SOUTH BEND, Ind. — One loss doesn’t scratch out the previous 20 wins. The confidence still remains. Sure, it might be battered and bruised, wounded even, but getting off to the best start in school history infused the winning mindset into this Syracuse team.

So just minutes after losing 67-58 to unranked Notre Dame in a game dictated wholeheartedly by the Fighting Irish, C.J. Fair’s view of his Orange was unaffected.

‘We’re a confident team,’ Fair said. ‘Even though we lost, we still think we’re the best team in the country. We feel as though (Cincinnati) have to play perfect to beat us, and I don’t think no team will play perfect.’

On the heels of their first loss of the season, Fair and his teammates travel to Cincinnati on Monday for a quick turnaround and a date with the Bearcats at 7 p.m. There, Syracuse (20-1, 7-1 Big East) faces a team similar in style and composition to the Fighting Irish. Yancy Gates is UC’s (15-5, 5-2 Big East) version of Jack Cooley, a player who burned SU on Saturday, and he is surrounded by talented 3-point shooters. The Orange needs to improve defensively by Monday if it hopes to leave Fifth Third Arena with a win and avoid back-to-back-losses.

Cooley, a 6-foot-9, 248-pound forward for Notre Dame, manhandled Syracuse’s frontline all game long Saturday night. He finished the game with 17 points, 10 rebounds and a slew of hustle plays that deflated SU.

With just more than 13 minutes remaining in the second half, the Irish broke the Orange’s full-court press. Once in the front court, the ball was popped loose to the left of the paint. Baye Keita, seemingly in perfect position to scoop it up, reached down to grab the ball and give possession back to Syracuse.

But there was Cooley, diving on the floor to slap the ball back to a teammate. Seconds later, on the same possession, Cooley ripped an offensive rebound away from James Southerland, who had two hands on the ball. The result of the possession was a layup by Jerian Grant.

‘If you give them a long possession and then they miss and they get the rebound, it’s just not a good formula,’ SU head coach Jim Boeheim said.

Keita, Southerland, C.J. Fair and freshman Rakeem Christmas were all thrust into a larger role against the Irish due to the loss of Fab Melo. Melo, who is Syracuse’s starting center, did not make the trip to South Bend and will be out against Cincinnati as well. ESPN is reporting that Melo has an unresolved academic issue.

And after those four players failed to handle Cooley’s tenacity and toughness defensively, they will face an equally tough challenge in the form of Gates on Monday. The 6-foot-9 Gates is the same height as Cooley. But his 260-pound frame is 38 pounds heavier than Rakeem Christmas, who at 222 pounds is SU’s strongest remaining interior player.

Gates is coming off a 10-point, 13-rebound performance on Saturday in the Bearcats overtime loss to West Virginia, but he’s been a force inside since returning from a suspension earlier this year,

‘(Tonight’s game against Notre Dame) is a way to prepare for a big guy like that inside, but we’ve still got to cover our bases against Cincinnati,’ Fair said. ‘They’ve got more than Yancy. They’ve got shooters and good players.’

Surrounding Gates is a bevy of talented shooters that have turned UC into one of the most potent 3-point shooting teams in the league.

Sean Kilpatrick, who leads the Big East in 3-point field goals made per game with 3.0, drilled a triple with less than three seconds left earlier this week to upset Connecticut on the road. And in conference games, Cincinnati is second in the Big East in 3s made with 8.1 per game.

If the Bearcats can make shots from outside against Syracuse on Monday, the sold-out crowd might play witness to another upset. Fair said the hot shooting at the beginning of Saturday’s game by Notre Dame is what set the tone for Cooley’s domination inside.

‘It all started with their 3-point shooting,’ Fair said. ‘They got hot early, and it stretched us out. And then if they did miss (Cooley) was right there in position for the offensive rebound.’

Scoop Jardine called Monday night’s game a ‘bounce-back game’ for the Orange. Playing in front of a national television audience on ESPN’s Big Monday is exactly what Syracuse wants, he said — a chance to redeem itself.

Said Jardine: ‘We’ve got a good Cincinnati team where we just have to come ready to play and hopefully — definitely be better than we were tonight.’

mjcohe02@syr.edu

Published on January 22, 2012 at 12:00 pm

Contact Michael: mjcohe02@syr.edu | @Michael_Cohen13