NEW YORK — Playing on the biggest stage of his life Friday night, Wesley Johnson came through with a performance that thrust him into the national college basketball consciousness.Johnson, a 6-foot-7 junior forward, put up a game-high 25 points and 8 rebounds and earned tournament MVP honors as the Orange throttled No. 6 North Carolina, 87-71, in the championship game of the 2K Sports Coaches vs. Cancer Classic before 15,552.
Johnson, who sat out all of last season after transferring from Iowa State, said he spoke to Syracuse graduate assistant Gerry McNamara before the game and that got him fired up for the defending NCAA champion Tar Heels. McNamara won Big East tournament titles at the Garden in 2005 and ’06 and knows a thing or two about the big stage.
(Photo courtesy Newsobserver.com)
