CINCINNATI – Wes Johnson sees the big picture. He realizes Syracuse has its eyes set on bigger games than this.

‘I’m so anxious to get out and play,’ Johnson said, ‘but I really have to think about the future for our team.’

So as hard as it is, he can’t push it. Not yet. In Sunday’s 71-54 win over the Bearcats, Johnson struggled to rebound from a knee injury he suffered last week. It’s tough, he admits. After sitting out all of last season, he has been savoring every minute this season.

Sitting useless on the bench – with an injury and in foul trouble – is a sobering feeling. Mostly because in 26 minutes of action, Wes Johnson was not Wes Johnson. His body wouldn’t do what his mind told it to. His agility was stunted. His mobility, reigned in. Still feeling the effects of his nasty head-over-heels spill against Providence, Johnson scored a season-low five points and had only three rebounds.

With three first-half fouls and a fourth foul eight minutes into the second half, Johnson spent plenty of time on the pine.

It wasn’t easy to bottle up his emotions. For nearly 30 minutes, Johnson’s team struggled with an inferior opponent. Being a spectator wasn’t fun. Not being himself was even worse.

‘I wasn’t like myself out there playing,’ said Johnson, who is averaging 16.2 points per game. ‘My body wasn’t agreeing with the stuff I wanted to do. I just tried to fight through it. Thankfully, my teammates don’t miss a beat if I’m playing or not.’

It’s commendable that Johnson even played. Afterward, head coach Jim Boeheim realized his star forward was pushing it.

‘He felt like he could play, but he just didn’t have the mobility that he has,’ Boeheim said.

Before the game, he worked one on one with strength coach Ryan Cabiles – massaging muscles, trying to loosen the tightness. But the massaging couldn’t cure the soreness in time. Johnson wasn’t his normally motorized self. With four minutes left in the first, and Cincy holding a 26-24 lead, he caught a pass just outside the block only to have Lance Stephenson poke and retrieve the ball from his grasp.

Cincinnati raced the ball upcourt and Johnson committed the red-alert third foul.

‘I thought that just like the last game when he couldn’t go, the other guys picked it up,’ Boeheim said. ‘Our big guys just played great. Ricky and Arinze were great inside.’

Did they ever. With Johnson sitting out the final 12:40, Syracuse went on a 28-8 run. The frontcourt didn’t miss a beat. Onuaku and Jackson neutralized Cincinnati’s thinner, yet active big men with a combined 16 points and 16 rebounds. And in Johnson’s place, Kris Joseph scored 17 points.

For Johnson, the pain still lingers from his knee to his hip. For a stringy 6-foot-7 forward that makes his living jumping through defenses, that’s a tender spot. It’s a piercing pain that prohibits him from flying end to end the way he has all season.

All Johnson can do is take the injury ‘day by day.’ Lots of rest and lots of sleep is the only remedy for now. This mini break should help. Without hesitation, Johnson vows that he’ll be ready for Syracuse’s game Wednesday against Connecticut.

He sees improvement. Everything is better than that Tin Man-creaky morning after the Providence game.

‘My body still isn’t loose like I wish it was,’ Johnson said. ‘But it was fine. It was better than it was the day after the Providence game, I’ll tell you that.’

But maybe there is no need to rush him back. Maybe it is best to slowly nurse Johnson back into action until he’s himself again. It’s not like SU’s offense is handicapped without him.

Six strong, Syracuse’s offense keeps plugging without its national player of the year candidate. That’s what Boeheim is taking from Syracuse’s win in Cincinnati.

‘We won this game today without Wes Johnson,’ Boeheim said. ‘Wes is playing as well as anybody in the country. He was sore today, and we won the game on the road without him. That’s pretty good. That’s probably the thing that sticks out the most today.’

thdunne@syr.edu

Published on February 7, 2010 at 12:00 pm