PHILADELPHIA — Villanova hit one of its eight first half 3-pointers and Demetris Nichols shook his head. Syracuse passed the ball to the third row for one of its 15 first half turnovers and Josh Wright shook his head. Maybe they were shaking their heads out of frustration. Or maybe it was out of amazement. Both would have applicable on Saturday night.

The Orange dropped its second consecutive game, losing to Villanova, 80-65, in front of 20,581 – the largest crowd to ever watch a college basketball game in Pennsylvania. It was a combination of a breathtaking first half performance for the Wildcats and a frustrating performance from the Orange, who trailed 39-20 after the first 20 minutes.

Similar to Monday’s loss to Connecticut, SU surged in the second half, opening with a 17-2 run. The Wildcats were able to hold the lead – Syracuse trailed the entire game – and the Orange had to pay for a first half where it was only able to get off 20 shots.

‘Our offense is killing us,’ Syracuse head coach Jim Boeheim said. ‘(Villanova) started off 12-0. As much as it’s been the other team, it’s been ourselves on offense. We’re just making bad turnovers and we got to get that corrected.’

The Wildcats’ much-hyped four-guard offense did precisely what it’s designed to do: swarm the opponent on defense and spread the ball around on offense until it can find an open shot. The guards – Randy Foye, Allan Ray, Mike Nardi and Kyle Lowry – combined for 63 points, which was 78.75 percent of the Wildcats’ scoring.

What was most impressive was their defense. The Wildcats first half surge that Boeheim alluded to – the first 12 points that turned into a 26-8 lead when the Orange called its second timeout at the 9:33 mark of the first half – was primarily a result of a defense that scored 25 total points off SU’s turnovers. In comparison, the Orange only mustered six points off turnovers.

The turnovers are somewhat uncharacteristic of SU, who entered the game averaging a middle-of-the-road 15.6 turnovers.

‘We’re not a high turnover team; we take care of the ball well in games,’ Boeheim said. ‘I think we’re a little bit unsure offensively and everyone’s trying too hard to make something happen. But we have to get better movement. In the second half, we got a little better movement and a little better spacing and we got some real good possessions.’

Syracuse’s comeback was thwarted by what Boeheim described as three bad offensive possessions. SU cut the lead to four points on two occasions, but Villanova was able to extend the lead back to double-digits on the second occasion.

Two plays allowed the Wildcats to swing the momentum on their side. The first was when Eric Devendorf fouled Randy Foye when the senior was shooting a 3-pointer after SU initially cut the lead to four points. Foye connected on all three free throws. (The Wildcats were 32-35 from the charity stripe, an eye-boggling 91.4 percent.) The second play was when Villanova forward Will Sheridan stripped SU senior Gerry McNamara – who scored only four points in what Boeheim called McNamara’s worst game of the season – and found Kyle Lowry on an outlet pass who converted on a lay-up while being fouled. The play highlighted a 14-4 run for Villanova.

McNamara’s woes hurt the Orange. The guard has had poor games, but when SU plays a top 10 team like Villanova, it needs McNamara to come through. Saturday was his first time in single digits since the season-opening win against Bethune-Cookman and his lowest point total since his freshman season.

‘Tonight was his first bad game of the year. He couldn’t get anything going at all,’ Boeheim said. ‘You’re going to have a bad game once in awhile. We’re not used to him having a bad night. Usually if he’s not shooting well, he’s doing something well. He’s making plays or doing something. But tonight he just had a bad game.’

Eric Devendorf and Terrence Roberts picked up the slack. Devendorf scored 21 points on 7-of-13 shooting. Roberts scored 20 points on 8-of-11 shooting. Between the two, though, they only combined for six first half points.

‘I don’t look it as me playing well. I look it as me playing just one half,’ said Roberts, who scored 16 points in the second half. ‘The first half I was invisible basically. When they needed me the most, I wasn’t there.’

The problem for the Orange is the entire team could say the same as Roberts.

‘I was a little surprised we were able to get back in it so quickly,’ Boeheim said. ‘We just started off the game so poorly on both sides of the ball – defense and offense – and that’s not a good way to start.’

Published on January 21, 2006 at 12:00 pm