The ‘One More Year!’ chants didn’t rain down from the stands like last year’s regular-season finale, but talk of Hakim Warrick’s NBA prospects still filled the Syracuse men’s basketball team’s locker room after SU’s 67-56 win over Connecticut.

‘I’m not even thinking about the NBA right now,’ Warrick said. ‘I’m just thinking about how we’re gonna do in the Big East tournament. As of right now, I’m coming back for my senior year.’

Warrick, who scored 19 points on 7-for-14 shooting and grabbed six rebounds, said he has talked to Carmelo Anthony, at whom the chants were directed last year, about the NBA.

‘Yeah, we’ve talked about it,’ Warrick said. ‘We even talked about it last year, in practice, just joking around, saying we should come out together. He says I’m ready, but he’s always been saying that.’

Warrick also said he knows he must improve his midrange jumper to excel at the next level. But he insisted he hasn’t made a decision.

‘At the end of the season,’ Warrick said, ‘we’ll sit down and figure out what’s best for me and my family.’

A slew of scouts attended Sunday’s game. They were also likely looking at Connecticut center Emeka Okafor and freshman Charlie Villanueva, who also has been rumored to leave for the NBA.

‘I haven’t made a decision yet,’ Villanueva said. ‘Me and Coach (Jim) Calhoun haven’t even really talked about it.’

Villanueva scored 13 points on 6-for-8 shooting, mostly coming during a three-and-a-half-minute stretch when he scored nine consecutive points for UConn.

Nichols and dimed

Demetris Nichols’ stat sheet may not look too impressive. Just 2-for-7 from the field and five points.

But those two shots came when SU needed them.

With 10:22 left in the game, Nichols, a freshman, hit an open jumper to put SU up four after a mini run by UConn.

Then, just a minute later, guard Gerry McNamara found Nichols for a 3 to put SU up five, forcing the Huskies to take a timeout.

‘I just thought about winning,’ Nichols said. ‘I had confidence in myself, and at that point, GMac gave it to me, so he had confidence in me, too. I knew what I had to do, and I just knocked it down.

‘Every day I’m feeling more and more comfortable. I just try to get better.’

This and that

This is the fifth consecutive opponent Syracuse has held to less than 60 points. SU has won all those games. … Jeremy McNeil was honored before the game for senior day. He didn’t start though, playing just five minutes and shooting 0-for-1 from the floor. He also had two rebounds. … UConn’s bench scored 27 points while SU’s scored none. … The 32,944 in attendance was the fifth-largest crowd in SU history. Said SU coach Jim Boeheim: ‘You don’t want to send 33,000 fans home unahappy. Now, 20,000 is a different story.’ … Two of the more clever signs at the Carrier Dome on Sunday? ‘Villanueva Looks Like a Caveman,’ and ‘UConn Was My Safety School.’

Published on March 6, 2004 at 12:00 pm