Freshman Joe Girard making an impact with Syracuse
SYRACUSE, N.Y. (AP) >> Joe Girard lay flat on his back after a fall on the hardwood of Jim Boeheim Court and staring up at Notre Dame’s Prentiss Hubb as the sophomore hovered over the Orange freshman guard, glaring down in menacing fashion late in a tight game with the Irish.
Girard hopped up and walked away after the brief altercation as the referees huddled and then called a technical foul against Hubb. Girard responded by sinking both free throws, the beginning of 10 straight points from Girard while Hubb responded by hitting a pair of 3-pointers to keep the game close.
It was a moment that will be etched in the minds of the Orange faithful for a long time, reminiscent of the grit Gerry McNamara brought to the team nearly two decades ago.
“If somebody challenges me or any competitor, usually you’re going to step your game up a little bit,” said Girard, who drained a 3-pointer at the final buzzer and pleaded for a foul call that never came as the Orange lost by a point. “I think I was a little bit surprised. He was just competing. The refs saw it. He got over it. I got over it.”
The departure of his backcourt — point guard Frank Howard and Tyus Battle — after last season left Orange coach Jim Boeheim with big holes to fill. The 6-foot-1, 180-pound Girard, one of five freshmen, has stepped up to the challenge, and he’s well known in Orange country. He scored 434 points as an eighth-grader on the varsity at Glens Falls High School in eastern New York, the same school where one of his mentors, Jimmer Fredette, had wowed the locals a decade earlier before going on to lead the nation in scoring and earning national player of the year honors at BYU in 2011.
Girard put up another 4,329 points in his final four years, leading Glens Falls to a state championship as a senior. The Basketball Coaches Association of New York named him as its Mr. Basketball.