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This past Saturday’s Georgetown vs. Fairfield game was so boring that the highlight of my afternoon was the free Chik-fil-A cow doll I got before tip-off. With flashy guard Jessie Sapp sidelined for most of the game with a bang on the head and the Hoyas’ perimeter defense making the Stags’ point guard Jonathan Han look more like Jonathan Wallace, the 27-point underdogs from Fairfield made a game of it. Despite these negatives, I went home happy because of the promising play of my new favorite player: none other than sophomore guard Jeremiah Rivers. Rivers is no stranger to playing time. In his freshman season, the three-star recruit was the first guard off the bench. He averaged a little less than 12 minutes a game with just over a point per game, and his turnover to assist ratio was an awful 1:1. Rivers’ field-goal percentage (39 percent) and his three-point percentage (23 percent) were also team lows among the rotation players, but this didn’t stop him from attempting over a shot a game. Rivers was billed as a defensive stopper, and like many defensive specialists, his box score wasn’t pretty. He also seemed unsure of himself on offensive, frequently losing his dribble or throwing up an ill-advised jumper. Rivers was basically the definition of a nervous freshman, and his defensive abilities were often overshadowed by his turnovers or misses. With the arrival of McDonald’s All-American guards Chris Wright and Austin Freeman, many fans speculated that Rivers would spend his sophomore season watching games from the Kenny Izzo Memorial Folding Chair. Wright was even billed as a talented defensive player, and there was a chance Rivers’ one-dimensional game would no longer be needed. A son of a coach himself, Rivers may have seen the writing on the wall (or the Hoyatalk board), and instead of pouting, he spent the off-season working on his game. Rivers, along with the rest of the bench, didn’t show much in the season’s first game, but in an impressive 23 minutes against Michigan, Hoya fans saw the first signs of a new Jeremiah. The sophomore scored three points (on just two shots) and added two assists without a turnover. Certainly not a drastic difference, but with Wright and Freeman both seeing an increase in minutes, Coach Thompson still found a great place in the rotation for Rivers. Over the next two games, Rivers continued to shoot well, and his assists, steals and rebounds often exceeded his freshman averages. In the first half of the Fairfield game with Jessie Sapp almost immediately sent to the locker room, Rivers was thrown into the mix, and he put his new talents and confidence on display. Not only did Jerry shoot well, with two three pointers on two attempts, he also evinced an awareness of the offensive flow that resulted in four assists. While Rivers had a great half, the Hoyas let the Stags hang around, and Fairfield’s Han lit up the Hoyas with three treys. The offense was stagnant, but the defense was terrible. Sapp returned briefly in the second half and DaJuan Summers stole the show with his offense, but it was Rivers’ defense that closed out the game. With 7:15 left in the half, a Chris Wright foul sent Han to the line, and with the Hoya lead cut to two, Rivers checked into the game to cover Han. With Rivers on his tail, Han failed to make a field goal and managed only one point off of a free-throw in the final minutes. What the box score doesn’t show is just how impressively Rivers stayed with Han. The Stag guard had lived from the three-point line by running off of a screen and hitting the open shot, but Rivers chased Han around screens and refused to bite on fakes. With their leading scorer in check, the Stag offense scored only six points as the Hoyas pulled away for the 12-point victory. Always a fan of good defense, Coach Thompson was quick to praise Rivers, saying, “The pressure [Rivers] can put on people defensively, it can have a tremendous effect.” Such praise may be nothing new for Rivers, but Thompson also cited Jeremiah’s offensive contributions. Thompson added, “I think Jeremiah was terrific today, with five assists and no turnovers.” Thompson also praised Chris Wright’s defensive performance, and both Wright and Freeman have made great strides in five games. There is certainly a chance that when Wright gets his game under control and starts to make better decisions, he will take some of Rivers’ playing time, but in a conference with talented guards like Marquette’s Jerel McNeal and Villanova’s Scottie Reynolds, there will always be room in the rotation for a defensive stopper with a three-point shot, at least until a new class of highly touted freshman arrive. Nikita can keep Kenny’s chair warm until then. Jamie Leader is a junior in the College. He can be reached at leaderthehoya.com FOLLOW THE LEADER appears every other Friday in HOYA SPORTS.