DETROIT — Before one of Syracuse’s first conference games this season, Frank Howard tried something a little unfamiliar. He slugged down a performance-enhancing substance: coffee.

The result, he said, was an increased level of attention. He couldn’t pinpoint the exact game, but he said he felt a step or two quicker and more alert. Howard had never tried coffee, the world’s most popular mind-altering substance, used by millions to jump-start their day. But he enjoyed how it tasted and now he’s hooked.

Howard’s backcourt-mate Tyus Battle has caught on, too. The backcourt duo for No. 11 seed Syracuse (21-13, 8-10 Atlantic Coast) will each grab a cup of joe for an extra energy boost before they play sixth-seeded TCU on Friday night in an NCAA Tournament first-round matchup. Recent research suggests that even small doses of caffeine, equivalent to what’s a “tall” Starbucks coffee, can improve athletic performance.

“You have to ration it out,” Howard said. “Can’t have too much. A little cup for the game, it really helps.”

Science backs up Howard, who combined with Battle this year to play more minutes per game than anyone else in the ACC. The benefits of coffee are legion. Consumption can reduce the amount of pain you receive, according to research published in 2009 in the International Journal of Sport Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism. Coffee also can reduce the amount of perceived pain and delay exhaustion.

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According to research led by Juan Del Coso of Madrid’s Camilo José Cela University and published in Applied Physiology, Nutrition and Metabolism in 2011, athletes who drank caffeine jumped a little higher and ran faster than those who drank a noncaffeinated beverage.

Taken an hour or so before exercise, coffee also enables most athletes to run and otherwise perform a little faster or more vigorously than if they do not have caffeine first, research shows. Caffeine provides this boost by making it easier for muscles to burn body fat, said Jane Burrell Uzcategui, an instructor of nutrition in the Syracuse University David B. Falk College of Sport and Human Dynamics. It also increases alertness, which seems to make exercise feel less strenuous. (Caffeine is not banned from sports except in very high doses.)

Uzcategui, who also supports Syracuse’s chewing gum addiction, said coffee is a central nervous stimulant that can raise heart rates, increase jitteriness and make drinkers “just a little amped up” before competition. She advises small doses for athletes who wish to boost physical performance. One cup of coffee an hour before start time is ideal, she said, while acknowledging that side effects include insomnia, upset stomach and diarrhea.

“Timely, moderate coffee consumption can enhance athletic performance,” Uzcategui said. “It usually peaks at about an hour. Having (coffee) an hour before the game would be good timing.”

Uzcategui noted that for the average size athlete, three medium coffees from Starbucks can put an athlete above the NCAA’s caffeine doping level. Howard and Battle said they drink one cup before games.  

They have a pregame ritual unlike any other on Syracuse, beginning in the team hotel. Howard and Battle, along with reserve Shaun Belbey, meet up in the hotel lobby about 5 to 10 minutes earlier than the rest of the team for one very important task: coffee. They each pour one cup, drop some cream and sugar in, and sip on the beverage on the team bus drive to the arena.

“Frank was trying to get some more energy before the games,” Belbey said. “I was like, why don’t you try some coffee? A little cream, a little sugar. Get a little boost before the game. Then I put Tyus onto it. They wouldn’t have been playing the way they’re playing without that coffee.”

Belbey said he isn’t a huge fan of coffee, but he drinks a cup or two before every game. He recalled an early ACC road game in January when Battle and Howard came up to him on the team bus. They had seen Belbey’s coffee in his hand and were curious. They asked for a couple of sips, then stole the coffee and finished it, Belbey said.

They’ve been hooked ever since.

“I don’t know what it’s about,” said redshirt freshman forward Matthew Moyer, who rooms with Battle in the team hotel. “Every game they drink it. It works, keeps them loose. They’ve got to get something to keep them going.”

Published on March 16, 2018 at 1:02 pm

Contact Matthew: mguti100@syr.edu | @MatthewGut21