NEW YORK –– Scoop Jardine says he doesn’t want to know what it would take to beat the Syracuse team he directs every night out. It’s intriguing talk from the point guard who directs the 17-0 Orange, the team that turned what was supposed to be a tough fight for New York City college hoops bragging rights into a 76-59 laugher over St. John’s Wednesday. 

Fielding questions after coasting to victory for a second time at Madison Square Garden this year, Jardine kept the same blinders on that were there the first time. The mindset that was in the exact same MSG locker room on Dec. 7 when SU pulled away from Michigan State 72-58 in the Jimmy V Classic.

It’s the pointed and confident mentality of the point guard who orchestrated the Orange to its second runaway win in its home away from home in a mere 36 days, this time in front of 14,440. 

‘I don’t want to know,’ Jardine said. ‘I just want to keep going out there and winning games.’

Chalk another one up. This time a whooping of New York City’s territorial team in the arena SU’s leading scorer on the night — Kris Joseph — said the Orange plays its best basketball. An arena where basketball has become easy for SU thanks to that focused, perhaps brash, Jardine-described approach.

There is no argument from Jardine, who had 14 points and seven assists on the night, regarding Joseph’s sentiments towards MSG. Because the parallels to that Michigan State game are obvious, starting with a parallel that has been there in a bevy of the Orange’s 17 overall wins. SU (17-0, 4-0 Big East) is doing what it always does by defensively muzzling the opposition, while running sets to perfection on the other end. Whether they be impromptu fast breaks, or specific half-court calls from SU head coach Jim Boeheim on the sidelines.

To end the game, the sets came in the form of repeated execution of SU’s ‘5-High’ set, where Jackson flashes to the top of the key, and the Orange offense starts from there. The same set it ended the Michigan State game with.

But it only came about because of the SU defense. And in Wednesday’s Garden date, the Orange played perhaps its best defense of the year. From the get-go.

‘Our defense was good early, when we really needed it,’ Boeheim said.

Just like its start against Seton Hall Saturday — when the Orange scored a season-low 20 first half points — SU struggled offensively, shooting 1-of-6. But the Johnnies were even worse, going 1-of-9 from the field. SU brushed off the rusty start while St. John’s (10-5, 3-2) woes continued to fester. It led to a 35-24 Orange halftime lead. Through the game’s first 33 minutes, the Johnnies tallied only 39 points, while the Orange got its transition game going, amassing 61 points. SU put together a 16-6 run to end the first half. The game felt over.

The offense was there because of the defensive will, though. Just ask Joseph. He went 8-of-11 on the night because SU returned from a ‘sluggish’ Seton Hall game – one he didn’t want to talk about – with a stifling defense. A defensive will SU doesn’t want to have, Joseph said. Rather, has to have.

‘It’s about the will to want to play defense,’ Joseph said. ‘No one likes to play defense as much as offense.’

With 7:20 left in the game, St. John’s only had those 39 points. The ‘5-High’ set was unleashed in full force. Play after play, Boeheim signaled into Jardine the set, raising five spread fingers. No words were needed. The orchestrator knew what to do. So did Jackson, flashing to the top of the key.

And Wednesday, just like against Michigan State, the end-game felt easy. It was easy for SU to get what Jardine describes as SU’s ‘drivers’ out of the set – Dion Waiters, Joseph and himself – buckets. It was easy to force St. Johns’ big men to make the wrong decisions every time Jackson vacated the paint.

Everything was working. Even when Boeheim screamed at Jardine on a specific play when Jardine passed to the wrong player. But all Jardine could do was get back to the set on the next play. After all, when he messed up on the play before, he cut through the empty paint and received a pass from Jackson for a layup.

Too easy. So easy he doesn’t know what to say. Doesn’t want to know what could stop SU from having the breed of game it has seen twice at Joseph’s preferred home.

‘Everything was working,’ Jardine said. ‘Today, it was.’

aolivero@syr.edu

Published on January 11, 2011 at 12:00 pm