NEW YORK — Jalen Carey grew up a 10-minute ride on the 2 train away from Madison Square Garden. He attended the Syracuse-Connecticut game in MSG last winter, and he used to come with his dad and watch Carmelo Anthony and the Knicks play there.

On Thursday night, Carey got a chance to play on that same MSG hardwood.

“A lot of people show out in the Garden,” Carey said after the game. “I feel like everybody wants to come perform in the Garden. It definitely felt good just to play here.”

Carey, too, showed out in the Garden, scoring 26 points in his first college start. But it wasn’t enough for No. 15 Syracuse (2-1), which fell to Connecticut (3-0), 83-76. Carey finished 9-for-14 from the field, and he added seven rebounds and three steals to his game-high scoring output.

“He played a great game,” SU head coach Jim Boeheim said. “That’s the only reason we were in the game.”

It didn’t get out to the ideal homecoming start for Carey. In the game’s first four minutes, he turned the ball over three times.

First, Alterique Gilbert pressured Carey in the backcourt and stripped the ball away. Then, Carey rushed a pass from the baseline back out toward the top of the key and had it intercepted before it reached its target. And finally, Carey dribbled into traffic near the foul line, lost the ball, and gave it away on a jump ball that granted the Huskies possession.

“It’s gonna be always up and downs when you’re a freshman, especially when you’re playing in such a big environment,” SU junior Tyus Battle said.

Before the first media timeout, Boeheim subbed Carey out. The freshman point guard walked to the bench, where he was spoken to by injured senior point guard Frank Howard and the coaching staff. Everyone on the SU bench had the same message for the freshman, Carey said: protect the ball.

Carey had been “playing with” the ball, he said after the game. While Carey sat out, he was encouraged to blow by slower defenders instead of giving them a chance.

“It was just a little bit of nerves,” Carey said. “Sort of just coming out and focusing in on getting locked back in … They didn’t scream at me or nothing.”

Carey checked in less than three minutes of game time later. From then on, he was Syracuse’s best player. He didn’t show signs of his left ankle injury which had limited him in the preseason, saying that once he “gets into the flow of things” that he doesn’t really feel it.

Boeheim said afterward that Carey played “way better” than SU could’ve expected, while its trio of Tyus Battle, Oshae Brissett and Elijah Hughes underwhelmed.

“You expect it the other way around,” Boeheim said. “I would fully anticipate he’d struggle in this game and the other three guys would be fine. They weren’t.”

Syracuse’s best offense came when Carey attacked the rim. He caught in the right corner with a step on his man and burst to the basket, finishing through contact midway through the first half. He drew multiple fouls shortly after by driving toward the basket. Even without the ball, Carey crashed to the rim.

When Marek Dolezaj drove along the baseline late in the first half, Carey watched momentarily from the top of the key. But then he streaked down the lane, Dolezaj picked him out, and Carey had a simple layup at the rim.

“Especially starting off early with a couple turnovers, the way he responded is something that you don’t see in a freshman,” SU freshman Buddy Boeheim said.

Carey scored 17 points in the second half to keep the Orange in the game. Battle picked him out on a backdoor cut for a bounce pass into a dunk. Carey stepped back for two to bring SU within seven. With 1:02 to go, he stepped into a 3 to bring the Orange within five.

But each time Syracuse ate into the UConn lead, the Huskies answered. It wasn’t meant to be a perfect homecoming for Carey, who said he’d run out of his allotment of tickets, forcing some family and friends to buy their own way into the arena.

“I love the atmosphere,” Carey said. “I love the big crowd and stuff like that. That pumps me up.”

As the game clock ticked down into single digits and the Huskies preparing to celebrate, Carey brought the ball up the floor on the left side. The Orange trailed by nine, and he could’ve stood with the ball until the buzzer sounded. But instead, he attacked the rim once more.

No one tried to stop him. He laid it in easily from straight on. It gave him 26 points. Carey didn’t care.

“26 don’t mean nothing if we don’t win,” Carey said. “I’d rather have 15 with a win.”

Published on November 15, 2018 at 11:18 pm

Contact Billy: wmheyen@syr.edu | @Wheyen3