John Gillon scores team-high 23 points in 99-77 win over BU after emotional week following grandfather’s death
Jacob Greenfeld | Asst. Photo Editor
John Gillon lost his grandfather shortly before last week's game against North Florida. After the loss to Connecticut on Monday, he stayed in the gym shooting by himself to clear his thoughts.
John Gillon didn’t want his grandfather’s death to be an excuse.
In Syracuse’s last two games, the fifth-year senior point guard didn’t score and chalked up his two lowest minute totals of the season. Gillon just wasn’t the same after his mom’s father died shortly before the Orange played North Florida last Saturday.
“That was my main man. That was my go to,” Gillon said. “He kept our family together, just someone who was almost perfect. If you guys met him, he’d just leave an impression on you. I just wasn’t right.”
After the Orange lost to Connecticut on Monday, the team flew back to Syracuse and arrived around 12:30 Tuesday morning. When the team bus arrived on campus, Gillon was the only player to stay at the Carmelo K. Anthony Basketball Center. He entered through a back door behind Jim Boeheim since his ID didn’t give him access to the building at the time. For about two hours, he worked on ball-handling and practiced on a Shoot A Way machine that catches the ball near the hoop and ejects it back.
Gillon wasn’t there to improve his game. He needed basketball, isolation, to get his mind off everything else.
“I just had been having a lot going on lately…only way I can escape from some of it is just to get in the gym, not to really even get any work in,” Gillon said. “I just wanted to not even think about that, all the stuff that’s going on.”
On Saturday, Gillon had the best game of his young Syracuse career. He scored a team-high 23 points on 7-of-9 shooting from the field and 6-of-7 from 3-point range in SU’s (6-3) 99-77 win over Boston University (4-6).
The flashy point guard who could score in bunches, the one who had four double-digit scoring performances in the first six contests, had vanished. But after his first notable outing since the loss of a cornerstone in his life, Gillon seemed relieved sitting on an orange couch in the locker room.
If anything, even if it’s just for now, one part of his life is back to normal.
“He won the game for us,” Boeheim said.
Jacob Greenfeld | Asst. Photo Editor
Syracuse’s head managers – Nico Parauda, Jack Overdyk, Ben Horwitz and Jeff Maizes – typically stay at the practice facility for about an hour after returning from each road trip. They pack up the team gear, unload the bus and one manager cuts up film from the game. Early Tuesday morning, Parauda and Overdyk rolled out the Shoot A Way machine for Gillon and let him practice alone.
“John’s that type of player that he wanted to get right back in the gym,” Overdyk said. “I wasn’t that surprised.”
Until around 2 a.m., all Gillon had was a ball, the machine, a hoop and his thoughts. It seemed to help remedy his on-court struggles, as the Colorado State transfer canned four 3s in the first half alone and led Syracuse with 14 points at the break.
He darted into the lane to create opportunities, a part of his game absent in the last several contests. He had ample space on the perimeter and dumped the ball in the hoop with ease from beyond the arc. Gillon’s three first-half assists led the team and he made both attempts from the foul line.
“John really saved the game in the first half,” Boeheim said.
MORE COVERAGE:
- Taurean Thompson has career day in Syracuse’s 99-77 victory over Boston University
- What we learned from Syracuse’s victory on Saturday
- Afterthoughts: Even after a big win, Syracuse still left wondering how much it can depend on its defense
As the Orange pulled away in the second half, stretching its lead to over 30 points, Gillon continued flashing the repertoire of the dynamic point guard he came to Syracuse advertised as. He exited with 55 seconds remaining, along with the other four Syracuse players, as the walk-ons and Doyin Akintobi-Adeyeye entered to close out a dominant victory.
After the game, Gillon sat comfortably among a swarm of reporters in the locker room. Boeheim, strapped in a black coat, walked by Gillon and jokingly asked, “John, where were they last week?” before chuckling and continuing on his way into the private coaches locker room.
Gillon was hesitant at first to publicly mention his grandfather’s death because it might’ve been perceived as a justification for his poor play. But finally, following his best game of the season, Gillon felt more like himself again.
Published on December 10, 2016 at 4:12 pm
Contact Matt: [email protected] | @matt_schneidman
