By Joseph Staszewski
St. John’s University has given us a true look at the team it can be moving forward with its second half performance against Syracuse.
Much of that has to do with the fact that freshman basketball guard Rysheed Jordan finally put forth a performance that lived up to the hype around the dynamic player we heard about in the preseason.
Jordan was brimming with confidence, attacking the basket at will after a slow first half. He put the defensive clamps on Syracuse freshman Tyler Ennis, holding him to just six of his 21 points in the second half. That Jordan was the opposite of the player we have seen most of this season and even the first half, for that mater. That kid was tentative and deferring to the team’s veterans. Not on this day.
“When Rysheed got aggressive and looked to score, he got fouled and got himself to the free throw line,” St. John’s Coach Steve Lavin said.
Jordan scored 13 points, nine of them coming from a perfect day at the free throw line, and grabbed six rebounds in the Johnnies’ 68-63 loss to the second-ranked Orange at Madison Square Garden Sunday.
His elusiveness and energy made his teammates better around him. It allowed him and D’Angelo Harrison to weave their way through the Orange like few in the backcourt have been able to so far this season.
“A lot of guards aren’t that good that they can go into our zone,” Syracuse Coach Jim Boeheim said. “There are not that many.”
Jordan’s offensive efficiency allowed St. John’s to keep a long, defensive-minded front line of Orlando Sanchez, Chris Obekpa and Sir’Dominic Pointer to stay in. That group, along with Harrison, were able to bring the Red Storm back into the game after trailing by 14 late in the first half.
“We saw Rysheed step up and do some good things in the second half.” Pointer said. “That’s what we need from him the rest of the season.”
Jordan made three free throws to tie the score at 53-53 with 9:17 left in the game and made two more to make it 58-56. He later fed Sanchez for a basket and the foul that put the Red Storm up 60-58 with 5:48 remaining.
His best efforts ultimately weren’t enough on this night, thanks to poor final minutes. St. John’s missed its moment. Instead, it let Syracuse and a chance to jump into the local and national spotlight get away. It will be some time before it gets that chance again with buzz-less games against San Francisco, Youngstown State and Columbia leading into Big East play.
What they and their fans did gain is a more complete understanding of what the Johnnies and Jordan can be when they get there.
“Once we played the way we were suppose to play, we went up,” Harrison said. “So if we can do that for two halves it will be a different kind of ball game.”
Likely different results as well.
