During the second half of Syracuse’s 68-55 win over Colgate on Saturday night, SU head coach Jim Boeheim kept hearing a fan shout for the Orange to play man-to-man defense.

Syracuse struggled while playing man in the first half, so Boeheim couldn’t understand why the fan insisted on the Orange making the switch. Boeheim then looked behind him and realized why the fan was begging for the change – the person was rooting for Colgate.‘With our good teams we’ve always been able to play man-to-man,’ Boeheim said. ‘We cannot play man-to-man right now. … If we’d played man-to-man (the whole game against Colgate), we would have lost the game.’

Syracuse switched its defensive attack in the second half, reverting from a half-court man setup to a full-court press with its traditional 2-3 zone for half-court defense.

The full-court press forced several Colgate turnovers while Syracuse’s zone was more effective than its paltry man defense had been. Still, Colgate had numerous open shots throughout the game.

‘Our man-to-man defense was not what we expected it to be,’ Syracuse senior guard Josh Pace said. ‘Our zone kind of got us going. We mixed it up a bit and got them off balance.’

Nearly every player said the Orange needs to improve that facet of its defense if it hopes to contend with No. 6 Oklahoma State on Tuesday and also to make a serious run at a national championship.

‘Right now our man-to-man is not where we want it to be,’ SU senior forward Hakim Warrick said. ‘We’ve got to try to improve on it in the next couple of practices and hopefully get it going.’

Syracuse sophomore forward Terrence Roberts and Warrick both flashed a different part of their games Saturday night – each knocked in a 3-pointer.

The two 3-pointers were the second of both Warrick’s and Roberts’ college careers.

Warrick had missed 11 straight 3-point attempts, dating back to his freshman year, since he last made one against Albany in 2001. Roberts made one 3-pointer in six attempts last season.

A reporter asked Roberts if he has the green light to take 3s in a game.

‘Green light? Please,’ Roberts said. ‘I don’t even have a light.’

Syracuse junior guard Gerry McNamara had one of his worst shooting halves for Syracuse in the first half Saturday night.

McNamara scored zero points on 0-for-3 shooting, including two missed 3-point attempts. McNamara’s asthma limited his playing in the first half to 15 minutes and he had to have it treated during halftime.

‘Gerry had a little problem physically in the first half breathing,’ Boeheim said. ‘He couldn’t get his breathing going. I think that was a factor for his play.’

Craig Forth continued to see his playing time decrease Saturday night. The senior center played just nine minutes, his lowest total of the season.

Forth failed to score for the second consecutive game and missed two easy baskets in the first three minutes Saturday night.

The senior did grab seven rebounds in his limited playing time, but Boeheim was not happy with the play from his starting center.

‘Our centers are obviously going to have to play better,’ Boeheim said. ‘We can’t afford to not control the middle against anybody.’

Colgate starting guard Jon Simon impressed with his 18 points in 40 minutes against Syracuse on Saturday. He shot 50 percent from the floor, including two long-range 3s in the second half to help Colgate tie the score three different times. … Billy Edelin played just six first-half minutes while still trying to get back into playing shape. …Virginia Tech beat Miami to win the ACC football championship Saturday and Boeheim couldn’t have been happier. ‘I’m glad the Big East won the ACC football championship this year,’ Boeheim said. ‘I thought that was nice. It just goes to prove we were by far the better football league and they said they were the better football league for the last 10 years.’

Published on December 4, 2004 at 12:00 pm