Dion Waiters received the orders from Jim Boeheim with 13:23 remaining in the first half. With Syracuse down one to Villanova, Waiters entered the game for the first time, replacing his struggling cousin Scoop Jardine.

Boeheim told the freshman Waiters to take the game over.

‘I had to try and get us going, we had to find our offense some way,’ Waiters said. ‘Coach just told me to take over, make plays. So I tried to go out there and make plays.’

With the substitution, it was the start of a game in which the SU head coach relied on his freshmen to make a difference. Because of Jardine’s struggles, Boeheim chose to play Waiters for 25 minutes, including the final 6:30 of the 83-72 loss to the Wildcats. He chose to stick with the aggressive mindset and style of play Waiters showcased Saturday, leaving his starting point guard Jardine on the bench in the process.

Even if, after the game, the head coach felt both Jardine and Waiters played poorly. Even though Waiters failed to score in the second half.

‘It was a disappointing game from Scoop and Dion’s perspective,’ Boeheim said. ‘They have played well. They have had a good week of practice. We are not going to win if those two guys go 3-for-20.’

Boeheim did not specify why he chose to play Waiters in place of Jardine to end the game, saying only that the point guard play was not good Saturday and that the Orange needs more leadership out of the position. Jardine went 1-of-8 from the field, registered two turnovers and failed to grab a rebound in 22 minutes. Waiters went 2-of-12 with two turnovers and five assists.

‘I take somebody out,’ Boeheim said, ‘I take them out for a reason.’

Waiters attempted to be the offensive catalyst for SU after a start to the game in which Boeheim, Jardine and Waiters all said the Orange didn’t bring enough energy. Waiters brought his usual confident, crass mentality to the court, attempting eight shots in 12 first-half minutes.

With an Orange offense looking stagnant for the second game in a row, Waiters exhibited a certain mindset to put the SU offensive burden on himself. It was one of brashness, best exemplified when he fouled Villanova wing Corey Stokes hard on a 3-point attempt midway through the first half, only to glare down and crack a smile at Stokes as he lay on the court.

Jardine was relegated to the bench for those final seven minutes of the game. The point guard said he understood why he was on the bench to end the game: He played poorly, going 1-of-8 from the field. He brought ‘nothing’ Saturday. As simple as that.

‘I didn’t run the team, I didn’t execute nothing. I did nothing to help our team at all,’ Jardine said. ‘I didn’t get us in sets.’

In the first half, Jardine looked lost. The junior point guard struggled against the ball pressure of Wildcat guards Maalik Wayns and Corey Fisher. The Orange offense rushed sets to keep up with the eight first-half 3-pointers of Villanova. By halftime, the Orange was down 40-29 as Boeheim grew weary of not only Jardine’s play but Waiters’ as well.

The duo attempted 14 of the Orange’s 27 first-half shots, too selfish for the head coach’s liking.

‘I feel like we were trying to score more than we were trying to get the team in stuff,’ Boeheim said.

In the second half, Waiters spelled Jardine from 15:30 to 9:30, tallying only one assist in the six minutes. But 12 seconds after Jardine returned for Waiters, he turned the ball over. He would leave the game for good less than three minutes later, watching next to SU assistant coach Rob Murphy as Waiters played his part in applying a frantic end-game press.

For Jardine, it was just one of those games. It was his turn to sit on the bench, not directing his team as he watched his little cousin fail to take the opportunity to carry a comeback.

‘Coach is going to go with how the game feels,’ Jardine said. ‘I would have done the same thing.’

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Published on January 21, 2011 at 12:00 pm