One day after Tyler Ennis shocked the nation with a buzzer-beating heave to save Syracuse’s undefeated season, The Daily Orange spoke with Tony McIntyre, his father and former AAU coach at CIA Bounce.

The Daily Orange: Let’s get right into it. Where did you watch Tyler’s buzzer-beater against Pittsburgh, and can you walk me through what the reaction was like?

Tony McIntyre: We watched it with a bunch of our coaches from the program and some family and friends in our basement. He hit the shot and we all jumped around like little kids.

The D.O.: What else do you remember from the play?

T.M.: The family was there and then we had three coaches there from our program. One of the coaches used to coach Tyler as a younger kid, and then one of the guys who I run the program with now was there. We were all just sitting around watching, and analyzing the game like we always do, talking about what we would do and wouldn’t do. We were actually shocked that Pitt took the timeout. As soon as they took the timeout, I thought, ‘We’re going to at least get a good shot off.’ So once the shot went up, it was almost like quiet for a sec and then everyone just started jumping around. You felt like you were kind of at the game.

The D.O.: Has Tyler ever made a shot like that, that you can remember, at any level?

T.M.: He’s hit shots, but in terms of what it meant, the undefeated season, on the road and being down, I think that’s probably one of his bigger shots. But he’s hit some good shots. Last year at ESPN Rise, he hit a big 3 to take the lead, and then Jalyn Patterson of Montverde hit a buzzer-beater about two seconds later to win it. So he’s been pretty good with us and all his teams, hitting big shots through high school.

The D.O.: Did you get a chance to talk to him after the game at all?

T.M.: Yeah, I actually called him, I think he had just finished his ESPN interview. I pretended like I didn’t watch the game. I just said, ‘Hey, did you guys win?’ He was like, ‘Oh, shut up. Don’t tell me you missed that?’ It was actually funny. I just ask how it felt and he said, ‘As soon as I let it go, I knew it was good.’

The D.O.: Have you ever seen him look that happy on the court or have that big of a reaction after a play?

T.M.: Nah. I think that’s probably one of the better ones I’ve seen, to be honest. I’ve seen him give you a little smile or fist pump once in a while when a teammate does something good, but I think that one was more toward the crowd. He loves being in situations where the crowd is into it. You’re playing on the road and I think that was more one where the crowd was getting at him, so it was kind of the payback. ‘You got me the whole game, so let me get back at you.’

The D.O.: So he’s now beaten Pitt twice this season almost single-handedly. Do you know if he has any kind of relationship there?

T.M.: For him, two of his teammates play for Pitt. Mike Young from St. Benedict’s last year and then Jamel Artis. Nos. 1 and 2 on Pitt, he both played with at St. Benedict’s. So I think there’s a little rivalry there in terms of like my school, your school. That kind of stuff. A friendly rivalry.

The D.O.: It seems that he gets better with every game. Even Jim Boeheim seems surprised with his growth. Has Tyler done anything this year that’s surprised you?

T.M.: Not really. I didn’t think early on he shot the ball as well as he could. I think a lot of people say he’s got to work on his shot, but I think he shoots it a lot better. He just doesn’t shoot it enough. But I think he does what he has to get his teammates the ball and keep the offense moving. He shoots it when he’s open and shoots it when he has to make it, but one of the things that he and I talk about are getting into the (Carrier) Dome to shoot in the Dome because it’s obviously different shooting there than at the Melo Center.

The D.O.: With all that Tyler’s done, he’s rising on all these NBA Draft boards. Have you guys talked at all about that? Where do you stand in making that decision?

T.M.: We haven’t really talked about it at all, to be honest. It’s probably every kid that plays college basketball’s dream to play in the NBA, but if everything’s right, all the stars align and they win the national championship, that’s something that we’d definitely talk about later. But right now, we want to win. He wants to win and he doesn’t even want to think about it to be honest.

The D.O.: So does anything distract him?

T.M.: Not really. It sounds so stupid because there’s got to be something, but there just really isn’t. He’s having fun, he’s really comfortable, he likes his teammates, he likes his coaching staff and he feels like that’s his family and he’s home. He’s just enjoying his college life right now. That’s actually one of the things. That kid makes sure he does his schoolwork. He graduated St. Benedict’s with a 4.0. He wants to make sure he gets good marks at Syracuse. I think he had a quiz first period today, and he was there.

The D.O.: Is there anything else that you remember from last night, or talking to him about the shot at all?

T.M.: Today he was kind of shocked that he got a phone call from Joe Biden, the vice president. He was kind of shocked by that. He sent me a text, like ‘Hey, can you believe I just got a phone call from the vice president?’ He was in shock a little bit.

Published on February 14, 2014 at 12:48 am

Contact Stephen: sebail01@syr.edu | @Stephen_Bailey1