After the Syracuse men’s basketball team’s win on Sunday at St. John’s, the Orange looked relieved.

It had just put together a solid, albeit not flawless, performance. It overmatched a struggling St. John’s team, displaying a killer instinct not apparent since the Orange blew out Cincinnati by 19 points on Jan. 14 at Fifth Third Arena.

Since that win at UC, Syracuse has lost five of its last seven games. During the stretch, the SU offense has been shaky, putting more pressure on the defense, often with a poor outcome.

But after beating the Red Storm, it seemed the Orange regained confidence. Syracuse hopes to continue its upswing against the same Cincinnati team it overpowered in January tonight at 7:30 in the Carrier Dome.

‘We just have to stay confident through a tough time,’ Syracuse guard Gerry McNamara said. ‘We’re losing a couple games, and you can’t break yourself down completely or you keep losing. It’s important for us to stay positive. We’re just keeping us upbeat and getting ready for the next game.’

SU needs to remain upbeat if it hopes to fare better in the final stretch of the schedule than it did in the previous seven-game stretch. Of its final six games, three are against teams in the Associated Press Top 25.

Cincinnati is ranked 41st using the Ratings Percentage Index, a ranking system that factors in a team’s wins, losses and strength of schedule. The Bearcats are still the only team with a top 50 RPI rating Syracuse has beaten this season.

Like it did against the Bearcats in January, Syracuse made its easy shots against St. John’s, spreading out the Red Storm defense. SU’s guards, like freshman Eric Devendorf, were able to drive to the basket, further pressuring SJU’s defense. The Syracuse zone was more effective as a result because St. John’s was impatient on offense, needing to make up the deficit.

The success meant the Orange didn’t need to battle to stay in a game for the first time in a month, allowing confidence to bloom.

That confidence is crucial as the postseason approaches. It helps that SU’s next three games feature Cincinnati, Louisville and No. 11 West Virginia all in the Carrier Dome.

‘We need confidence because we only won one game out of our last six games,’ Syracuse guard Eric Devendorf said. ‘We got to play in the playoffs or the tournament, so we had to go out there and show what we could do. We haven’t been doing that the past six games. I think (Sunday) we set the tone from the start and played good on both the offensive and defensive ends.’

Published on February 14, 2006 at 12:00 pm