Any number of words could be used to describe the ineptitude displayed by the Syracuse men’s basketball team for much of the first half of Saturday’s game against Colgate.

Shoddy. Careless. Slipshod. Poor. Take your pick. Either way, it wasn’t pretty. It looked as if the heavily favorite Orange forgot to play like a favorite. Junior guard Gerry McNamara called it one of the worst efforts he’s been a part of.

In fact, it looked like the Orange showed up to the Carrier Dome on Saturday night half asleep. You figured eventually SU would wake up. Problem is, it never really did, that is until sophomore forward Terrence Roberts entered the equation.

Roberts’ emphatic two-handed slam broke a 44-44 tie and keyed a 10-0 SU run. Behind that run, the Orange painstakingly crept to a 68-55 victory over Colgate in front of 23,342 at the Carrier Dome.

‘I don’t see much to be hootin’ and hollerin’ about,’ an irritated McNamara said. ‘I’m just upset about my play and my team’s play.’

Of all the Orange’s early season games against New York opponents, Colgate (2-4) proved to be SU’s stiffest competition. Most figured one team that took Jim Boeheim Court would struggle. Almost no one expected that team would be Syracuse.

When Roberts’ jam broke the tie with 9:45 remaining, by the crowd’s reaction, you would have thought Connecticut or Pittsburgh sat on the opposing bench. But indeed it was a Colgate team that just Wednesday suffered a 12-point loss to Buffalo.

‘That’s the best Colgate team we’ve seen down here in a while,’ head coach Jim Boeheim said. ‘I don’t want to overlook that Colgate did some very good things.’

The Red Raiders may have done some good things, but the Orange (7-0) also did plenty of bad things in the game’s first 30 minutes. But for all the miscues, the 10-0 run showcased everything Syracuse has the ability to do right. In particular, Roberts emerged. His dunks may have drawn the crowd reaction, but Roberts has shown himself to be much more.

During the run, Roberts not only scored six of the 10 points, but he also anchored the defense. Craig Forth played just nine minutes, leaving Roberts plenty of time to showcase his abilities. On several occasions, when smaller Colgate guards entered the paint, Roberts swatted their shots away.

He followed the run-opening dunk with a jumper and then closed the run with yet another crowd-pleasing jam. The sophomore power forward finished with 13 points and eight boards.

‘He stepped up his game,’ forward Josh Pace said. ‘We expect that out of him. If he doesn’t come in, there’s no telling what happens.’

Said Roberts: ‘I always feel like I can be a spark.’

Syracuse’s problems began early. It missed seven of its first 10 shots. Seven minutes in, SU had just 10 points on the board. Against defensive-minded Big East foes, that lack of production can sometimes be expected. Against the Red Raiders, it’s embarrassing.

For much of the season, SU has relied on just three scoring options – Warrick, McNamara and Pace. That trio’s been good enough against SU’s lesser in-state opponents. And it probably would have been good enough again against the Red Raiders.

But two-thirds of that trio – McNamara and Pace – didn’t complement Warrick in the first half as well as they had been earlier this season. Boeheim said McNamara struggled with his asthma in a first half in which he went scoreless.

At halftime, SU led by just two points, 31-29. In the second half, McNamara found enough energy to score 12 points as Syracuse slowly pulled away. Warrick finished with a game-high 23 to go along with nine boards.

‘If we had gotten some man defense stops, we would have gotten more offense,’ Warrick said. ‘We want to get out and run.’

Syracuse struggled particularly with its man-to-man defense, something that troubled Boeheim the most. He said every good team he’s had has been able to play man defense. In the second half, the Orange switched to a press and its trademark 2-3 zone.

Those changes, along with Roberts, slowed Colgate enough for the Orange to prevail. But the inconsistent performance certainly puts into question how SU will deal with No. 6 Oklahoma State on Tuesday.

‘We took a giant step back,’ Warrick said. ‘We’ve got two days of practice to fix it. This wasn’t the same team you guys saw at Madison Square Garden.’

Published on December 3, 2004 at 12:00 pm