One half by Syracuse’s Malachi Richardson made this Final Four special

He walked into Syracuse’s locker room Friday, and he was not mobbed.

Malachi Richardson wasn’t the most popular player in the room. He might not have been the best one either. But he was the reason everyone was here.

“A gift from God,” Syracuse Coach Jim Boeheim’s wife, Juli, called it, according to the New York Post.

She was talking about Richardson’s miraculous second-half performance last Sunday, when he carried the Orange back from the dead and into the Final Four. Richardson rescued Syracuse’s season, and also saved this year’s roiling, unpredictable NCAA tournament from an orderly, ordinary conclusion.

Instead, the Final Four will be have one No. 1 seed, two No. 2s … and the first-ever 10 seed. (Three No. 11s have made it).

Syracuse isn’t quite a rags-to-riches tale, but it isn’t a popular pick here either. Villanova, in the top 10 in offensive and defensive efficiency, is the statheads’ darling. Oklahoma has the star, in Buddy Hield. North Carolina’s entire lineup is fearsome.

There is little reason to believe in Syracuse — except for last Sunday, and the performance of a player who looks as though he borrowed his hairstyle from Beaker of the Muppets.

Richardson’s locker here is in a quiet corner. His longest interview Friday was with a kid reporter from Sports Illustrated. During a media session, he received interviewers in a private room, but it was hardly full. Usually brash, Richardson turned demure.

“If I didn’t contribute, it would’ve been difficult for us to win that game, I think,” he said.

That is hard to argue. Syracuse trailed by 14 points at halftime to Virginia, one of the best defensive teams in the nation. Richardson missed all five of his field goal attempts in the first half. He had two points. At halftime, Boeheim lit into him.

“He said I needed to play,” Richardson said. “I had to be more aggressive.”

So he was. He drilled a pull-up three-pointer. He Euro-stepped into the lane. He splashed a step-back three-pointer.

He felt like he couldn’t miss. Where did his range end? “The other side of the floor,” he said.

At one point, Richardson scored 12 points in five minutes. With one dive into the sidelines, he saved a ball from going out of bounds by throwing it against a Virginia player. He drew Virginia’s Malcolm Brogdon, one of the best defenders in the nation. It didn’t matter.

“You can’t guard me!” Richardson yelled after another shot went in.

With a knife into the lane, he made a layup to take the lead. Another pull-up three-pointer was a dagger. A rebound and putback sealed it.

In all, he scored 21 points in the second half as the Orange won, 68-62.

“He had arguably one of the best halves of basketball that any player’s had in this tournament or many other tournaments,” Boeheim said.

Said guard Michael Gbinije: “He really put us on his back.”

Said assistant coach Gerry McNamara: “He put it all together.”

The performance has potentially altered Richardson’s career path. Richardson was always on NBA teams’ radar, but his good, not great, freshman season — 13.3 points and 4.3 rebounds a game — meant a sophomore season was very likely.

Oklahoma guard Buddy Hield reacts after scoring against Oregon in the first half of the West Regional final.

(Harry How / Getty Images)

Now, some scouts have predicted he could sneak into the first round of the draft.

The game was also a reminder of March’s wild swings, a useful one for the three other teams here, which have mostly avoided drama.

North Carolina, Syracuse’s opponent Saturday, has fallen out of the top 10 just one week this season. It was 11th.

Oklahoma stormed through the West Regional, and thanks to Hield’s mastery, only one of the games was close. Villanova, for a change, avoided tournament drama.

Only Syracuse took a crooked path. It barely squeaked into the tournament. Richardson, an on-again-off-again freshman talent, was a fitting hero.

“He had a bad tournament going until we needed him,” Jim Boeheim said. “When we needed him, he was there.”

In his quiet corner of the locker room Friday, Richardson joked that he had only one way to top Sunday’s performance.

“Score 25 in the first half” against North Carolina, he said.

But when asked if Syracuse could re-create the miracle, he turned serious.

“I don’t think the last one was a miracle,” Richardson said.

Follow Zach Helfand on Twitter: @zhelfand