Syracuse's Jardine a key cog in Orange's success

SYRACUSE, N.Y. — The game was tied in the final minute of overtime as Scoop Jardine surveyed the floor and began a drive from the top of the key. The crowd of more than 27,000 roared in anticipation as Georgetown's staunch defenders blocked the way, looking for a turnover.

A couple of years ago, the veteran Syracuse point guard probably would have tried his luck at a shot.

Not this time.

After all, Jardine's pretty layup high off the glass in the second half was his only bucket of the game. So, it was clear that his shots weren't falling.

Indeed, another option would be best.

So, Jardine, a fifth-year graduate student, passed out to the corner to a wide-open Kris Joseph. And Joseph made the decisive 3-pointer that gave No. 2 Syracuse a 64-61 victory on Wednesday over the No. 12 Hoyas.

The win moved the Orange to 24-1 — 11-1 in the Big East — as they get set to play another rival, Connecticut (15-8, 5-6), here on Saturday.

Jardine was a nonfactor early, playing just seven minutes in the opening half against the Hoyas. But he logged every minute from there on.

"I was really trying to get in a rhythm of the game," said Jardine, one of 11 finalists — and the only one from the Big East — for the Bob Cousy Award, given annually to the top point guard in the nation. "I was just trying to get what the defense was giving me. I'm a confident player. I know I can make plays."

It's a sign of maturity his coach appreciates.

"He's going to make a bad play every once in a while, but he makes good plays," Jim Boeheim said after his 880th victory, third all-time in Division I. "We need him doing that."

Jardine, a star at Neumann-Goretti High in Philadelphia before coming to Syracuse, started 10 games as a freshman in 2008-09, then redshirted the next season while recovering from a stress fracture in his left leg caused, in part, by carrying too much weight on his 6-foot-2 frame.

"My redshirt year — when I had basketball taken away from me because of injury — was the first time I ever went through a year without basketball in my life. It was tough," Jardine said. "I had to find myself as a person."