(MCT) — SYRACUSE, N.Y. — When another winter night passed with his contributions just a faint rumor, Jerami Grant returned to his room and felt like he was about to cry. Day after day, in practice after practice, the Syracuse freshman worked to earn a chance. Sometimes it came. As often, it did not.

Ready to abandon hope, facing three more months of this torment, he sent a text message that was relatively desperate. And when Jerian Grant read his little brother’s pleas, Notre Dame’s junior guard had a ready response. He just told Jerami what he told himself two years earlier.