Tyrie Elliott has grown quite adept at making the most out of the opportunities he's afforded. It's his biggest gift - a deadly keen shooting eye - that has allowed those opportunities to grow for the West Virginia State sophomore men's basketball player.
One of the Mountain East Conference's most accurate 3-point shooters, Elliott has seen what once was a sporadic shift of the Yellow Jackets' bench transform into an integral role in the team's fortunes. That his shooting touch helped broaden his role might be a surprise to anyone who hadn't followed the Washington, D.C., native after he started attending Caesar Chavez High School.
"I couldn't shoot a lick," Elliott said.
Every shot he took was a laser that hit the front of the rim. Elliott credits his Chavez High coaches for helping break him of that habit, improve his form and turn him into an effective long-distance marksman. That talent took a little time to transfer to the college ranks. As a State freshman, he played in all 31 games but shot just 34.6 percent from 3-point range, making 54 of 156 from beyond the arc.
His contributions were limited in the Yellow Jackets' first five games of this season. He saw double-digit minutes in only one of them, playing 12 minutes in State's loss to Concord. But he made all three of his 3-pointers in that span.
He exploded in WVSU's loss to Seton Hill, where he played 26 minutes and scored a team-high 23 points while making 7 of 12 3-pointers. Since then, he's taken a more prominent spot in the Yellow Jackets' rotation.
Elliott played a season-high 32 minutes against Urbana, due partially to an injured finger on leading scorer Markee Mazyck's shooting hand that kept him from playing, and partially to foul trouble for other players. Elliott responded with 12 points, shooting 4 for 7 from 3-point range. The Yellow Jackets (4-4, 2-2 MEC) snapped a three-game losing streak with a 99-92 win.
Entering the Yellow Jackets' 2 p.m. Sunday home game versus Bowie State, Elliott is second in the MEC in 3-point field goal percentage, shooting 56.7 percent (17 of 30). He is tied for fourth on the team in scoring at 7.9 points per game, but is just one of three players who has not yet logged 100 minutes of court time, playing just 94.
"Tyrie has really just been in the flow lately," State coach Bryan Poore said. "We put him in, he hit a couple, so now you stay in.
"Tyrie's playing really well right now," he added. "Obviously, he's shooting the ball extremely well right now. And you really need that. This league is like the NBA, it's a make-and-miss league. You make shots, you win. If you miss shots, you lose."
Shooting is Elliott's forte, but his increased minutes also have come from his improving on his weaknesses. The 6-foot-3, 195-pound sophomore will be the first to tell you that his defense hasn't been among his greatest attributes, but he made sure to double down on fixing that in the offseason. Now he doesn't get beat off the dribble on the first step and can remain in front of his man.
Poore said that has come from an improved mental approach.
"I think his mind for the game and seeing what's about to happen, as kids always do from freshman to sophomore to junior, the game kind of slows down for them," he said. "They see things happen before it happens and I think that's what he's gotten better at."
Still, Elliott loves what his shooting hand is able to do. He enjoys hearing the opposition scream, "Shooter, shooter, shooter!" as he checks into the game. He loves the jolt the bench and the players on the floor get when he finds his rhythm and two 3-pointers turn into three and four and five.
"Ultimately, it just helps the team more," Elliott said. "We have guys like Mazyck, [Keith] Harris, [Frank] Webb, [Robert] Fomby, who are incredible off the dribble. If a guy's guarding me and they know that when I catch it, it's going in, there's no help defense. They can drive that lane and, bucket."
Elliott wants the time he gets to offer those services to get longer as the season goes on. He feels that, if he stays on the hot streak he's been on recently, that wish will come true.
"At the start of the season, that was my mentality, when my number is called, capitalize," Elliott said. "Now minutes are coming my way because of that mindset. I just have to build on it."
n Poore said that Mazyck's injured finger shouldn't keep him on the shelf any longer than last Saturday's Urbana game. He'll have a week between then and Saturday's game versus Bowie State to heal. The Yellow Jackets obviously can use him. He ranks fifth in the MEC at 22.3 points per game.