DETROIT — Patrick Herlihy sat at his locker, flanked by Syracuse forwards Oshae Brissett and Matthew Moyer. At times, he’d just look around, seemingly soaking in the experience. Other times, he’d join in on team hysteria, like when the entire team got up and yelled while watching Loyola-Chicago’s buzzer-beating 3-pointer to upset Miami on Thursday.

The senior center is used to being around the team. What’s new for him this year is being a player on it.

Herlihy was a student manager for three years at Syracuse. He’d heard stories from other managers during Syracuse’s 2016 Final Four run. He always hoped that one day he’d be able to walk-on to the team. This year, he accomplished that and has been enjoying every part of No. 11 seed Syracuse’s (22-13, 8-10 Atlantic Coast) season, including a trip to the NCAA Tournament.

“It’s been unbelievable,” Herlihy said. “It’s two different things saying you get to work for Jim Boeheim and saying you get to play for Jim Boeheim.”

Senior manager Ricky Pasternak bonded early with Herlihy when the two found out they would be managers their freshman year.

Pasternak knew of Herlihy’s hope to be a walk-on. But even he admitted that wasn’t sure if it was ever going to happen.

“But having the chance to watch him become a walk-on, it’s been a lot of fun,” Pasternak said. “He puts in so much work and so much time and he really deserves what he’s been given so far.”

Alexandra Moreo | Senior Staff Photographer

The bulk of that work came this summer. Many of Syracuse’s players were up for summer sessions, playing basketball when they weren’t in class. They needed an extra body, so the 6-foot-6, 205-pound Herlihy played with them.

At that point, he caught the eye of new assistant coach Allen Griffin. Griffin knew that Syracuse needed another big-man to work with the centers group, particularly after Taurean Thompson’s departure. Griffin took a “hard glance at him.”

There wasn’t a formal tryout for Herlihy, either — he only remembers that happening once, during his freshman year, and no one made it that year. Herlihy just figured he’d keep playing as frequently as the players asked him to. Eventually, Griffin decided he wanted to bring him on.

“The more the merrier in terms of the bodies we can provide in practice and give those guys different looks,” Griffin said. “Pat is a stockier guy. He can play inside and also has skill enough to play outside which can help these guys when they get further out from the basket.”

Herlihy has challenged both Paschal Chukwu and Bourama Sidibe. He’s much shorter than both, but that’s allowed the taller centers to get a different experience than if they were just going up against one another.

Syracuse’s two rotation centers also said that Herlihy doesn’t make it easy on them. He doesn’t shy away from contact down low.

At times, he’s been difficult to stop in practice, too. Specifically, it’s when Herlihy goes to a short turnaround jumper from the low block, where he puts his body into the defender and then fades away for a short turnaround jumper. Herlihy said he got it by trying to mimic Kevin McHale during pick up games.

“We call it the Patrick move,” Chukwu said. “The turnaround jumper, he made that on me all the time.”

Herlihy hopes to be a coach one day. Unprompted, Griffin said that he thought Herlihy will be a coach. Multiple players lauded his work ethic and basketball IQ.

And all those things were present when Herlihy was a manager. But he always wanted a little more.

“It didn’t feel real for the first couple of months until the first game,” Herlihy said. “It’s been unreal.”

Published on March 17, 2018 at 7:51 pm

Contact Tomer: tdlanger@syr.edu | @tomer_langer