Men's Basketball

Syracuse forward Elijah Hughes enters NBA Draft

Max Freund | Staff Photographer

After one season at East Carolina, Hughes transferred to Syracuse — where he became the main option after two additional years.

Syracuse redshirt junior forward Elijah Hughes will enter the NBA Draft process, he announced on Instagram and Twitter Saturday evening. The first All-Atlantic Coast Conference selection at SU in four years led the league with 19.0 points per game, adding 5.0 rebounds and 3.4 assists.



Hughes transferred to the Orange in 2017 after completing his freshman year at East Carolina. He spent a season on the bench due to NCAA transfer rules, then as the understudy to Tyus Battle and Oshae Brissett’s combined stardom for the Orange. This season was Hughes’ first as the main option and he thrived. He tallied a season-high 33 points on Dec. 7 against Georgia Tech and surpassed the 20-point mark in 15 of SU’s 32 games.

Hughes is projected as the No. 38 pick in the draft per NBADraft.net. Due to the outbreak of the novel coronavirus, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported NBA pre-draft events are not guaranteed. Additionally, CBS Sports’ Jon Rothstein reported Saturday that many teams are preparing to move forward without the process and will instead communicate digitally with potential draft picks.

Hughes, who was snubbed from major awards prior to being named to the ACC’s first team, will likely not have a chance to make an impression in-person.

“If you watch, you know. If you don’t watch, you don’t know,” head coach Jim Boeheim said of Hughes after he scored 25 points against Pittsburgh on Feb. 26.

He joins Jalen Carey, Brycen Goodine and Howard Washington as members of SU’s 2019-20 group that have left the team. Hughes has not made any announcement as to whether or not he will sign with an agent.

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