ATLANTA — It looked like Elijah Hughes was shooting around by himself — just him, the ball and the hoop.

The shots came from all around the arc and seemingly all fell into the net. Four 3-pointers on four attempts. Then a floating contested layup and, with the ball dangling at full length behind him, a flying dunk from the baseline. 

He doesn’t remember what he was thinking during it. He said it was like being unconscious, like mindlessly throwing rocks in an ocean. 

“You don’t miss the ocean right?” Hughes said. “You can’t miss it. So that’s how I kind of felt like that stretch is.”

Hughes finished the game with a career-high 33 points, but his 26 in the first half, only two less than Georgia Tech (4-3, 1-1 Atlantic Coast) scored as a team, sparked Syracuse’s offense in a 97-63 romping on Saturday at the McCamish Pavilion. Hughes shot 10-of-15 from the field including six made 3-pointers and a perfect 7-for-7 from the charity stripe. For Hughes, who’d scored above 22 points once this season, Saturday displayed the takeover mentality this Syracuse (5-4, 1-1) will need from him at times this season. 

“It started the game and it just changed the whole dynamic,” Georgia Tech head coach Josh Pastner said. “And they were the aggressor, they came out swinging and that got them the lead and we didn’t have enough firepower to come back from that.” 

The first two Hughes 3-pointers seemed normal. Syracuse’s leading scorer was open so he fired from beyond the arc as usual. The third make was different. Standing several feet further than necessary, he launched a 3-pointer from a place no defender can cover. It was the type of outside shot Stephen Curry hits when everything’s flowing right. 

That’s the kind of half Hughes was having and after his next basket, the fourth made 3-pointer, he showed his first sign of acknowledgment, waving his arm up atop his head in celebration. 

“I saw the first two or three go in and I just feel good after that,” Hughes said.  “You know I really felt like every shot I shot was going to go in.”

Syracuse head coach Jim Boeheim said the Orange have seen this from Hughes in practice before but not a game this season. Hughes scored a career-high 28 points against Oklahoma State but then hit only three shots from the field in each of Syracuse’s next two games. 

Boeheim credited part of Syracuse’s success on Saturday to Georgia Tech’s defense being less aggressive than the man-defense schemes Syracuse had played recently. That, combined with a flooding of Georgia Tech’s zone, left Hughes open for jumpers. Hughes’ early success forced the Yellow Jackets out of the zone for a portion of the game. 

Still, with men guarding him, Hughes dominated. He often beat his defender off the first dribble or two and then had his pick of how to score. Sometimes it was a simple pull-up, other times he faded as he released or floated a layup off the backboard. As was the case all day, more often than not, his shot sank through the mesh. 

“He was scoring at will,” said Buddy Boeheim, who finished with 26 points. “And you know when that happens, it’s easier for everyone.”

Hughes grabbed five boards, dished out four assists and even delivered a vicious shot block on a Georgia Tech player charging down the lane. After scoring 26 points in the first half, he converted just seven points in the game’s second frame. It didn’t matter. His play opened up the offense for others. 

Several times in the second half Hughes fed Buddy for a basket. As players swarmed to Hughes, Marek Dolzeaj was open for easy baskets down low. With Hughes dominating the game, it changed how Georgia Tech could defend the Orange offense as a whole. 

Syracuse won’t need a 33-point performance from Hughes every night. It certainly can’t expect it. But Hughes’ game in Atlanta provided the spark Syracuse hoped its star player could since the beginning of the season.

“It’s sort of a ripple effect,” Hughes said. “When you see one guy do good we all want to do good, and that’s beautiful to watch.”

Published on December 7, 2019 at 5:00 pm

Contact Josh: jlschafe@syr.edu | @Schafer_44