PHILADELPHIA – With 2:24 remaining and trailing by 14 points, the buzzer sounded between a pair of Louie McCroskey free throws, signaling a substitution. Josh Wright came in. Gerry McNamara came out.

A Villanova fan sitting behind the basket shouted toward the acclaimed senior guard, in the utmost defiance of creativity, ‘Hey McNamara, you suck!’ The fan, who failed to recognize that McNamara entered the game 2-0 against Wildcats with 18 points in both wins, didn’t make a completely inaccurate assessment of Syracuse’s leader on Saturday night.

McNamara finished with four points on 1-of-8 shooting. It was the first time he’s been held to single-digits since the season opener against Bethune-Cookman, and it was his lowest-scoring output since his freshman season, when he was held to three points on three different occasions. Perhaps the most telling statistic was that he attempted no 3-pointers for the first time in his career.

To add to the woes, McNamara committed six turnovers – four in the first half. He did, however, compile seven assists. The Scranton native – whose loyal fan base traveled the 125-mile trek to Philadelphia – spent the final two minutes of the game with his head buried in his hands on the bench. He answered a few reporters’ questions, but left the locker room, along with much of the Orange, before Syracuse head coach Jim Boeheim completed his post-game press conference.

‘Tonight was his first bad game of the year,’ 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.’

Villanova head coach Jay Wright coached McNamara during the summer on the U.S. National Team in the World University Games. When Wright was asked last week whether the experience provided any insight for Saturday’s preparations, he said it ‘scared him to death.’ Wright raved about McNamara’s talent and leadership over the summer and set to figure out how Villanova could counter.

Despite McNamara’s poor showing, Wright still found room for praise. He attributed SU’s second-half comeback to McNamara splitting Villanova’s press and said the Wildcats were able to stop SU in the first half by forcing the ball out of McNamara’s hand. But overall, Villanova’s aggressive defense stymied the senior guard.

‘It’s not just him scoring, but creating shots for people,’ Wright said. ‘We had to help on him, but it was really Allan (Ray) and Mike (Nardi) who were so effective on him. They really get excited about guarding people (like that).’

Nardi and Ray were eager to take on the assignment. After falling victim to the Orange, 90-75, last season in the Wachovia Center – McNamara scored 18 points, distributed seven assists and nailed three 3-pointers – they focused on stopping him on Saturday.

‘We just came out with the mindset as a team that we’re going to play together and stick to our game plan,’ Ray said. ‘It was part of our game plan not to let him get any easy looks and play great help defense as a team and we did a good job on him, but it wasn’t anything personal.’

It was McNamara’s second consecutive poor outing – he shot 5-for-16 and was held to 14 points in SU’s 88-80 loss to Connecticut on Monday – but he’s otherwise been effective recently. In an 88-82 win over Notre Dame on Jan. 14, McNamara scored 25 points and hit seven 3-pointers. When the Orange beat Cincinnati three days later, he scored 29 points and connected on five 3-pointers. The performances earned him Big East Player of the Week last week.

‘He started out great on the road against Cincinnati and Notre Dame and struggled a little against UConn,’ Boeheim said. ‘But tonight he couldn’t get anything going at all. That’s unusual for Gerry. He doesn’t have many bad games, but this was a bad game.’

Published on January 22, 2006 at 12:00 pm