first year at SU.
Shumpert averaged 5.4 points and 2.4 rebounds in the 1998-99 season. Those are close to Hughes' 7.8 points and 2.3 rebounds.
But it's the shooting numbers that are even more similar.
Hughes went 58-for-166 from the field (34.5 percent). Shumpert made 59 out of his 148 attempts (39.9 percent).
From the 3-point line, Hughes was 24-for-88 (27.3 percent). Shumpert, who is considered one of the best 3-point shooters in Syracuse history, made 27 out of 93 shots from beyond the arc as a freshman (29.0 percent).
The Associated Press
Best game from 2016-17 season
Hughes had several good games in his one year at East Carolina.
He scored 19 points in a home victory over South Florida. He netted 18 points in a regular-season game against Cincinnati.
In the American Athletic Conference Tournament, Hughes led ECU to a win over Temple with 17 points on 5-of-7 shooting.
But given the quality of the opponent and the fact that it was in the AAC Tournament, Hughes' best game might have been his last in an ECU uniform.
Hughes scored 15 points on 5-for-10 shooting in a loss to SMU in the second round of the AAC Tournament. Hughes hit two of his four 3-point attempts. He also had two rebounds, an assist and a steal in just 24 minutes.
Worst game from 2016-17 season
Hughes' worst game was also against SMU.
In a regular-season loss to the Mustangs, Hughes scored just four points in 27 minutes of action. He missed all seven of his field-goal attempts, including four 3-pointers. He scored all of his points at the foul line where he went 4-for-6.
He had no assists and no steals. He managed two rebounds and a turnover.
Which makes his postseason performance against SMU all the more impressive.
Scott Schild | sschild@syracuse.com
Strengths
Since his transfer, a lot of the talk surrounding Hughes has been about his outside shooting ability.
And yes, he can shoot. At least he did at South Kent before struggling some at ECU.
But Hughes is a versatile athlete. He can play shooting guard or small forward.
Look at his jumping ability in the photo. That's him blocking Howard Washington's shot during last year's Orange Madness event.
The SU assistants also talk about Hughes' creativity and his willingness to find an open teammate.
Weaknesses
It's hard to know much about Hughes' game since was off the radar as a role-playing freshman on a bad ECU team two years ago and then sat out last season.
Although he's considered a good shooter, there is some concern over his 27.3 3-point percentage.
But when compared to Shumpert's 29 percent shooting as a freshman or Demetris Nichols' 23.6 percent in his freshman year, the concern over Hughes is minimal. Shooters generally make a higher percentage of their shots when they get more time on the court.
Scott Schild | sschild@syracuse.com
Summer workouts
Although he is expected to spend most of his time at small forward this season, Hughes works out with the team's guard group in practices.
This is similar to how SU coach Jim Boeheim handled Malachi Richardson and Andrew White in recent years.
Here is what SU assistant Gerry McNamara had to say about Hughes' offseason goals:
"With E, it was about really taking this summer to focus. Now it's time. He's working toward being on the court as opposed to working and having to wait a year. He has the speed and the strength. I still think he's got another level to go as far as where his body is at. The big thing was refining the efficiency of his jump shot. If we can do that, we feel like we have one heck of a complete offensive player.''
Next season: The floor
It's difficult to know what to expect from Hughes this season following his redshirt year last season.
While there is a lot of anticipation over what he might be able to add to the SU offense, there is also the reality that he's joining a team with all five starters returning off a team that went to the Sweet 16.
So it's possible that Hughes doesn't have a huge impact immediately.
What if he's merely the fourth-leading scorer behind Tyus Battle, Oshae Brissett and Frank Howard? What if he fills the Sixth Man role?
The floor might be numbers that are similar to Hughes' 7.8 points per game as a freshman at East Carolina. What the SU coaches would hope for in that event is that Hughes' shooting numbers were closer to 40 percent overall and 35 percent from the 3-point line.
AP Photo
Next season: The ceiling
Yes, we all heard what Boeheim said about Hughes on Jon Rothstein's podcast.
"He is as good of an offensive player at the guard spot as anybody we've had in recent years,'' Boeheim said.
With that kind of praise, we're looking at a cathedral ceiling with some skylights thrown in.
But let's go back to the comparison with Shumpert. Hughes' freshman year stats were similar to Shumpert's.
As a sophomore, Shumpert was still on a team that relied on veterans like Etan Thomas, Ryan Blackwell and Jason Hart. Shumpert's scoring went up to 10.3 points per game and his shooting percentage soared to 47.2 overall and 42.9 on 3-pointers.
If Hughes were to match those numbers, Syracuse's offense will be much improved over last year.
More player forecasts
- Tyus Battle
- Paschal Chukwu
- Frank Howard
- Bourama Sidibe
- Oshae Brissett
- Howard Washington
- Marek Dolezaj
- Freshmen Jalen Carey, Buddy Boeheim, Robert Braswell
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