We Want Jordan Riley Back

Jordan, if you’re reading this, please stay the course. Help is on the way. Hope is a good thing. 

Okay, let me be frank: this season has arguably been a bigger trainwreck than last year’s historically bad 0-19 campaign. Former Big East Tournament Most Outstanding Player Dante Harris left after essentially being blackballed by the program, the team still plays no defense and best of all, Jordan Riley, one of the most athletically-gifted Hoyas ever, has been restricted to the bench for the majority of the season! 

Riley, originally a four-star recruit from the greatest place on Earth, Long Island, NY, blew up on social media as a high schooler. While he was best known for his ridiculous bounce and crazy dunks, he ended his high school career by being named New York’s Gatorade Player of the Year. Since arriving at Georgetown, however, that bounce has largely been hidden from the spotlight. 

After his freshman year was cut short by injuries, Riley has carved out a role as one of the first players off the bench. But as much as he’s played this year, being buried behind the ever-dribbling Primo Spears and Jay Heath has given the sophomore one of the shortest leashes on the team. Sometimes it feels that when a starter throws a no-look pass into the third row, they get a pat on the back and play 37 minutes, but if Riley so much as misses a shot, he gets taken out almost immediately. All this has done is keep him from getting the looks he deserves, especially when the team continuously loses games they shouldn’t. 

Take the unfortunately riveting season opener against Coppin State, for example. Riley played just four minutes, all of which came in overtime. In that overtime period, the Hoyas finally asserted their dominance and ended up winning by 10 points. Coincidence? I think not. Despite playing 20 minutes the following game against Green Bay, Riley’s minutes became too inconsistent for the sophomore to build any confidence before his role expanded after Jay Heath was injured. 

During that stretch with his expanded role, we saw glimpses of what Riley could (and should) be doing. In the second matchup against Villanova, Riley started and put up a game-high 18 points on 8-for–12 shooting with just one turnover in just 30 minutes. Couple that with a 16-point performance against Marquette and the 11-points he dropped against Green Bay in limited work, Jordan Riley more than proved that he is a player who needs a hell of a lot more minutes than he’s getting. 

But since Heath’s return, he’s been sent back to the bench and is once again on too short of a leash for him to make the kind of positive impact we know he is capable of. Although his role has expanded from what it was before the Heath injury, the handcuffs are seemingly back on.

All of this is to say that with the impending departure of Patrick Ewing as coach and a national search for the next leader of Georgetown Basketball soon to be underway, there’s nothing I’d love to see more than a new coach taking Jordan’s handcuffs off next season and us fans finally being able to enjoy his talent. Whether it’s Rick Pitino, Ed Cooley or someone else, the new coach has to realize that Riley is far too talented to be riding the bench, and if he doesn’t, well, you’ve seen that story before. 

At the end of the day, all I can say is we’re rooting for you, Jordan.