newjerseynewsroom.com

BY MATT SUGAM

NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM

NEW YORK - As Dion Waiters slammed home the outlet pass with one hand while the outline of the backboard lit up in red to signify the final buzzer, he let out a euphoric yell and pointed up to the Syracuse fans that had filled up Madison Square Garden.

The basket ultimately didn’t count, but it was still the exclamation point to Waiters game-high 18-point outing to help Syracuse escape with a 58-55 win over UConn.

The Big East’s Sixth Man of the Year paced the bench — which is widely considered the deepest and most talented in the country — as they outscored Syracuse’s starters.

“That super sixth man that we talk about,” Scoop Jardin said of Waiters. “That guy that can fill it up and play 40 minutes on any other team and for him to do it in the minutes that he’s doing it, it shows character.”

And that character was shaped in the streets of Philadelphia.

“Philly just — it gave you that toughness that a lot of cities don’t give you so at the end of the day you’re being a man handing responsibilities, and that’s what Philly really made out of me,” Waiters said. “Especially my mom. Just seeing how strong she was as a single parent and that motivated me more and gave me the drive. That’s how I am how I am.”

Spending countless hours in the park playing basketball morphed Waiters into a guard that can break you down and isn’t afraid to attack the teeth of a defense.

Oozing with talent, the 6-foot-4, 215-pound guard could easily be starting. He would be on any other team in the country.

But like everyone else on the team, he had to check his ego at the door. Even the starters aren’t getting the proverbial “starter's minutes.” There just aren’t enough to go around.

“My freshman year [it was an adjustment period]. As a kid you're top 15 in the country — all that type of stuff. You're in All-Star games,” the Burlington Life Center Academy, N.J. product said. “At the end of the day it was I wasn’t going to be selfish.”

In the end, his selflessness has made him a better player.

“As a kid you're used to getting what you want, but at the end of the day it helped me,” Waiters said. “It motivated me. I got more humble. I just took my work ethic to another level.”

Which has helped take Syracuse to the upper echelon of college basketball. The Orange will be one of the No. 1 seeds heading into the NCAA Tournament.

In those games — along with the reaming Big East Tournament games — the sophomore will be leaned on when it matters most. That’s what matters to Waiters.

“It’s not about starting, it’s about finishing. That’s how I look at it,” Waiters said. “And this team man — everyone’s unselfish. I love playing for these guys. If I didn’t even play, I’d be happy just to be a part of the team just because of the chemistry we have.”

It's why this group is edging closer to their team goal of winning a title.

“At the end of the day we have one goal and that’s to win a championship.” Waiters said. “So I’m happy with my position coming off the bench, giving us that spark.”

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