Time and time again, Syracuse men’s basketball head coach Jim Boeheim has stressed the importance of a balanced scoring attack. From the beginning of the year, he said SU’s success hinged on the success of its four sophomores.

Lately, SU’s offense has turned in a three-pronged attack, consisting of seniors Hakim Warrick and Josh Pace and junior Gerry McNamara. In Saturday’s win over Notre Dame, the trio combined for 52 of SU’s 60 points.

After the game, Boeheim declared the Orange wouldn’t win many games with that type of scoring imbalance. Monday night, Syracuse finally got some scoring balance. Still, it didn’t transfer into victory, as the No. 8 Orange fell to No. 19 Connecticut, 74-66, in front of 27,651 fans at the Carrier Dome.

‘We’ve got confidence in these guys,’ junior guard Billy Edelin said. ‘It hurts when you get everyone to contribute and come up short. Everyone went hard.’

Sophomore forward Terrence Roberts, who averages seven points but has trailed off recently, scored 12 points off the bench. Roberts hadn’t hit double figures since a 20-point performance in SU’s 80-75 win over Hofstra on Dec. 30.

With starting center Craig Forth struggling on offense, Roberts provided more than his usual energy off the bench. With SU’s guard slicing through the lane, Roberts found openings down low and converted easy dunks.

With 14:20 left in the game, Edelin worked his way through the lane, eventually dumping the ball off to a wide-open Roberts. With 11:12 remaining, Pace weaved his way through traffic, again finding Roberts for a dunk.

The 6-foot-9 Jersey City, N.J., native even showed off his shooting ability, hitting a turnaround jumper at the end of the first half.

‘Terrence and Mook (Darryl Watkins) did a good job,’ McNamara said. ‘They could do a little better on defense, but the guards didn’t help either.’

While Boeheim likes Roberts and Watkins offensively, he prefers the more experienced Forth defensively. Syracuse did miss Forth, who played just nine minutes, on defense. UConn repeatedly found sophomore forward Charlie Villanueva open for easy looks in the paint. Boeheim said Forth would have helped keep the ball from the paint.

But Boeheim said he needed to get some kind of scoring production from the center position. Forth averages just 5.2 points, and 0.5 points over SU’s last four games.

‘(Roberts and Watkins) are a little more athletic than Craig,’ sophomore guard Louie McCroskey said. ‘Anytime we get the young guys going, we usually do well.’

Despite the strong performance, Roberts – who was unavailable for comment after the game – fouled out with 2:47 remaining. As he exited, he received a standing ovation from the crowd, along with a ‘Terrence Roberts’ chant.

If anything, Syracuse showed its young guys can’t win without the veterans. Only Pace played a complete game, finishing with 14 points and six rebounds. Warrick scored 16, but just three came after the break. And the Huskies held McNamara to single-digit scoring for the first time in 10 games.

‘The Big Three,’ as Boeheim has referred to them, still finished with 39 of Syracuse’s 66 points.

‘These games will help us,’ Boeheim said. ‘Terrence stepped up. Mookie did some positive things. Those are all things that will help us at the end of the year.’

Published on February 7, 2005 at 12:00 pm