Last year, Paul Harris made no attempt to veil his excitement about playing Connecticut. The Huskies, he made it clear, were the team he most looked forward to playing.

That much might not have changed. But Harris was caught a bit off guard Saturday when he discovered just how soon his favorite opponent would be visiting the Carrier Dome.

‘Man I thought we were playing South Florida (next), but it is UConn,’ Harris admitted after SU’s 87-73 win at Villanova. ‘Man these games go fast.’

The Bulls will get their date with Syracuse next Wednesday. But before that, Harris and the reinvigorated Orange will host a critical matchup with No. 19 Connecticut (16-5, 6-3) tonight at 7 p.m. in the Carrier Dome.

Both teams are coming off undefeated weeks in which each surged into the top half of the Big East standings.

‘This UConn game is a big game for us,’ guard Jonny Flynn said. ‘It’s probably going to be one of the biggest crowds we’ll get all year. We have all the things we need to win the game. We just have to go out there and play how we’ve been playing the past three games.’

Those three games, all wins, have Syracuse (16-7, 6-4) riding a wave of emotion from an unlikely week. In the course of seven days, Syracuse catapulted from 13th place in the conference to sixth.

Amazingly, a win tonight would move Syracuse into fourth place in the conference, leapfrogging UConn and Marquette (16-5, 6-4).

Syracuse received a boost to its depth when freshman guard Scoop Jardine returned against Villanova after sitting two games due to a suspension. But Jardine played only three minutes, scoring one point. SU head coach Jim Boeheim said Saturday that Jardine had gone through university procedures and the issue had been ‘resolved.’

Whether or not he will start is another story. Junior college transfer Kristof Ongenaet averaged 8 points and 7.3 rebounds per game as a starter last week and has supplied clutch baskets to help the Orange preserve late-game leads against DePaul and Villanova.

But offense hasn’t been the reason for SU’s revival, rather improved team defense. Syracuse, which allowed an average of 76.4 points per game in the non-conference schedule, has given up 64 per game over the past four games. The first of those contests was a near-miss against then-No. 9 Georgetown in which SU took the Hoyas into overtime before losing, 64-62.

‘We turned this thing around really since the Georgetown game with defense,’ Boeheim said. ‘Our defense has been good, our offense has been awful. … We started out our offense being good and our defense being awful.’

But as hot as the Orange is, it will be facing a Huskie team on an even better streak. Connecticut comes to the Dome winners of five in a row, including home wins over Big East foes Marquette, Louisville and Pittsburgh and a road upset over then-No. 7 Indiana.

That stretch has hurled the Huskies into the national rankings for the first time since Jan. 14, 2007, landing at No. 19 this week.

Junior guard A.J. Price has led the way for UConn, tallying 17 points per game over the span, including 21- and 20-point performances in Connecticut’s last two wins, respectively. Yet, the player who will garner the most attention for the Huskies will be 7-foot-3 center Hasheem Thabeet (10.8 points and 7.1 rebounds per game).

Thabeet’s presence may actually benefit Arinze Onuaku. The SU center scored 22 points against DePaul on Wednesday, but was double-teamed the entire game Saturday at Villanova and attempted just one shot.

It is unlikely Onuaku will be seeing too many double teams when Thabeet’s on the court, something Flynn thinks SU can exploit.

‘I don’t see them doubling the post a lot because they got Thabeet down there,’ Flynn said. ‘So (Arinze) should have a big game for us.’

Another big game from Harris, who tallied a career-high 28 points at Villanova, certainly wouldn’t hurt either for Syracuse. The sophomore might have been caught off guard when he first learned the timing of the Huskies’ visit, but three days to prepare should be plenty for Harris to adequately focus on his favorite opponent.

‘We gotta get ready for UConn and watch film,’ Harris said. ‘That’s going to be a tough game, hopefully our fans, I know for a fact they’ll be there for support, and we’re ready for them too.’

jsclayto@syr.edu

Published on February 5, 2008 at 12:00 pm