PITTSBURGH – It was a moment that transcended time yet emphasized the present all in one. Michael Carter-Williams, the freshman, put his arm around Scoop Jardine, the 23-year old fifth-year senior, and comforted his mentor.

As they walked off the court together after the first half of Syracuse’s game against Kansas State on Saturday, the kid slung his arm around the veteran. Seconds after Jardine completed a horrific first half – one that featured four turnovers and a 1-of-4 shooting performance – Carter-Williams was the imparter of wisdom.

‘I told him he worked five hard years for this,’ Carter-Williams said. ‘He’s gone through so much adversity for this moment right here, for this second half.’

Jardine, with his SU career perhaps flashing before his eyes, re-emerged from the locker room a different player. Gone were the careless passes and brash decisions, replaced instead by brilliant distribution and proficient shot-making. He scored 14 points in the second half, dished out five assists and committed just two turnovers to lead No. 1 Syracuse to a 75-59 win over eighth-seeded Kansas State.

Unwilling to relinquish the reins to Carter-Williams just yet, Jardine took control of the game and led his team to the Sweet 16.

‘Scoop, as a fifth-year senior, made the plays, made difficult shots, made the right pass, played extremely aggressive in the second half,’ Wildcats head coach Frank Martin said.

After a first half that was filled with plays where SU head coach Jim Boeheim said he couldn’t even figure out what Jardine was doing – like the one where an errant Jardine pass left Boeheim with his hands on his head and his mouth open in disbelief – the senior point guard recovered.

He opened the second half with a fadeaway 3-pointer that gave the Orange a 31-30 lead. That seemed to be the spark.

‘I told him at halftime, thank God for two halves of basketball,’ Kris Joseph said. ‘He had a chance to redeem himself.’

Jardine hit another triple less than four minutes later, this one putting SU up by five. It came on the first possession of the game in which Kansas State switched to zone defense.

It was also the last possession the Wildcats played zone defense.

‘The one time they switched to the zone, Brandon (Triche) made a great penetration and kick and Scoop hit the 3,’ Boeheim said. ‘Teams that don’t play zone, when you hit a 3 on them, they go back to man-to-man.’

And that’s when Syracuse’s offense really kicked in, spearheaded by Jardine.

He drove his man down the right side of the lane two possessions later and dropped off a beautiful underhand pass to forward Rakeem Christmas for an easy dunk. Jardine found Christmas again less than a minute later for another layup, this one pushing the Syracuse lead to 47-37.

Then came the dagger – a crossover move to shake free from KSU’s Angel Rodriguez, setting up a third 3-pointer to push the Syracuse lead back to double digits with 9:50 remaining.

He added a floater to the display as well. His high-arching shot rainbowed perfectly over the outstretched arm of KSU’s Jordan Henriquez along the right baseline and swished through the net to the delight of the SU faithful.

‘I continued to be aggressive,’ Jardine said. ‘I didn’t let the turnovers bother me.

‘Once I’m playing like that, it’s really hard to stay in front of me, and I’m always looking to get my teammates involved.’

On the bench, the protg Carter-Williams loved it. With each perfect Jardine assist, he rose up from his seat in celebration. It’s not his show to run yet, but he knows it will be.

Jardine hit 3-of-4 free throws in the final three minutes to prevent any chance of a last-ditch comeback by the Wildcats – another lesson in veteran leadership for Carter-Williams.

And when Jardine dropped off one final assist to Christmas for a two-handed, exclamation-point dunk with 37 seconds left, the freshman on the bench was almost in awe of the show he’d just witnessed.

‘That second half, he played unbelievable, and I just look at it and take everything in so when I go out there and play I can play well, too,’ Carter-Williams said. ‘He took over in the second half and got players easy baskets and definitely got us the win.’

mjcohe02@syr.edu

Published on March 16, 2012 at 12:00 pm

Contact Michael: mjcohe02@syr.edu | @Michael_Cohen13