CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – All Eric Devendorf and Paul Harris wanted to see was the stat sheet. When a reporter walked into the Syracuse locker room with one in hand, they ran for a look.

‘What did he do? What did he do?’ Devendorf asked. ‘3-for-14! Oh man, I’m going to have to talk to him about that.’

He was referring to Sean Singletary, the Atlantic Coast Conference’s second-leading scorer and reigning All-American. He was Virginia’s finest threat (‘We didn’t know anyone else on this team,’ Harris said, emphatically) and Syracuse’s primary target.

Singletary scored 10 points Wednesday night, his lowest total since Feb. 6, 2007, against Maryland. The senior point guard couldn’t convert the big 3-point shot like he has his entire career. He missed six free throws, the most ever in his career at Virginia, and those points could have been the difference in a 70-68 Syracuse win.

Mission accomplished.

‘This is a big statement, especially playing a guard like Sean Singletary,’ said SU freshman guard Jonny Flynn, Singletary’s counterpart and primary adversary Wednesday. ‘To keep him out of the lane, which we did for the most part, says a lot about our strategy made toward defense since the (Massachusetts) game.’

After allowing 107 points to the Minutemen in a loss last Thursday, Syracuse responded by holding Tulane to 60 points and now Virginia to 68, both wins.

Now, all of a sudden, defense is fun for the Orange.

‘I just tried to stay in his ear and let him know he’s missing free throws,’ Flynn said of his attempts to get into Singletary’s head.

Singletary was not made available to the media after the game. Virginia players said he was receiving treatment for an illness and had an IV.

‘Whether it was illness or fatigue, he didn’t have his rhythm all day today,’ Virginia head coach Dave Leitao said.

Singletary, who considered entering the NBA Draft after last season, had made 22 straight free throws entering Wednesday’s game and was averaging 20.4 points per game.

It was Flynn who was matched up against Singletary for much of the game. At one point near the end of the first half, the experience of Singletary and youth of Flynn, who was playing in his first true road game, showed.

Following a media timeout with 3:03 left in the half and Syracuse down 30-29, Flynn forced an alley-oop pass to Donte Greene, who never had a chance to catch it. Singletary took the ensuing pass up court and drained a 3-pointer.

Then, on the other side of the court, Flynn pushed off before he took his next shot. Calvin Baker hit a 3-pointer on Virginia’s ensuing possession, and the Cavaliers’ lead was up to seven, the largest yet.

But Flynn bested Singletary in the second half.

Singletary’s first free throw of the night put Virginia ahead 57-56 with 7:36 remaining. But with Virginia down three and under a minute left, the usually clutch Singletary tried a deep 3-pointer over Flynn. It missed.

Syracuse succeeded against Singletary because it extended its zone defense, which it played the entire game. Virginia, as a team, shot 11-for-32 from deep. Singletary was 2-for-7, and most of his shots came from NBA range.

‘You saw his first shot of the game was from, like, 20, 28 feet or something like that!’ Flynn said, incredulously. ‘Me and Eric looked at each other like, ‘Man, we really need to get out on him.”

Flynn said the defense forced Virginia into frustration, which led to shots the Cavaliers wouldn’t normally take. And Syracuse head coach Jim Boeheim wasn’t surprised that the zone could contain a guard like Singletary. He’s seen it done before.

‘We’ve played zone against a lot of very good shooting guards in our past history, and we try to keep somebody near them all the time,’ Boeheim said.

Stopping Singletary culminated a weeklong retooling of the Syracuse defense.

For Flynn, it was vindication as a freshman going toe-to-toe against one of the finest guards in the nation. For Harris, it was validation of a hard week of practice. For Devendorf, it was bragging rights.

‘That’s my man,’ said Devendorf, who works out with Singletary during the summer. ‘He really doesn’t show (frustration) a lot. It’s hard to tell. Everybody’s going to have a bad game.

‘Tonight, it just worked out for us.’

Published on December 5, 2007 at 12:00 pm