NCAA Basketball: 10 best players from state of New Jersey of last decade

5. Tyus Battle – Syracuse

A 6’6 guard from Edison, Battle had himself an impressive high school career and was ranked among the top 40 prospects in the class of 2016. He arrived on campus at Syracuse, joining an Orange program that had recently made a surprise run to the Final Four. While the program didn’t quite have that same level of success in his three seasons, he was still a very important figure and full-time starter for Jim Boeheim.

Battle averaged at least 11 points per game in each of his three seasons, including an impressive mark of 19.2 points a game as a sophomore. That same season he helped lead the Orange to the Elite Eight, playing every minute of all four games and dropping 19 points in the loss to Duke. He had a career-high 37 points in a double-overtime loss to Florida State and emerged as the next in a long line of successful Syracuse guards.

He was twice honored as All-ACC, including Second Team honors for that impressive sophomore season. He rated well on offense and unsurprisingly led the entire country in minutes per game in that busy season. A solid all-around player, he left school after that third season, but was not drafted, instead continuing his career overseas after a brief stint in the G-League.