Quentin Hillsman’s players insisted their pregame preparation remained unchanged. That their coach’s demeanor was the same as always.

And amid swirling allegations of sexual harassment against their coach by former SU player Lynnae Lampkins, SU players insisted it was business as usual before the game.

‘It’s been all around, but that wasn’t our focus,’ Syracuse senior guard Erica Morrow said. ‘We understand, as a family, we need to stick together and play basketball. That’s our main objective here.’

If ever there was a reason for the Orange to come out flat or have a lack of focus, this was it. But instead, SU came out flying Saturday in a 78-57 win over South Florida. Syracuse took care of business against the lowly Bulls, despite all of the negative attention surrounding its coach and program in the 24 hours prior to the game.

Right from the opening tip, the game belonged to the Orange. It opened the game on a 23-5 run that stunned the Bulls and shredded their 2-3 zone.

Syracuse hit 12 of its first 18 shots and showed no signs of being distracted or emotionally distraught.

‘Coming out to a game like this and playing well and winning the basketball game really says a lot about our players and their attention to detail,’ Hillsman said.

Asked if the allegations were a distraction, Hillsman said, ‘It wasn’t because the allegations are untrue.’

Hillsman’s words were backed up by the cut-throat mentality his team demonstrated Saturday. Syracuse trailed only once against USF, when the Bulls took a 3-2 lead. That advantage lasted for 1:13, and then it was all Orange.

After that 23-5 spurt, the lead never shrunk to less than 13. By consistently getting the ball into the high post, SU could easily dump the ball down low to sophomore center Kayla Alexander or junior forward Iasia Hemingway for easy layups.

The pair combined for 20 of Syracuse’s 45 first-half points.

‘(Coach) told us that since he’s been coaching, he hasn’t had that many wins against South Florida,’ SU guard Carmen Tyson-Thomas said. ‘So that sparked us up a little bit. We came out here ready to play.’

In his tenure with Syracuse, Hillsman had one career victory in five tries against South Florida prior to Saturday.

Putting the media buzz and uncertainty within the program aside, the players won by the team’s second-largest margin in Big East play this season.

Morrow stressed the unity of the team — calling it a basketball ‘family’ — and said that in reality, the allegations have nothing to do with them. They are solely between Lampkins and Hillsman.

‘We focus on basketball,’ Morrow said. ‘That situation is definitely — has nothing to do with us. What we’re here for is to play basketball games and win basketball games for Syracuse University.’

And as a result, the team put together an offensive performance Hillsman called ‘pretty close’ to the best he’s seen all season.

Five players scored in double figures for the Orange, and the 78 points is a season high in Big East play.

Hillsman attributed the response to adversity to his players simply going out and playing basketball. Morrow and Tyson-Thomas didn’t deny they were hearing things throughout the days leading up to the game, but both of them firmly stated that once the game began, it was all about basketball.

‘It’s always just basketball, guys,’ Hillsman said. ‘Once the game starts, I have to coach the best I can coach, and they have to play the best they can play. So we just came to the floor to take care of business.’

In taking care of business, the Orange won its third straight Big East game. And in the end, Morrow said, it all came back to Hillsman. He didn’t change the way he acted toward the team and didn’t let the allegations affect him in any visible way.

His players support him, she said, and that led the team to a dominating win on the court.

‘Coach is a tough guy,’ she said. ‘We support him 100 percent. That’s what a family does. He definitely kept his intensity up.

‘We came out and got a great win today.’

mjcohe02@syr.edu

Published on January 28, 2011 at 12:00 pm

Contact Michael: mjcohe02@syr.edu | @Michael_Cohen13