Jim Boeheim didn’t waste any time. Between walking off the floor following Wednesday’s win over South Florida and taking the podium minutes later for his postgame press conference, the Syracuse head coach stressed to his team the importance of the next game.

A rematch on the road against Connecticut would be a huge challenge.

‘Connecticut played us virtually even here, they’re much tougher obviously there,’ Boehiem said. ‘And they’re playing to make the tournament, so this will be by far — I already told the players — this will be the toughest game we have this year coming up.’

No. 2 Syracuse (28-1, 15-1 Big East) travels to Gampel Pavilion on Saturday to take on UConn (17-10, 7-8 Big East) in front of a sold-out crowd for ESPN College GameDay. The desperate Huskies are looking for a signature win to ensure an NCAA Tournament berth, while a win for the Orange gives SU the Big East regular-season title.

Saturday’s game presents two teams at opposite ends of the Big East spectrum. Though both began the season ranked in the top five in the country and were projected to share the conference title, seven teams sit between SU and UConn in the Big East rankings.

The Orange hasn’t lost a game since Jan. 21 on the road at Notre Dame. The Huskies have five losses since that date.

Still, Boeheim reiterated that the last meeting between the two teams was a close game until the final five minutes. And forwards C.J. Fair and Kris Joseph said Connecticut will be hungry after falling apart late against SU two weeks ago.

‘They didn’t play their best game against us, and we know that,’ Fair said. ‘So we’ve just got to come up there and try to take the game from the beginning. That’s something we didn’t do today. That’s something we’re going to work on going into Saturday.’

What was a two-point game with 6:26 to go finished as a blowout win for Syracuse. A 21-3 spurt finished off a Connecticut squad that had hung tough until that point.

It was an example of SU’s uncanny ability to win close games this season by making big plays near the end of games. Six of the Orange’s last eight games have been decided by 10 points or fewer, with Syracuse winning all six.

SU’s done it at home in the form of a two-point escape against West Virginia. And its done it on the road in the form of a one-point win at a sold-out KFC Yum! Center at Louisville.

‘We’ve been very, very good in late-game situations,’ Boeheim said in the Big East coaches’ teleconference on Thursday. ‘I think we’ve had six games that were in real doubt late in the game, and we’ve won all of those. And that’s not something that happens all the time. It’s difficult to do that.’

A narrow win over South Florida on Wednesday night perhaps isn’t the best source of momentum entering a hostile environment come Saturday. Once again, Syracuse was forced to play a grind-it-out game after failing to dictate tempo.

It’s a tactic used by nearly every team in the Big East this season when facing the Orange, an obvious attempt to limit SU from getting out in transition where its athleticism can’t be matched.

The result has been less-than-dominant performances.

‘We’re not dominating right now,’ Boeheim said. ‘I think early in the year when we were shooting a little bit better we had some dominant games that I’m sure if we played now, they wouldn’t be dominant the way we’re shooting it now.’

The Huskies, meanwhile, head into Saturday’s game following a buzzer-beating victory over Villanova. Though Connecticut needed overtime to beat a struggling Wildcats team without its best player in MaalikWayns, the way the game ended — a 29-foot 3-pointer from guard Shabazz Napier — certainly has the team flying high.

Sophomore forward Jeremy Lamb also turned in his best game of the season against Villanova, netting a career-high 32 points and finally asserting himself as a go-to scorer when the Huskies needed him.

It sets up a game on Saturday in which UConn, a team still fighting against the NCAA Tournament bubble, has much more to gain than the No. 2 Orange. A win for the Huskies would save their season. A win for Syracuse is simply expected.

‘They’re going to want to get us back,’ Joseph said. ‘Obviously we beat them here in front of a pretty good crowd, and they’re going to be hyped for us to come in there and beat us. It’s primetime, game day.’

mjcohe02@syr.edu

 

Published on February 24, 2012 at 12:00 pm

Contact Michael: mjcohe02@syr.edu | @Michael_Cohen13