Jaquan Carlos, the Hofstra transfer point guard who was brought in to handle Syracuse’s attack this season, has failed to live up to expectations. Including, and more specifically, his own.
“I believe I haven’t been playing to my full potential,” Carlos said as he sat in front of his locker in the New York Liberty’s locker room after Syracuse’s 79-74 defeat to Texas Tech at the Barclays Center on Friday. “I think I can play better. “I know I can.”
Carlos is off to a bad start. Syracuse after establishing himself as one of the country’s best playmakers at Hofstra.
Last season, the 6-foot guard averaged 10.3 points and 6.4 assists per game, placing him 12th in the nation.
Syracuse coach Adrian Autry and his staff saw Carlos as the ideal pass-first guard to run the Orange’s offense, setting up players such as JJ Starling and Chris Bell.
“We (brought) JC in to get other people the ball,” Autry explained.
However, Syracuse, which dropped to 3-2 after Friday’s loss to Texas Tech, has struggled offensively, as has Carlos.
Carlos scored only 4 points on 2-for-6 field goal attempts against Texas Tech. He was credited with three assists and no turnovers in 26 minutes.
The game matched his performance in Syracuse’s first four games, when he averaged 3.5 points and failed to make shots. He went 4-for-20 on field goals and 1-for-7 from the three-point line.
“Yeah, I definitely hold myself to a much higher level than I am playing,” Carlos said, “but I think I try to impact the game in other ways even when I’m suffering offensively.
“But I’m definitely not playing up to the standard that I set for myself.”
Carlos and Syracuse’s situation is a case of chicken or egg.
As a point guard, he relies on his teammates to make shots, and the Orange aren’t making many of them right now.
Syracuse shot 6-of-21 from 3-point range against Texas Tech, bringing their season total to 25.7%.
So, will Carlos’ productivity improve if SU’s shooting improves, or does Carlos need to produce more to get SU’s offense going?
Autry appeared to side with the egg rather than the chicken.
“He’s given people the ball,” Autry explained, “but we haven’t been able to finish or convert.”
Over the summer and into the early fall, the feedback from SU’s workouts and practices indicated that Carlos would be the answer at this stage.
Syracuse junior Chris Bell, who scored 20 points on Friday, confirmed the stories as correct.
“There’s another level (to Carlos) that you haven’t seen,” Bell explained. “It will come out.”
Bell claimed Carlos’ troubles were comparable to his own down nights in recent games. Every player can go into a funk. Carlos is merely having a rough spell at the start of the season.
“I’m not going to give up (on Carlos) one, four, or five games into the season,” Autry stated. “All right?” “He is a good player.”
Carlos is searching for his groove, much like a baseball player in a slump. He has done this before. The hitter only needs a blooper or a ground ball to advance through the infield.
Carlos, who made 34.4% of his 3-pointers previous season, only needs to see the ball go through the net, even if it bounces once or twice on the rim.
And if the rest of his teammates start making shots consistently, his assist-to-turnover ratio might skyrocket above his current 19 assists and 5 turnovers in five games.
“I just gotta go out there and play,” Carlos explained. “It’s not like anyone understands how to regain your rhythm because it would imply that every time you fell out of it, you’d immediately recover.
“It won’t happen overnight,” he added. “It’s basically day-to-day. It could be the next or the following game.
I’m hoping it comes back faster. I’m working every day to get it back.
“It could be any game,” Carlos explained. “It could happen in the next game, and we’ll take it from there.”
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