For Geno Auriemma, Maya Moore’s career night came as a complete surprise. At least as surprising as any flawless performance from the nation’s best player could be.

In the team’s shootaround before the game, Moore was terrible, the Connecticut head coach said. The junior couldn’t hit a shot. It was enough for Auriemma to play Nostradamus. He told his players and coaches Moore would have a poor game.

‘I said to the coaches on the bench and the players, I said, ‘You guys think I’m not that smart, but Maya is going to be out of it tonight,” Auriemma said.

Luckily for Connecticut, and unfortunately for Syracuse, UConn’s head coach was dead wrong.

In 32 minutes of action, Moore, last year’s unanimous National Player of the Year, dominated as No. 1 Connecticut defeated Syracuse, 87-66, in front of 3,230 at the Carrier Dome Wednesday night. In the showing, Moore was nearly error-free from the field as she scored a season-high 38 points and a collected a career-high 20 rebounds.

Moore’s 38 was the highest point total Syracuse has surrendered to a single player this year.

‘Thirty-eight points and 20 rebounds later, they don’t listen to anything I say anymore,’ Auriemma said. ‘They think I am crazy.’

The loss further distances SU (19-8, 6-8 Big East) from its already reeling NCAA Tournament hopes, while the Huskies extended their winning streak to 67.

Moore’s performance was only the second time in program history a player recorded 30-plus points and at least 20 rebounds. Rebecca Lobo was the only other Huskie in the program’s storied history to achieve the accomplishment, in 1994.

‘It’s a mentality,’ Moore said. ‘Coming out when you play Syracuse because you know they are also going to be confident. They are going to be physical. They are going to be strong, so you go in with that mindset. And I think that brings out the best with me.’

In a game where Connecticut (28-0, 14-0) inflicted its own hectic, full-court pace on the Orange, Moore proved to embody the perfect storm for Syracuse’s demise.

Heading into a matchup against the No. 1 team in the country, SU head coach Quentin Hillsman knew that if his team had a chance, it had to continue to perform well on the glass. During SU’s tough stretch through Big East play, rebounding is one department Hillsman has been able to find solace in. Coming into the game, SU outrebounded its opponents by an average of 47-37.

‘So rebounding and free throws were a big part of the game, and obviously Maya Moore had a monster game,’ Hillsman said. ‘And again, she is a great player. She’s a very good player, and she comes to play in big games and tonight she came to play.’

But Moore was also looking to prove herself on the boards. Ever since her arrival to Storrs, Conn., more than three years ago, Auriemma has been drilling into his star that she doesn’t go hard to the glass.

Apparently the practices leading up to Wednesday’s contest were finally enough.

‘Rebounds, it’s easy hearing every day, ‘You can’t rebound, you don’t rebound in practice,” Moore said. ‘(It was great) actually doing what I know I can do. … That was a huge part of our scouting report because we know Syracuse gets a lot of extra possessions by attacking the glass. To make it a lot harder for them we had to rebound. So we knew coming in that was a must.’

With 8:14 remaining in the game, Moore effectively put the dagger in a contest she manhandled with a 3-pointer from the top of the key. The shot was the second 3 for Moore in a 40-second span — her 12th and final basket of the night — as it gave the Huskies their first 30-point lead at 78-48.

Just two points shy of her career-high, which happened to come the last time the Orange played the Huskies, Jan. 19, 2009, it appeared as if Moore would easily coast to a new plateau.

But with the next dead ball with 7:42 remaining, Auriemma sent his star to the bench. She sat for the rest of the game.

The bleeding needed to stop. The dog needed to be called off.

‘To be honest with you, sometimes we aren’t even aware that we necessarily scored a certain amount of points straight,’ Moore said. ‘We are just out there trying to attack.’

After the game, Moore strolled to the podium fashionably late with her knees wrapped in ice.

Three minutes after teammate Tiffany Hayes stepped up to the microphone for the Connecticut players’ portion of the postgame press conference, Moore casually joined her.

The slow strut to the podium didn’t signify a brash act from the junior, though. Not on this night. Moore just needed a few extra minutes to ice her knees after perhaps the game of her life.

Even for arguably the greatest player in women’s college basketball history.

‘She had a phenomenal night tonight,’ Auriemma said. ‘That’s just an unbelievable performance. She’s just a unique player, a unique individual.’

aolivero@syr.edu

Published on February 24, 2010 at 12:00 pm