Jonathan Wallace was on the hardwood for 24 solid minutes in Tuesday night’s 63-53 win over a better-than-advertised South Florida team, but unless you were paying close attention, you might have missed him. Like a ghost dressed in gray, the senior point guard was all but transparent in a two point, one assist performance against the Bulls. To the untrained eye, Wallace has been all but unnoticeable as of late. Besides surpassing Kevin Braswell as the best Hoyas’ three-point shooter of all time on New Year’s Eve and scoring his 1,000th point later that night, Wallace’s senior season has so far been a disappearing act. His production has dropped in every statistical category in 2007-08, and he spends much more time sitting on the bench than ever before. It’s not that the farm boy from Sparkman has been playing poorly, or that John Thompson III has suddenly lost all the “I-trust-Jon-Wallace-with-my-life” feelings he expressed before the season. It’s just that JT III doesn’t have to depend on Wallace to do it all anymore. Everyone around Wallace is playing better, and as a result, the unassuming Wallace simply has less to do. Every member of the Hoyas’ starting five – as well as bench players Patrick Ewing Jr. and Jeremiah Rivers – have seen their scoring averages spike in 2007-08 – except Wallace. Jessie Sapp has taken over as the role of distributing the rock, as he showed on a pretty no-look to Vernon Macklin late in the second half for an easy lay up, and DaJuan Summers is quickly becoming the team’s go-to three-point marksman. Defensive fundamentals savant Jeremiah Rivers always draws the opponent’s top threat, and Austin Freeman is scoring at will. Were Chris Wright healthy, Wallace would have the ball in his steady hand even less. Yes, he has struggled from beyond the arc this season. But that is only part of the puzzle. “Every time he takes a shot, I still think it’s going in,” Thompson said Tuesday night. “People know he can make shots. He’s got people honing in on him and playing him more aggressively than other years. He’s had some good nights and some bad nights.” Wallace’s two free-throw effort seems particularly anemic compared to his 10-point performance the last time these two teams met in 2006. But that was a completely different squad that lost to the Bulls in Tampa. Back then, Wallace was like the kid in the seventh grade choir who hits puberty early and has to sing tenor just because no one else can. He stood out because he was singing an octave or two lower than everyone else. Now, everyone else’s voices have dropped, and Wallace simply blends in. “We are a more balanced team this year,” Roy Hibbert said shortly after the win. “When you get to depend on all your teammates and not just one person, that’s great. We do a great job sharing the ball. The weight is all on all shoulders.” Once upon a time, Wallace was called upon to play 30 plus minutes night in and night out. This year, he logged a season-high 33 minutes in the opener against William and Mary and has spent more than 30 on the floor only three times since. Over the past three games, he has averaged under 25. Come tournament time, when the pressure builds and the margin of victory shrinks, Wallace’s floor time should increase once again. But don’t expect his stats to soar. He simply doesn’t have to put up Magic Johnson lines in order for the Hoyas to win. His true role, where his impact is felt most keenly, is in the places the fan doesn’t see – in practice tutoring Freeman and Wright, in the huddle during timeouts pointing out opponents’ flaws invisible to everyone else in his calm, understated manner. That impact is one that never shows up on SportsCenter or in a box score, but it is crucial none the less. “Jon is still Jon,” Thompson said. “He is a focal point – not necessarily the focal point, as he probably would have been in previous years. Jon is the same person that he has been for four years.” And it is that person – the trusted, time-tested, team-first leader – that Thompson, and all of Georgetown, cherishes.