Syracuse forward Elijah Hughes will remain in the NBA Draft and not return to school for his final year of eligibility, according to a report by ESPN’s Jeff Goodman.

Hughes first announced he would enter the NBA Draft process on March 21, with a tweet thanking Syracuse. He thanked Syracuse again on Monday night by quote-tweeting Goodman’ report. 

 

Hughes completed his redshirt junior year as the Atlantic Coast Conference’s leading scorer in 2019-20, where he averaged 19 points per game and 4.9 rebounds. He was also named to the All-ACC first team.

Hughes began his collegiate career at East Carolina before transferring to Syracuse and sitting out a season. Since then, he’s been a mainstay in the SU starting lineup and blossomed from primarily a 3-point shooter in 2018-19 into one of the nation’s top all-around scorers last season. 

ESPN currently ranks Hughes No. 46 on its list of remaining eligible players for the 2020 NBA Draft, while other mock drafts have him in the early-to-mid second round. 

While Hughes’ 19 points per game will be difficult to replace, the Orange do return four of their five other starters for 2020-21 — guards Joseph Girard III and Buddy Boeheim along with forwards Marek Dolezaj and Bourama Sidibe. Syracuse has filled 11 of its 13 scholarships.

Published on April 20, 2020 at 9:00 pm

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