Gerry McNamara is looking for a partner in the backcourt. Someone who can help him run the offense, someone who won’t allow penetration on defense. That player doesn’t have to star, just fill a role.

After only seven games this season, McNamara is still searching for that support. All three possible candidates – Louie McCroskey, Eric Devendorf and Josh Wright – have already had a chance this year, and none has secured the spot.

The latest audition went to the sophomore Wright, who notched career highs with 34 minutes and 19 points in Wednesday night’s 87-82 overtime win over Manhattan. Replacing inconsistent starter Eric Devendorf less than seven minutes into the game, Wright sandwiched a slow second half with outstanding play in the first half and overtime.

The other two did not contribute much in the game. In his second career start, Devendorf played 15 minutes and scored four points on 1-of-7 shooting. McCroskey was given even less of a chance. The junior who started the first five games of the season was the fourth and final player off the bench for Syracuse. He only scored two points in eight minutes of play.

Though Syracuse head coach Jim Boeheim lavished praise on Wright and hinted that moving Devendorf to the starting lineup was a mistake, he did not comment on a starter for Saturday’s game against Texas Christian.

‘He started out pretty well coming off the bench,’ Boeheim said of Devendorf, ‘and you think when you move a guy in to the starting lineup it helps him. But sometimes it doesn’t work that way. He does not look like he knows what he’s doing on either end of the court, and he’s definitely lost out there right now.’

The smoothest the offense ran in the game was when Wright penetrated the lane and dished to wide-open forwards like Terrence Roberts and Darryl Watkins. Wright finished with eight assists but three costly second-half turnovers. He also has the ability to take the ball-handling duties away from McNamara. But he wasn’t willing to comment on the starting spot.

‘That’s not my job,’ Wright said. ‘I play hard enough for us to win and that should be good.’

McCroskey played the least minutes of any Orange player, indicating he is not an option at this time.

It appears as though it will take much of the non-conference schedule to determine who will be the second starter at guard. Mike Hopkins, an assistant who coaches the guards in practice, said all three players bring different strengths to the table, making the decision tough.

‘You’ve got a guy who can score (Devendorf), a great defensive player (McCroskey) and a guy who can make plays (Wright),’ Hopkins said. ‘I think it’s all going to depend; each game is going to be different.’

Devendorf agreed with Boeheim’s assessment of his play. Despite shooting the biggest shot of the game for Syracuse – the 3-pointer that tied the game with 14.2 seconds left in regulation – the freshman criticized himself and praised Wright at the same time.

‘Luckily the shot went in ’cause I had a terrible game,’ said Devendorf, who was then informed by reporters of Boeheim’s remarks. ‘Yeah, I guess so, I agree with that (being lost), but I’m just going to keep coming up and playing my game and hopefully it gets better.’

Boeheim took issue with Devendorf’s drive that could have ended the game in the final seconds. The coach said Devendorf should have leaned into draw a foul instead of trying to flip a shot over the Manhattan forwards.

Though it was Wright who shined against Manhattan, the sample size of seven games is small. Finding a consistent starter to combine with McNamara will be vital to the Orange’s success this season and consistent performances have been hard to come by this season across the board.

McNamara wasn’t willing to divulge a preference of his playing partner. He only echoed Hopkins.

‘You’ve got to have guys that do different things well and that’s going to make you multi-dimensional,’ McNamara said. ‘Tonight Josh did everything well – he scored, he distributed and was a big part of this win.’

Published on November 30, 2005 at 12:00 pm