Tyus Battle was surrounded by reporters after Syracuse’s slim victory against Cornell last Saturday. Seated in the middle of Syracuse’s locker room minutes after dropping 26 points on the Big Red, Battle was distracted by a television on the wall. But when a reporter asked a few questions about his shot, Battle perked up.

Battle lifted his right wrist up toward his chest and started flicking. First, he pantomimed a motion almost directly forward, a line-drive shot. That’s what he said his shot used to look like. Changing his jumper had consumed last summer as he looked to become more NBA-ready.

Then, he raised his right elbow, creating an arm angle slightly greater than 90 degrees to increase his arc. With it raised, his follow-through pointed upward, toward the TV mounted on the wall.

“I’m trying to get my elbow up,” Battle said. “Completely up. And now it’s a better opportunity for the ball to go in the basket.”

After leading Syracuse (6-2) in scoring a year ago, Battle’s shots didn’t fall in SU’s season-opener. Despite the small sample, the questions began, and they haven’t stopped since. But work with NBA trainer Drew Hanlen during the summer — and the hundreds of shots that followed each week — proved the struggles were an anomaly. Battle has quickly turned it around and leads the Orange in scoring (17.0 points per game), again, despite scoring a season-low two points on Tuesday. He’s done it by making perimeter shots consistently.

“It was fine,” Battle said Dec. 1. “It was always fine. I was just missing shots, we played like two games and I didn’t make shots. It happens, slumps happen. I’m making them, so it’s all good now.”

A season ago, Battle shot 39.9 percent from the floor and 32.2 percent from three. He put his name into the NBA Draft discussion, and attended a pre-draft workout with the Los Angeles Clippers. While in L.A., he got in touch with Hanlen, who’s trained young NBA stars like Joel Embiid and Jayson Tatum, among others. Battle and Hanlen worked out the first time the night before the prospective draftee’s workout with the Clippers.

Hanlen, an NBA skills coach and consultant, hoped to “iron out” some of the hitches in Battle’s jump shot, so they worked out for a few hours that night. And they worked well together, Hanlen wrote in an email. They continued their partnership throughout the summer. Their goal: create a “smooth, free-flowing shot,” Hanlen wrote. By the end of the summer, Hanlen wrote that Battle’s shot-release time dropped from a second to half a second.

“He has some of the tightest handles I’ve seen in a college player,” Hanlen wrote, “so we really locked in on shooting mechanics.”

But it didn’t show up in game one: Battle shot 3 for 10 against Eastern Washington on Nov. 6. That was followed by three more games below 50 percent from the floor, including only one 3-pointer in SU’s first four games.

Then, Battle broke out. He made 8-of-10 shots against Colgate on Nov. 21, including all three of his 3s. Afterward, Boeheim said he hoped “nobody ever changes his shot again.”

Battle didn’t feel like he’d done anything differently, he said. He rewatched six games worth of his tape before facing Colgate and noticed he wasn’t ready to shoot on the catch. But Battle’s shooting mechanics didn’t change. Many of his early-season attempts came after some dribbling or late in the shot clock. But now, when a swing pass comes, he often catches on his way down from a hop step, already preparing to shoot.

That day, and against Ohio State and Cornell, the shots went in. But Battle struggled against Northeastern on Tuesday, going 1 for 7. In response, Boeheim summed it up simply, saying “It happens.”

With the return of Frank Howard as the primary ball-handler, Battle shot 64.8 percent, including 8 for 11 from 3-point range, in their first three games together this season. The junior thinks he’s benefited from better looks this season, and that’s allowed him to take advantage of the major mechanical shift he feels this summer gave him: a higher arc.

In the season’s first few games, Battle seemed intent on driving to the basket, shooting runners off one leg and hoping for fouls. Now, he’s locked back into his pull-up jumper that was so effective a season ago. The 6-foot-6 junior rises up so high on his shot that he’s at no risk of getting blocked.

Now, in a groove, Battle doesn’t hesitate. His left foot lands first, then his right a little ahead. All that’s left to do from that point, with the threat of an explosive first step keeping the defender off of him, is to rise up and knock it down.

“When you see the ball go in, it makes things a lot easier,” Battle said. “Especially when you’re looking to score the ball.”

He’d put the work in. Battle spent time watching film of his own shot, along with watching tape of his idol Kobe Bryant’s jumper. Battle worked out with professionals like Embiid and Tatum, but also took shots under his father, Gary’s, supervision even as the Dome floor was being converted to a football field after SU’s season opener.

Most importantly, based on Battle’s continued self-message this season, he just shot. He shot before practice. He shot after practice. He shot between classes.

After the shots finally fell against Colgate, Battle wasn’t surprised. He “knew they were gonna start falling,” he said afterward. He’d put in too much work for them not to.

Published on December 6, 2018 at 12:40 am

Contact Billy: wmheyen@syr.edu | @Wheyen3