HARTFORD, Conn. – Quentin Hillsman has only taught Nicole Michael how to play basketball in four short years at Syracuse.

Apparently, she’s picked up a thing or two about medicine as well.

‘Ninety-three,’ Michael said when asked to put a percentage on the health of her bruised right foot after the game. ‘It’ll be 100 percent soon.’

Michael and her nearly healed foot were back in action for the Syracuse women’s basketball team Saturday afternoon. And she made her presence felt, sparking the Orange with 12 points and four rebounds in only 18 minutes of action in SU’s 76-71 victory over Providence in the second round of the Big East tournament inside Hartford’s XL Center.

It was her first game back since aggravating her injured foot in last Monday’s 67-48 victory over then-No. 8 West Virginia. In short bursts of action against the Friars, Michael was just what the doctor ordered for the Orange.

Before the game, Michael’s status was still uncertain. Like Friday’s contest against Seton Hall, Hillsman’s decision on whether to play Michael came after seeing how she would respond during pregame warmups. The SU head coach ultimately made the decision to sit his star player against the Pirates in round one.

Fortunately for the Orange, she was good to go Saturday. She wouldn’t be available to take the opening tip like she typically does, but her presence alone made Providence head coach Phil Seymore much more uneasy about his team’s chances to win the game.

‘Her presence,’ Seymore said when asked what Michael added to her team Saturday. ‘She’s a leader on and off the court. …I think she brings a certain level of confidence to her teammates. When you have somebody out there who can do that, you have to be leery of them when they’re on the basketball court.’

Much more than her attendance on the court was felt, though. She was not a decoy, not there to draw attention away from her other teammates.

She was the usual Nicole Michael, said SU junior guard Erica Morrow.

‘It’s definitely great to have her back,’ Morrow said. ‘It’s always hard when you don’t have one of your leaders on the floor with you.’

Hillsman had a gameplan that would cater to Michael’s tender foot. Michael was quickly subbed in and out throughout the length of the game, joining assistant coach Rick Moody on the end of the bench between shifts.

In, out. In, out. At one point in the first half, Michael was subbed out at the 5:45 mark after making a jumper from the top of the key, only to be put back in the game just six seconds later. And eight seconds later, after a made free throw by SU guard/forward Tyler Ash, Michael was taken out again.

‘Just getting back in and working harder,’ Michael said of her approach to the brief shifts of action. ‘Coach was taking me out because of my foot, but it’s getting better and better every day. Every time I went back in, I just kept on working harder.’

Hillsman explained those shifts as a response to her lack of conditioning since Monday, not so much an apprehension to push Michael’s foot too far.

Michael hasn’t run or scrimmaged with the team since suffering the injury against the Mountaineers. Hillsman said she had been in a protective boot for most of the short week leading up to the Big East tournament.

‘She hasn’t played or done any scrimmages or anything in a week,’ Hillsman said. ‘So I just wasn’t sure how she was going to react conditioning-wise, not more of her foot. I knew the status on her foot, because she wasn’t in a situation where she couldn’t play.’

The quick bursts gave the Orange plenty of what it needed from its leading scorer and senior leader, though. She made 5-of-6 shots from the free-throw line, a couple at key spots to give SU space in a tight game. After Providence had opened up the second half on a run, Michael drilled a 3-pointer to tie the game at 52 and spark a 10-2 Syracuse run.

And there she was at the end of the game – even with guards Morrow, Ash and Elashier Hall on the floor for SU – handling the ball at the top of the key, keeping it away from swarming Friars defenders and protecting the Orange’s lead in her hands.

It’s good to be back.

‘She’s definitely a positive influence, whatever she can give when she’s out there,’ Seymore said. ‘She just gets things done for them.’

bplogiur@syr.edu

Published on March 5, 2010 at 12:00 pm