Doyel: The real Tyler Lewis? He's nasty and he's here

INDIANAPOLIS – The real Tyler Lewis, he’s starting to come out. The real Tyler Lewis, he’s flashy. He’s never going to score a lot, so don’t wait for that to happen, but the real Tyler Lewis takes risks by throwing crazy passes that can go really, really wrong – or go so right that they make it onto a highlight reel.

Before he played his first game in a Butler uniform, we were told about that Tyler Lewis. I remember Butler coach Chris Holtmann talking about him during the 2014-15 season when he was redshirting as a transfer from North Carolina State, about the flair with which Lewis played, the creativity, the vision. I remember Butler star Kellen Dunham telling me before last season, when Lewis made his Butler debut, that Lewis would become something of a cult hero for the Butler fan base.

“One of a kind,” is how Dunham put it.

We’re starting to see it. We’re seeing other things, too, wonderful things like all those assists, very few turnovers, a strong shooting percentage from 3-point range, the field, the foul line.

And we’re seeing more and more of the creativity.

Late in Butler’s win Sunday against DePaul, Lewis was driving to the right side of the basket when he saw Steven Bennett alone in the opposite corner. In one motion Lewis turned a right-handed dribble into a baseball pass to the corner. The crowd was still squealing as Bennett launched the open 3-pointer.

That’s who Tyler Lewis is, who he’s always been. Listen, he was starting for his high school team in Statesville, N.C., in eighth grade. Mouth full of braces, head full of floppy blonde hair, Lewis had scholarship offers from Virginia Tech, Auburn and Charlotte before his freshman season.

In those days Tyler was 5-10, 140 pounds. He looked, his father told me last year, “like a choir boy.” But he played, Rick Lewis was saying, “like a devil.”

And he did. He was toying with guys in high school. A highlight video from his AAU days shows Lewis throwing passes behind his back and over his head. It shows Lewis attacking the rim and throwing in overhead layups, his right arm windmilling the ball off the glass and through the net. The video shows Lewis popping out the front of his jersey with his thumbs, woofing in one defender’s ear and playfully patting the rump of another.

Tyler Lewis was a sensation. A “phenom,” according to the local paper. Butler senior Kethan Savage played against Lewis on the AAU circuit and notes that he “definitely had that kind of cockiness about him." With reason: Lewis was a McDonald’s All American, making the 2012 team alongside the likes of Yogi Ferrell and Gary Harris.

College hasn’t gone according to plan. The plan was never to leave North Carolina State. The plan wasn’t to be coming off the bench late in his senior season at Butler. Plans change. And so did Tyler Lewis.

Butler didn’t need the phenom, the flair, the woofing. Butler needed someone to take care of the ball, control tempo, make teammates better. And for two years here, that’s what Lewis has done. Last season he led the team with a 3.56 assist-to-turnover ratio, which would've led the Big East had he recorded enough assists (he averaged 2.8 per game).

This season he has recorded enough assists, and he leads the Big East with a 3.83 ratio that is sixth nationally – and getting better by the game. Because it’s like I’ve been trying to tell you: The real Tyler Lewis, he’s starting to show himself.

The real one, he plays with confidence that cozies up to cockiness. And he doesn’t mind crossing that line.

“I always want to be out there playing with that confidence, especially these last couple of games knowing that when I play with that cockiness and swagger, it gives me that little bit of extra edge to play to my ability,” he says. “Being 5-10 and short, I have to play with that edge.”

Being 5-10 … and short. That’s awesome, right? He knows who he is. Who is Tyler Lewis? The sixth-most efficient offensive player in the country, according to the high-level analytics site KenPom.com. That happens when you shoot 46.5 percent on 3-pointers (20-of-43), 61.3 percent on 2-pointers (38-of-63) and 77.8 percent on free throws (49-of-63) … and you add to that 111 assists with just 29 turnovers. Prolific, no. Efficient? Off the charts.

He’s careful with the ball. Too careful, sometimes, which is why Chris Holtmann has gotten into Lewis’ ear lately and asked him – well, ordered him – to start taking more risks. Because he can see passes, pull off passes, most players cannot.

We’re seeing the change. In the last four games, Lewis has handed out 24 assists with just two turnovers, near-perfect play that has helped – quietly; did you even notice him? – Butler go 3-1 after a two-game losing streak.

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Opposing teams test him on defense because some things don't change. He’s still 5-10, still 170 pounds, still not all that explosive.

“Every team goes at him,” Holtmann says. “He knows that and has consistently worked on it. He knows that needs to continue. I'm really proud of him for that – his commitment to the team has been a great example to our younger guys."

Lewis will be a coach some day, just like his dad. Rick Lewis created the Carolina Flight AAU program and led his teams to seven state titles and one national championship. Tyler’s going to coach, though he hasn’t decided whether to play professionally overseas. Coaching is a conveyor belt, and he knows it: The faster you get on, the faster you start rising.

That’s a decision he’ll make later. Now? Now he’s coming off the bench for Butler, averaging 6.9 points and 4.1 assists (fourth in the Big East) and unleashing the inner Tyler Lewis, one he describes as “cocky,” one Holtmann goes so far as to call a little bit “nasty.”

Last week Lewis was walking to the news conference after Butler’s 68-65 victory at Marquette. Lewis had eight points that day, five assists, one turnover. He took four shots and made three. A typical Tyler Lewis performance.

And this fan from Marquette, he saw Lewis still in that Butler jersey and he called out:

“Good job, No. 1. You’re a tough nut!”

Holtmann was there. He loved it. He turned to Lewis and asked: “How many times have you heard that?”

Not many, Lewis said, but lately things are changing.

Yes indeed, things are changing.

Find IndyStar columnist Gregg Doyel on Twitter at@GreggDoyelStar or atfacebook.com/gregg.doyel