LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Five direct words ended the shortest Jim Boeheim press conference of the season Saturday inside the KFC Yum! Center.

After his team fell behind 20 and couldn’t muster a comeback in a loss to Louisville, Boeheim wasn’t in much of a mood to talk. After three minutes, Boeheim resorted to coach-speak following a question about a quick turnaround as his Orange heads home to take on West Virginia on Monday in the Carrier Dome.

‘We’ll be ready Monday night,’ Boeheim said, before abruptly leaving the podium.

Simple but pertinent. Because ready — especially at home — is something SU hasn’t been lately. The Orange has lost three straight at home for the first time since the 2001-02 season. And the team is attempting to avoid its second three-game losing streak overall of the year, something that has never happened under Boeheim.

So as the Mountaineers (16-8, 7-5 Big East) come to town for a 7 p.m. date with the Orange (20-6, 7-6), being ready from the opening tip is something that’s on SU’s collective mind as it looks to solve its home woes.

‘We’re coming out too lackadaisical sometimes, if you know what I’m talking about,’ SU point guard Scoop Jardine said of Syracuse’s recent home struggles. ‘We let teams get up and get wide-open shots.’

This was the case in the first of the Orange’s three home losses against Villanova on Jan. 22. The Wildcats shot a whopping 56 percent in the first half, including 61.5 percent from 3-point range. And they went into the break with a 40-29 halftime lead.

Syracuse couldn’t play catch-up. Each time SU went on a run and closed the gap, Villanova answered. And it led to a loss in front of the largest on-campus college basketball crowd of the season.

For Villanova guard Maalik Wayns, the first-half successes gave him and the Wildcats comfort in the unfriendly Carrier Dome confines.

‘We were just shooting with confidence early,’ Wayns said after Villanova’s 83-72 win. ‘Just not letting them take out our game plan and take open shots when we had them. Take the gaps when we needed to and get our bigs involved. And shoot open shots.’

The next home loss was the most unexpected. A 22-point drubbing against Seton Hall, the worst home loss for the Orange since 1998.

Again, an opponent’s confidence was high early. Bolstered by the return of Jeremy Hazell, the Pirates came out on fire. They hit their first seven shots from the field and shot 55.2 percent overall in the first half. That included an astounding 7-of-11 (63.6 percent) from beyond the arc. All part of the early-game struggles that have plagued Syracuse lately.

‘They hit 3s, we make 2s,’ Jardine said. ‘We can’t do that. Giving teams seven or eight 3s for a half, it’s not good. So we have to do a better job of defending the 3-point line and making teams uncomfortable.’

Making teams uncomfortable for a full 40 minutes is something the Orange learned from its road loss Saturday as well.

The Cardinals did not come out on the same hot shooting streak as many of SU’s recent home opponents. But in both Syracuse’s home loss Wednesday to Georgetown and Saturday at Louisville, it allowed its opponent to go on key runs that ultimately decided the game.

Against Georgetown, it was a 14-2 Hoya run to end the game. Against Louisville, it was a 38-11 run that spanned the end of the first and beginning of the second halves. That included a 21-4 run in the final 5:17 of the first half.

And in the end, it was too much for Syracuse to overcome, despite a furious run of its own.

‘It shows we can fight,’ junior forward Kris Joseph said. ‘If we play like that for 40 minutes, we can win a lot more games in this league and going forward this season.

‘Going forward, we want to focus on specifically playing the way we did (during that comeback attempt).’

The sense of urgency is on the minds of the players. Jardine said this game is the Orange’s ‘season’ on the line. And it’ll start with fixing the early woes.

‘We’re a good enough team,’ Jardine said. ‘We kill ourselves.’

bplogiur@syr.edu

Published on February 13, 2011 at 12:00 pm