You know you’ve made a big shot when you’re still smiling about it three days later.
Judging from the grin that six-foot-six-inch Bryon Jansen—a junior walk-on in his first year as a part of the No. 6-ranked basketball team in the country— wore during a media opportunity last weekend, he was pleased to record his first-ever points as a Hoya.
The Seattle native, who had his chest painted with a giant H during the Hoyas’ run through East Rutherford last March, has worked his way from the stands to the sidelines for one of the country’s most storied college basketball programs. The definition of a practice player, rarely hauling anchor from his end of the bench during games, the guy with the allergy to spotlight finally had his one shining moment last week, on basketball’s biggest stage.
Jansen’s journey started back at home, on the West Coast, where he brought Seattle Christian High School to a third-place finish in the state 1-A tournament, averaging a double-double in his senior year. Crossing the country to attend Georgetown, the high school valedictorian spent two years as Joe College before he decided to try out. After working out with the team over the summer and impressing the coaching staff in his tryout with three other hopefuls, he earned the right to wear the blue and gray.
“I just remember watching freshman and sophomore year and admiring the program,” Jansen said. “I realized how special it was and said to myself, ‘There’s no reason I shouldn’t give it a shot. I’ll regret it if I don’t.’”
In last week’s blow-out (74-42) at Madison Square Garden against St. John’s, Jansen was given the rare opportunity to not have to play human clock-killer. With six seconds to play and the Hoyas leading by a ridiculous 29 points, Hoya fans everywhere from Penn Station to Darnall dorm rooms witnessed something unusual for the final seconds of a blowout. A 29 point lead and six seconds left is normally a recipe for the ball handler to stop what he’s doing and hold the rock like a waiter holding a tray full of shrimp until the clock shows zeros. Instead, sophomore point guard Jeremiah Rivers rushed up the floor, a man on a mission: get Bryon a shot.
Catching the ball along the left wing, Jansen heaved one. Toes behind the line, quickened release, and several quarts of adrenaline pumping through the veins in his shooting hand, Jansen let go of his first-ever three-point attempt.
As the buzzer went off, the ball banked hard off the glass and thumped through the net. It assured the Red Storm their worst-ever loss in the school’s Big East history, and sent the Georgetown bench into a bona fide frenzy in support of their teammate.
“It all happened very fast,” Jansen said of the shot, smile still intact. “I don’t know if there was any thought process. I’ve done that at practice just messing around and it’s funny because the only spot on the whole three point line where you would ever bank it in was on that exact spot. I guess it’s really true that you play how you practice. I’m not saying I was trying (to bank it), but whatever happens, I’ll take it.”
It looked like even coach John Thompson III had to catch himself and remember to shake hands with coach Norm Roberts of the Red Storm before congratulating Jansen, whose work ethic he compared to the oft-praised Tyler Crawford.
“You have to be happy for him. It’s Madison Square Garden and he hits a three-point shot,” Thompson said. “We each have our part to do, and the caring and the work that he brings to our team—it’s very similar to Tyler, to tell you the truth.”
Jansen won’t let his moment in the sun—or his perfect three-point percentage—get to his head, though. He firmly asserts that his social life hasn’t changed all that much, and he’s still close with all of his friends who can’t tomahawk dunk.
“Nothing’s changed,” Jansen said with a laugh. “I can honestly say that.”
In the game Jansen will never forget, the favored team won—by a lot. But Jansen was the one underdog who left the Garden with fists pumping.
A kid who bangs bodies with future NBA players daily and attempts more shots in one warm-up session than he’ll attempt all year in games, Jansen embodies the attitude of making his team better in any way possible.
“Half the time people get mad at him because he is being real physical and they don’t like it,” Patrick Ewing Jr. said. “But he works just as hard or harder than everyone else. He’s always in there after practice getting up shots. We will go on away trips and he’s always the guy who says, ‘Yo guys, let’s go to the weight room and lift some weights or something like that’ and we are all like, ‘Bryon, are you serious? We’ve got a game tomorrow, what are you talking about?’”
Yet, against St. John’s, he got the most satisfying and clichéd individual feat of all. He got his name mentioned on SportsCenter. Of course, he never saw it. It’s not exactly routine for the walk-on to check his highlights after games. But still, pretty good for a guy who just one year ago had his nipples painted blue to cheer on the family of ballers he now calls his own.
