For those who feel that the Connecticut men’s basketball team got the one-up on Syracuse by beating the Orangemen both times they met, Josh Pace has a message.

‘We’re not worried about that,’ said Pace, a junior. ‘That really doesn’t mean anything, because we won the national championship.’

This preseason, anyone with a typewriter or microphone picked UConn to do the same when March rolls around. That’s the juiciest aspect of tonight’s Big East showdown at the Hartford Civic Center, where the Huskies and Orangemen will play at 7 p.m. in SU’s biggest game this season.

Last year’s champs vs. this year’s favorite. Jim Boeheim vs. Jim Calhoun. Syracuse can absolve the only thorn in its side from its championship season. It’s on ESPN’s Big Monday, and even Dick Vitale will be there.

A win at Connecticut would totally erase the memory of SU’s two-game losing streak two weeks ago and raise the Orangemen’s NCAA Tournament resume several notches. It would also earn SU a measure of revenge. UConn was the only team Syracuse lost twice to last year and the only team other than Memphis that SU played and didn’t beat.

But despite UConn (17-3, 5-1 Big East) losing to Providence at home and struggling at Boston College in two of its last three games, beating the No. 8 Huskies at home is a daunting task. In center Emeka Okafor and do-it-all guard Ben Gordon, UConn possesses two Player of the Year candidates.

‘I thought from the beginning of the year they were the best team in the country,’ SU head coach Jim Boeheim said. ‘And I haven’t changed my mind.’

That might be because of his experience with UConn last season. Syracuse lost to the Huskies at Hartford and then lost in a rematch in the Big East tournament semifinals. UConn victimized Syracuse with a deadly transition offense and a bruising low-post game.

‘They like to run,’ SU forward Hakim Warrick said. ‘So we’ve got to do a better job on getting back in transition defense.’

The key to solving the low-post game will be containing Okafor, whom Jeremy McNeil said is a better player than top 10 NBA Draft pick and former Georgetown big man Mike Sweetney.

The key to stopping Okafor, who currently averages 19 points, 11 rebounds and five blocks?

‘Has anybody found that yet?’ asked SU center Craig Forth. ‘The focal point is, he could score 50 a game just as long as we don’t let anyone else beat us.’

That might be tough. Whereas the Orangemen lost their best player from a year ago, UConn added two potent weapons in freshmen Charlie Villanueva and Josh Boone. Also, forward sharpshooter Rashad Anderson has emerged lately for the Huskies. He scored 26 against Virginia Tech and 16 against BC in UConn’s last two games.

All that firepower may be daunting, but it also gives the Orangemen a chance to make a statement, something it failed to do in its showdown at the Carrier Dome against Pittsburgh a week ago. A win against UConn will lift the Orangemen into a tie with UConn and also serve notice that any road to the national title still goes through Syracuse.

‘They’re one of the top teams in the league,’ SU forward Hakim Warrick said. ‘We want to go out and show we’re one of the top teams in the league, too. That’s kind of a measuring stick right now.’

Published on February 1, 2004 at 12:00 pm