Scoop Jardine put on a passing clinic to start the second half. He showed off the no-look pass. The one-handed fastball into the paint.

The Syracuse guard even displayed his handoff, giving the ball to Rakeem Christmas right next to him for a dunk in transition. Jardine assisted on all six field goals Syracuse made while he was on the court in the second half.

‘He really moved the ball, he got the ball to people,’ Orange head coach Jim Boeheim said. ‘I thought he was exceptional. Really exceptional tonight.’

In 17 minutes of action, Jardine played essentially a flawless game. He scored 10 points on 4-of-5 shooting and gave out nine assists. Perhaps most importantly, he didn’t turn the ball over. His performance allowed Syracuse (19-0, 6-0 Big East) to find a rhythm offensively in its 78-55 pasting of Providence (12-7, 1-5) on Saturday. Seven days ago, Syracuse took a large lead into halftime against Marquette and saw it dwindle to as little as two. This time, the game was never closer than 16 after the break.

Much of that was because of Jardine’s play in the first 5:37 of the second half.

‘I just took what the defense gave me and for the most part our last three games, our second halves were really, really down,’ Jardine said. ‘So the first five minutes was key and I knew that, so I had to go in there and really try to make some plays for us to spread the lead a little bit.’

Jardine ended the first half on a high note by swishing a 3-pointer from the right wing as time expired. He led the Orange in scoring in the first half with 10 points, a key cog in SU’s 21-5 run to end the half.

After halftime, he again sparked SU, this time by passing. He didn’t take a shot, but was a part of every made basket while he was on the court.

From the top of the key, he helped get the scoring started 25 seconds into the second half. He found Christmas on the right block with a crisp no-look pass. The freshman forward finished with a reverse layup to put SU ahead 40-21.

‘I just played the game,’ Jardine said. ‘Honestly, I probably tried to throw a no-look in there, like I made it look a little better, but for the most part I just try to play the game the right way.’

Just over two minutes later, he dribbled along the top of the key and whipped a right-handed sidearm pass to center Fab Melo, setting him up in position behind the defense for an easy dunk.

Two possessions later, Brandon Triche held the ball on the left wing. He turned to pass to Jardine, and it seemed as if Jardine knew where the ball was going next before he even received it.

A hot-potato pass down low — faster than even he could turn his head — landed in Melo’s hands in the paint, where he finished with another dunk.

‘I think we were energized,’ Triche said of SU’s 15-4 run to begin the second half. ‘Scoop did a great job passing the ball.’

Jardine had one of his best games of the season against Providence in the two teams’ meeting on Jan. 4 as well. He finished with a two-game total of 20 assists to one turnover against the Friars.

There was one flaw to be found in his game on Saturday. He never completed the alley-oop. Twice in that second-half hot stretch he went for the big play.

On the first one, Kris Joseph said his elbow hit off the side of the backboard as he tried to finish Jardine’s pass. Jardine’s second alley-oop try, to Melo, was high and bounced off the backboard.

Those misses were an afterthought with a 23-point win and a zero-turnover performance for Jardine, though.

‘I’m pretty sure he assisted on every bucket (in the second half),’ Triche said. ‘So with him being great at seeing the floor and his vision, it helps that much and I think he kind of made it easier for the big guys. With our movement on the perimeter it made it easier for them to kind of get open a little bit.’

mcooperj@syr.edu

Published on January 14, 2012 at 12:00 pm

Contact Mark: mcooperj@syr.edu | @mark_cooperjr