Syracuse freshman forward Chris McCullough of The Bronx will make his return to New York beginning tonight when No. 23 Syracuse plays in the 2K Classic at Madison Square Garden.
The 6-foot-10 McCullough is averaging 14.5 points and 7.5 rebounds for the Orange (2-0), who meet Cal (2-0) in the second game of tonight’s doubleheader. Iowa takes on No. 10 Texas in the first game, with the winners set to meet in Friday’s championship.
“It’s like a homecoming,” McCullough told the New York Post, who told the paper he expects to have 40 family and friends at tonight’s game. “It’s going to be exciting, my first time playing here.”
A South Bronx native, McCullough attended three prep schools before finishing up at IMG Academy last year. He initially chose Syracuse over St. John’s, Florida, Kansas and others in November 2012.
McCullough went for 16 points and 11 rebounds in Syracuse’s opener, a win over Kennesaw State. He then added 13 points and three blocks in Sunday’s win over Howard.
“I thought he was a pretty good player coming out of high school and we thought he would be able to come in and play right away,” Orange coach Jim Boeheim told the Post. “He knows how to play. He’s long, he can shoot the ball. He’s a good passer, he’s a good rebounder.”
All told, six Top 25 teams will be in New York between Thursday-Tuesday at the 2K Classic, the Coaches vs. Cancer Classic at Barclays Center and the Legends Classic at Barclays.
In addition to Texas and Syracuse in the 2K Classic, No. 4 Duke, with projected No. 1 overall pick Jahlil Okafor, is in the Coaches vs. Cancer, which runs Friday-Saturday at Barclays. That event also features Temple, Stanford and UNLV.
The Legends Classic runs Monday-Tuesday at Barclays and features No. 12 Villanova, No. 15 VCU, No. 24 Michigan and Oregon.
FREE THROWS
Tyus Battle, the No. 1 player in New Jersey in the Class of 2016 and the subject of this SNY.tv documentary, is planning to attend one of Duke’s games this weekend…Bryce Aiken, a 2016 point guard from The Patrick School, may attend Stanford’s game Sunday at Barclays...Eli Cain, a 2015 guard from St. Benedict’s Prep who just decommitted from Delaware, will attend tonight’s Navy-Providence game along with 2017 St. Ben’s guard Trevon Duval.
Photo: US Presswire
