St. John’s guard Rysheed Jordan entered the Big East Tournament playing as well as at any point in his two years at the school, improving his shot and decision-making to help the Red Storm likely secure an NCAA Tournament berth.
In the five games prior to Thursday’s quarterfinal game against Providence, Jordan had averaged 17.4 points, five assists and two turnovers, while shooting 40 percent on 3-pointers.
The top recruit of Steve Lavin’s five-year tenure was as close to his potential as he had ever been, a ceiling he has rarely scraped during an up-and-down two seasons but finally looked capable of reaching.
Then, in 5 minutes and 25 seconds, the rhythm turned to rust.
Coming off the bench for the first time since Jan. 31, Jordan looked nothing like the electric player who could make the Red Storm a real threat, instead reverting to a shoot-first, ask-me-no-questions-later guard whose growth stunted in a single afternoon.
In his first seven minutes of Thursday’s 74-57 loss to Providence, Jordan missed three shots and had two fouls and three turnovers, finishing 3-of-9 from the field (1-of-5 on 3-pointers) and scoring a team-high 18 points (11-of-16 free throws) with five turnovers and one assist, showing little of the vision Lavin once claimed was as good as any college player since Jason Kidd played at Cal.
Lavin, who has acknowledged this season Jordan has been better as a starter, said part of why Jamal Branch — who missed the previous two games with a groin injury — started instead was how well he played in a game that took place nearly two weeks ago.
“There’s just a myriad of elements that go into determining from game to game who’s going to start,” Lavin said. “So practice is part of it, and then also where a player is in terms of experience.”
More concerning than Jordan’s play was the fall he took in the first half. Writhing in pain on the ground after driving to the hoop, Jordan was diagnosed with a sprained right wrist, though later returned to the game, with the wrist heavily taped.
“He was able to play in the second half, not that that’s always an accurate indication, but hopefully that’s a good sign that it wasn’t so debilitating that it’s going to knock him out being able to play going forward,” Lavin said.