NEW YORK –– One day short of the two-year anniversary of their epic six-overtime classic – the game that trumps any other in the storied canon of Big East tournament games – Syracuse and Connecticut will renew their rivalry at Madison Square Garden tonight (7 p.m., ESPN) in the tournament semifinals.

But leading up to the game, the focus has been cast on one player who is the only remaining Husky star from the night and early morning that was March 12 and 13 of 2009. He is also the unquestioned star of this year’s tournament after his last-second quarterfinal heroics Thursday.

He is Kemba Walker. And despite the fact that Jim Boeheim’s acclaimed 2-3 zone muzzled Walker into his worst performance of the season on Feb. 2, the SU head coach expects the Walker who has a knack to carry his team and hit big shots to show up versus Syracuse Friday.

‘I don’t take anything out of the (Feb. 2) Connecticut game,’ Boeheim said after Syracuse’s 79-72 quarterfinal win over St. John’s on Thursday. ‘I don’t think they played well. Kemba had probably his worst night of the year and we know that wont happen (Friday) night.’

On Friday, Boeheim expects the Walker who, as a freshman two years ago, hit a shot with 1.1 seconds left in regulation to force the first overtime of six. He expects the Walker who earned first team All-Big East honors earlier this week, only to top it Thursday with a 24-point performance in a heart-stopping upset of top-seeded Pittsburgh – capped off by a beautiful walk-off step-back jumper which left Pitt center Gary McGhee in a heap on the floor.

He expects that Walker, the Walker who pillaged pretty much every team but Boeheim’s this year. Not the Walker who only went for eight points – the only game this season where Walker has been held to single digits – in the then-No. 6 Huskies 66-58 loss to SU on Feb. 2.

But if Walker’s history against SU foretells anything, it is that the Orange has his number. Two years ago in the six-overtime classic, a then jumper-less Walker struggled in an abysmal 4-of-18 and 0-of-7 shooting performance from behind the 3-point line.

Two years ago, though, Walker wasn’t the one and only savior and workhorse for a loaded No. 4 UConn. He has been this year and was expected to be on Feb. 2. In that contest, Walker struggled against a scouting report devised by another former star of the Big East tournament – Gerry McNamara. McNamara conveyed to the Orange guards that within the 2-3 zone they must not let Walker shoot, never mind score. He only shot the ball six times in a second half during which the Huskies took 27 shots.

After the game, it left UConn head coach Jim Calhoun so frustrated he refused to talk about any Husky player other than Jeremy Lamb, who scored 22 points.

‘Individually I don’t have comment on any of our players except Jeremy,’ Calhoun said. ‘I thought he played terrific.’

‘I thought tonight we got beat,’ Calhoun added. ‘But I don’t think we should have gotten beat.’

The man who stepped up for Walker that night, Lamb, said he felt the mentally tough Bronx-native Walker let the referees take over his game.

‘I just think he let the referees get in his head,’ Lamb said. ‘Once he didn’t get certain calls he got a little frustrated.’

Frustrated is the last thing Walker will be Friday, his complete confidence super-saturated after his heroics Thursday.

Boeheim is bracing for him. He knows he has two players left over — Rick Jackson and Kris Joseph — from the six-overtime game where he said he had ‘never been prouder of any team he ever coached.’

Boeheim’s two include Jackson, who has grown to become the Big East’s Defensive Player of the Year and best big man two years after coming up in the clutch. He slammed home a game-tying dunk with four seconds left in the first overtime in 2009, and set a timely screen to free Andy Rautins up for a game-tying 3-pointer in the third overtime.

Still, though, tonight isn’t about Jackson. It’s about Walker. And the same number of points Boeheim held Walker to two years ago and the last time out, eight, is the amount of games Boeheim thinks the energizer bunny Walker could play in this tournament. Yes, eight. That is the kind of regard Boeheim holds Walker — even if the coach has held him in check.

Said Boeheim: ‘I think Kemba Walker could play eight nights in a row.’

aolivero@syr.edu

The Daily Orange beat writer predictions:

Brett LoGiurato

Syracuse 70, Connecticut 68

Can’t you just feel a Fab Melo game-winning layup? March Madness!

Tony Olivero

Syracuse 68, Connecticut 66

If there is one team Kemba doesnt want to play it’s Cuse. Eight versus the zone in the six-overtime game. Eight on Feb. 2.

Andrew L. John

Syracuse 73, Connecticut 71

Four wins in four days is pretty difficult to pull off, even for the best player in the country.

Published on March 10, 2011 at 12:00 pm