Jasmine Nwajei subbed into the second quarter on Thursday night with Syracuse leading by just one. Her first action was a block and defensive rebound that eventually led to a Gabrielle Cooper layup.

Then, Georgia Tech’s Kierra Fletcher lobbed a poor inbound pass that Digna Strautmane intercepted near half court. She fired immediately to Nwajei spotting up in the left corner to drain a 3. Next, Cooper denied a back cut, stole the ball, kicked it up to Tiana Mangakahia who found Nwajei in the right corner. She swished the 3, again, to give Syracuse a nine-point lead. Georgia Tech needed a timeout. A few possessions later, Nwajei drove right and flipped up a righty shot that went in.

Nwajei led the country in scoring two seasons ago, but that was at Wagner. At SU she’s had to embrace a different role for Syracuse (13-3, 1-2 Atlantic Coast). On Thursday night in the Carrier Dome, Nwajei scored all eight of her points in under two minutes of game time. But they came at a point when Georgia Tech (12-4, 1-2) had started to get back into the contest and they exemplified Nwajei’s potential value to Syracuse during ACC play in an 88-77 win.

“This is a kid that led the country in scoring that’s coming in playing spot minutes,” SU head coach Quentin Hillsman said. “But she proved tonight that she can play in this conference and play at this level.”

In Nwajei’s junior season at Wagner, she averaged 28.7 points per game. She averaged about 27 field goal attempts per game. This season, she’s averaging just 3.3 points per game and shooting under three field goals each game. She’s had to adjust.

“Definitely can see myself coming in and bringing some energy to my teammates,” Nwajei said. “… It took a while but I just thought if I do whatever it takes to win that’s what it’s really about.”

On a night when Mangakahia scored 44 points, it was easy to forget about the importance of Nwajei’s second quarter sparkplug. When she entered the game, the Orange was up by just a point. After her runner in the lane got her to eight points, SU was ahead by nine, a quick eight-point swing in a game Syracuse won by just 11.

Syracuse’s bench showed the excitement that the stoic Nwajei didn’t on the floor. When the first three went up and in, the bench’s on-lookers rose and lifted three fingers in the air. As Nwajei spotted up for the second, the bench anticipated and started standing, fingers raised, before she caught the ball. Nwajei didn’t let those sets of three fingers down.

The 15 minutes Nwajei played on Tuesday were the most she’d played since Dec. 6 against Colgate, seven games ago. Her hot stretch in the second quarter allowed Hillsman to rely on her as part of the press, using her in place of SU’s second-leading scorer, Miranda Drummond, at times. Nwajei contributed to Syracuse pressure that forced 19 turnovers.

“I’ve been trying all year to get Jas to understand the importance of playing with balance and not just being about scoring,” SU head coach Quentin Hillsman said.

After her first three shot attempts went through, Nwajei attempted just one more, a quick heat check stepback jumper from the free throw line. It clanged off the right side of the rim, but Hillsman didn’t shy away from using her.

Nwajei played eight of her 15 minutes after the break even though she didn’t attempt a shot in the second half. She didn’t need to with Mangakahia going off. Rather, she could embrace a complementary role so different from the one she had prior to arriving at Syracuse.

Hillsman said that earlier on Thursday, he sat down with Nwajei to talk. It’s her last year of collegiate basketball and he wanted to be sure she was making the most of it in whatever role she could.

“This is it,” Hillsman said he told Nwajei, continuing, “So you’ve gotta figure this out, figure it out tonight. And she went out tonight and she figured it out, so you’ve got to give her all the credit for that.”

Published on January 4, 2018 at 11:48 pm

Contact Billy: wmheyen@syr.edu | @Wheyen3