John Gillon has proven time and time again that he can dunk. Yet the fifth-year senior point guard still absorbs the flak from his teammates despite the pogo-stick bounce he brought to Syracuse from Colorado State.

When Gillon took off on a fast break with about nine minutes left in the second half Tuesday night, he softy rolled the ball in off the backboard. The anticipation on the Syracuse bench turned to disappointment, and freshman redshirt Matthew Moyer threw his hands in joking disgust.

“I mean I could dunk pretty easily,” Gillon said. “When I see people running under me I get nervous because a team like that, they don’t really have that much to lose so they’ll run in and try to make a play on something that they can’t make a play on … and I have to jump pretty high to get to that point so I just laid it up.”

Even though the point guard threw down his second fast-break attempt three minutes later, Orange players still chided the team’s smallest scholarship player after the game. They could afford to after No. 18 Syracuse’s (4-0) 101-59 drubbing of South Carolina State (1-3) in the Carrier Dome, in which Gillon’s dunking skills, or occasional lack thereof, masked his efficient 14 points and four assists in 20 minutes.

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“He’s capable of going in and scoring points, you know, that’s what he does,” SU head coach Jim Boeheim said. “He’s very good at it I think.”

Gillon hit a pair of 3-pointers, his fourth straight game with a triple. Albeit against inferior competition, he’s now shooting at a 42.9-percent clip from long range, which would’ve been the best mark on last year’s SU team.

Where Gillon impacts the game most, though, may be in turning defense to offense by himself. Quick to disrupt the Bulldogs’ offense atop the zone, Gillon’s speed allows the Orange to push out in transition.

“He has real good instincts and getting steals, so I think he’ll have a lot of opportunities this year to get out on the break and initiate offense,” fifth-year senior Andrew White said, “just being that he knows how to shoot the gaps and passing lanes.”

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And when Gillon’s steal led to him streaking toward the hoop in the second half with a chance at dunking redemption, there was only one way the play could end.

The Instagram and Twitter videos and pregame and practice evidence apparently weren’t enough for Syracuse. And even after Gillon’s two-handed flush, it still doesn’t seem to suffice.

“It was a little weak,” White said. “He talk about the 40-inch vertical. It was a rim-grazer.”

Published on November 23, 2016 at 1:44 pm

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