Hartford, Conn. – A quick glance at the Syracuse men’s basketball team showed its fatigue. The Orangemen’s bodies – legs bandaged and ankles taped, screamed pain. The scoreboard at the top of the Hartford Civic Center last night prominently displayed their embarrassment.

No. 18 Syracuse had just lost to No. 5 Connecticut, 84-56 on Monday night. The Huskies proved too big for SU, and by the look of the Orangemen’s tired faces, too athletic. Usually, a 28-point drubbing is reserved for outmatched Division III schools. Last night, the Huskies just made Syracuse look like one. The 28-point loss was the fifth-worst in SU head coach Jim Boeheim’s career.

‘They get on the break,’ freshman Louie McCroskey said. ‘And usually before you can turn your head, they’d be gone.’

SU’s two stars – Hakim Warrick and Gerry McNamara – played to different extremes. Warrick provided SU’s only scoring option early. He poured in all 16 of his first half points within the first 12 minutes of the game. McNamara, meanwhile, converted a four-point play after being fouled taking a 3-pointer for the game’s first points, and was then held scoreless for the rest of the half.

Warrick finished with 26 points and 11 rebounds. McNamara scored nine points on 2-of-17 shooting. He shot 2 of 11 from the 3-point line, and air-balled two of his attempts.

‘I just tried to slow (McNamara) down,’ UConn guard Taliek Brown said. ‘Because Billy (Edelin) wasn’t playing, they had no other guard to go to.’

Brown face-guarded McNamara – who had to handle a share of the point duties with Edelin’s absence – the whole game, rendering the SU guard a non-factor.

‘You just can’t fall asleep on him,’ Brown said. ‘You have to keep working him, because he’ll pull up from everywhere.’

With McNamara covered, SU (14-4, 4-3 Big East) flooded the ball to Warrick, who UConn guarded with one defender for much of the first half. The spindly 6-foot, 8-inch forward abused UConn freshman Josh Boone. Warrick scored 10 unanswered points during the first eight minutes of the first half. Then came the double-teams.

Connecticut (18-3, 6-1 Big East) denied Warrick the ball in the post using All-American center Emeka Okafor and freshman Charlie Villanueva. With Warrick contained, SU had few other options.

Boeheim tried a number of different rotations to no avail. Nine Syracuse players logged double figure minutes. In previous Big East games, Boeheim was comfortable using a seven-player rotation. Last night, 12 of SU’s 16 players saw action.

Despite several players logging minutes, Warrick was SU’s only consistent scoring threat. It’s tough enough in the Big East to win with three scoring threats, let alone just one.

‘Hakim was the only reason we were in that game,’ McNamara said. ‘I’ve got to shoot better. I was what? 2-for-83 tonight? The first shot of the game I make. And then? I don’t know.’

As embarrassing as the loss was for Syracuse, it was even more demoralizing. SU has scored a combined 111 points against Pittsburgh and Connecticut, two of the best teams in the Big East. On Saturday, they travel to Providence, which beat the Huskies last week.

‘You learn from this,’ Warrick said. ‘It’s an up and down season. You’ve got to take your bumps and bruises and learn from them and move on.’

Published on February 2, 2004 at 12:00 pm