The last three times Syracuse has had a chance to tie or win at the end of regulation, it’s been up to John Gillon to make it happen.

Against North Carolina State, he sunk a double-pump 3 from the wing to send the game to overtime. Against Clemson, he created enough separation between his double team and a trailing Tyler Lydon to provide the sophomore enough room to drive right and eventually find Tyus Battle for the game-winner. Against Louisville, the ball again ended up in Gillon’s hands, with under 10 seconds left on the clock and the game tied at 58.

Defended by Quentin Snider atop the key, Gillon used a Tyler Roberson screen to drive right. He crossed left on David Levitch and contorted his body once Ray Spalding slid left to double him. The ball never had a chance, instead deflecting off Gillon and out of bounds. Snider’s off-mark halfcourt heave sent the game to overtime.

Gillon couldn’t provide the heroics to aid Syracuse (16-11, 8-6 Atlantic Coast) in pulling off its third straight home win over a Top-10 team in a 76-72 OT loss to No. 8 Louisville (21-5, 9-4) on Monday night in the Carrier Dome. Despite a pair of timely 3-pointers late in the second half, Gillon struggled for most of the night, shooting 3-of-11 from the field and tying a season high with five turnovers.

“There was always a few people in front of me every time,” Gillon said. “They’re normally a pressure team. They see how we’ve been getting in the paint.”

In the first half, Syracuse struggled to penetrate. Louisville’s backcourt tandem of Donovan Mitchell and Snider cut off any entry lanes into the paint for Gillon, Battle, Frank Howard and Andrew White. One of the few times Gillon did maneuver his way to the basket, Louisville’s Mangok Mathiang spiked the ball into the ground as Gillon fell hard to the floor.

The fifth-year point guard managed only two shots from inside the arc in the first half while racking up a trio of turnovers, two of which came on missed alley-oops to Roberson.
“They made an adjustment and it worked well in the first half,” Gillon said. “I felt that we just had to speed ‘em up.”

Gillon led that sped-up offense in the second half as Syracuse clawed back to take a lead. Once the Orange surrendered the advantage, he helped force overtime. Gillon hit both his free throws in the second half (he now sits one shy of tying Brandon Triche’s program record of 37 consecutive makes from the line) and made 2-of-3 from beyond the arc while dishing out three assists and only turning the ball over once.

Gillon’s biggest make of the day came just seconds after Jaylen Johnson crammed home a follow-up dunk to put UofL up, 58-55. On the ensuing possession, before even making a pass, Gillon pulled up from well behind the 3-point line and tied the game with 37 seconds left.

Unfortunately for Syracuse, that was his last bucket of regulation.

“I wanted John to do just what he did,” SU head coach Jim Boeheim said of Syracuse’s final play in regulation. “He got right in the lane, and just didn’t finish. I thought he got hit, but you know, that’s the way it goes.”

An enraged Gillon protested the out-of-bounds call but to no avail. Then again in overtime, after Roberson’s second missed free throw left SU down two and under three seconds remaining, Gillon grabbed the rebound but stepped on the end line.

Twice, mere inches separated Gillon from more potential heroics, as Syracuse’s hopes of another stunner slipped away.

“We came back,” Gillon said, “but we didn’t finish.”

Published on February 14, 2017 at 10:46 pm

Contact Matt: mcschnei@syr.edu | @matt_schneidman