After sitting out Monday’s game against Pittsburgh with a concussion, SU forward Kris Joseph returned to Syracuse’s lineup in a 83-72 loss against Villanova.
Joseph appeared to have no lingering effects from the injury, leading Syracuse with 23 points.
“Offensively, he had a good game,” Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim said. “In the second half, he got open shots, knocked them down and got to the basket. I thought he had a really good offensive game.”
Joseph suffered the injury after banging his head on the floor during last Saturday’s 67-52 win over Cincinnati. He didn’t travel with the team to Pittsburgh as SU lost 74-66.
The junior forward is SU’s leading scorer at 14.6 points per game.
“Everything went as I thought it would,” Joseph said. “No pain or anything like that. I am back at 100 percent.”
For a period of time, Joseph single-handedly kept Syracuse in the game. With the Orange trailing 48-36 with 16:40 left, Joseph slammed in an alley-oop from Scoop Jardine.
Joseph would follow that with a 3-pointer, a leaner in the lane and another 3-pointer as he scored 10 straight Syracuse points.
“It’s something that’s expected of him,” guard Brandon Triche said. “Even playing injured.”
But it was a bittersweet return for Joseph, as Syracuse dropped its second straight game.
“We lost the game,” Joseph said. “I’m not happy at all.”
Wesley Cheng is the Editor in Chief for The Juice Online.
