The sheets of paper were taped to every Syracuse player’s locker. A scouting report on Connecticut’s players, written by guard Jake Presutti. In some cases, there were portions bolded in the two-line briefs on each opponent.

For Hasheem Thabeet, ‘Great shot blocker’ was not bolded. Maybe that’s because Syracuse didn’t need to be told that.

‘Yeah, it’s right there,’ guard Paul Harris said, shaking his head with a smirk.

Everyone in the Syracuse locker room said they knew what was in store from Thabeet. (‘I thought Thabeet was going to be a monster,’ Donte Greene said. ‘I saw the same thing you all saw, he was blocking shots,’ Arinze Onuaku mumbled.)

Thabeet was a dominating force in UConn’s 63-61 victory over the Orange Wednesday night. In the second half, the 7-foot-3 sophomore center blocked five Syracuse shots and had six rebounds.

And his presence down low caused Syracuse to be too tentative driving to the hoop.

‘We didn’t take the ball to the rim enough and allowed the shot blocker to have an opportunity to do what he does,’ SU head coach Jim Boeheim said. ‘He’s a tremendous shot blocker, and we just didn’t react to that well.’

Thabeet finished with seven blocks, eight rebounds and six points.

In 30 minutes, Onuaku had six points and six rebounds. Rick Jackson played 13 minutes without a point or a rebound. The Huskies’ big forward Jeff Adrien registered a double-double with 19 points and 12 rebounds, playing one of the best games of his career, UConn head coach Jim Calhoun said.

But Thabeet stuck out.

‘He’s such a difference maker,’ Calhoun added.

In actuality, it was Calhoun’s mastermind plan that contributed to the sparkling effort by Thabeet against the Syracuse scorers. Playing primarily only five players, Calhoun said his team played more zone than he remembers any of his teams playing in the last four years.

Calhoun praised the defensive effort, but Harris thinks the change in defensive schemes was merely a trap.

‘It’s hard to say that now, after the game is over, but it wasn’t a good zone,’ Harris said. ‘There were open gaps. They wanted you to come in there so they could block shots. And it kind of worked.’

In a span of 55 seconds, UConn blocked three shots – two by Thabeet and one by Adrien – less than five minutes into the second half. Those blocks turned into six Connecticut points, and all of a sudden, the Huskies went from a three-point deficit to a three-point lead, 40-37.

Boeheim harshly criticized his starting center, Onuaku, after the game.

‘I didn’t think Arinze went to the basket hard the whole game,’ Boeheim said. ‘Defense, I didn’t think he was involved at all the whole game. We’ve got to attack it better.’

Boeheim didn’t believe Onuaku’s foul trouble caused his tentativeness. He picked up his third foul with 17:14 left in the game, but Boeheim kept him in, to no avail.

The seven blocks by Thabeet were three off a career-high, set at Notre Dame on Jan. 5. UConn lost that game, 73-67.

Wednesday night, Thabeet had a big enough effect on the game to result in a Huskies’ win, this despite a poor first half.

‘In the first half, I didn’t have too many blocked shots,’ Thabeet said. ‘I was too scared of being in foul trouble. The second half, we went to the locker room and coach told me, ‘Don’t worry about it. Just go over there and play the game you are capable of playing.”

Thabeet, who shot 2-for-6 from the free-throw line, even came up clutch on the offensive end when UConn needed it. With 1:49 remaining, Thabeet was fouled and made the front-end of a one-and-one, a point Connecticut desperately needed.

Boeheim called Thabeet ‘the best shot blocker in the country’ and afterward, Harris wasn’t about to disagree, even with the 8.5 by 11 reminder before the game.

‘He’s a legit 7-foot-3,’ said Harris, shaking his head, ‘because I shot a jump shot, and I swear to God, I’m like, ‘How did he get that?”

magelb@syr.edu

Published on February 6, 2008 at 12:00 pm