The absence of Frank Howard, Jalen Carey and Howard Washington early this season wiped out all of the Syracuse Orange‘s point guard depth. Or so we thought. It could’ve derailed their season, instead it yielded a blessing when Jim Boeheim realized the value of Tyus Battle... at point guard.
While Howard and Battle swapped bringing the ball up last year, this season Battle assumed point guard responsibilities for four Howard-less games. Boeheim utilized the Battle-led sets against Duke, then again during Saturday’s win over Pittsburgh to the point that Syracuse didn’t play backup point guard Jalen Carey.