PITTSBURGH – Tonight’s game was supposed to be the key one for the Syracuse men’s basketball team on its current road trip. The Orangemen weren’t supposed to take No. 3 Pittsburgh to overtime, weren’t supposed to snap Pitt’s 40-game home winning streak and weren’t supposed to cruise into Morgantown, W.Va., with a chip on their shoulder the size of Gibraltar.

But with its biggest win of the season, Syracuse made tonight’s game at 7 in the WVU Coliseum against West Virginia less important than it was. While it’s not as high-profile as its rough-and-tumble tilt with Pittsburgh, beating WVU will still be crucial for SU’s late-season plans.

The key for Syracuse (19-6, 9-5 Big East) will be maintaining its intensity from Sunday’s emotional, bruising win.

‘We just have to go out there and play West Virginia just as tough and play just as hard as we did against Pittsburgh,’ said SU forward Hakim Warrick, who led all scorers with 17 points on Sunday. ‘You definitely have to play well on the road. We just want to keep going.’

If Syracuse suffers a letdown, it could throw its postseason rank out of whack.

By beating Pittsburgh, Syracuse was tied with Seton Hall for fourth place in the Big East. But after Connecticut beat the Pirates, 89-67, last night, Syracuse moved into fourth place by itself, meaning it would be in line for a first-round bye in the Big East tournament if it were to win the rest of its games.

Though SU will hold its destiny for that bye in its own hands, it’s anything but a guarantee. First, Syracuse has to beat West Virginia (14-11, 6-8) away from the Carrier Dome. Then, Syracuse needs to either beat UConn in its final regular season game on March 7 or hope Seton Hall loses to Rutgers on the same day.

That’s because Seton Hall holds a tiebreaker over Syracuse. The Pirates beat SU, 74-66, at Continental Airlines Arena in their only meeting this year on Jan. 20. For the Orangemen, that game began a series of struggles, which seemingly ended in their win over Pitt.

Of course, all of the postseason positioning will become moot if Syracuse can’t tame the Mountaineers tonight. Then again, that’s a task that’s becoming easier and easier.

Despite losing arguably its best player, Drew Schifino, to suspension, West Virginia sprinted to a 6-5 Big East start and placed its name among teams on the NCAA Tournament bubble.

Since then, WVU’s offense has stagnated, causing a three-game losing streak that has left it with essentially no chance for an at-large tournament bid. The Mountaineers have scored less than 60 points in their last three games, all losses, against Pittsburgh, Rutgers and, most alarming, Virginia Tech.

For Syracuse, that only adds to its advantage. The Orangemen pummeled West Virginia twice last season by dissecting its 1-3-1 zone defense. SU was able to get open looks at 3-pointers, and Warrick roamed the baseline for easy alley-oop dunks.

In their first meeting, at the WVU Coliseum, Syracuse fell behind, 31-16, early in the first half. After that point, Syracuse outscored WVU, 163-100, for the season series.

Still, SU knows it can’t take the Mountaineers lightly. WVU is 9-3 at home this season with wins against likely tournament teams Seton Hall and Boston College. And SU will be playing its second straight road game, never an envious prospect.

‘There’s nothing but tough games in this league,’ Boeheim said. ‘We’ll have a tougher game Tuesday probably than we had (Sunday). That’s the way it is.’

With its improbable win, Syracuse thrust itself back into the mix with the conference’s best. If it can continue to perform like that, SU could be an extremely difficult matchup come Big East tournament time.

‘We played with heart,’ SU freshman Terrence Roberts said. ‘As long as we play with heart and play with that fight every night, it’s going to be tough to beat us.’

Published on March 1, 2004 at 12:00 pm