Seton Hall thought it had fixed this problem already.

A paltry perimeter shooting percentage hampered the Pirates in their first game against Syracuse. Then guards Andre Barrett and John Allen seemingly regained their shooting strokes in wins over Georgetown and Miami.

But the return of Syracuse’s 2-3 zone sent Barrett and Allen spiraling back to their struggles. The two combined to shoot 7 for 33 — including 5 of 14 from 3-point range — as the Syracuse men’s basketball team dominated the Pirates, 83-65, in front of 17,119 at the Carrier Dome.

‘It’s tough to have a chance if you don’t make shots,’ Seton Hall head coach Louis Orr said. ‘We have to make some perimeter shots to have a chance against the zone.’

The Pirates didn’t. And SU (12-2, 3-1 Big East) turned in its most complete defensive effort of the conference season.

‘We did a much better job in the lane, then we got out on their shooters,’ Syracuse head coach Jim Boeheim said. ‘Our defense was much better inside.’

With 7:40 left in the first half, the game was tied, 15-15. Freshman center Kelly Whitney had scored seven of Seton Hall’s first 15 and buried his first three field-goal attempts.

But Whitney — who dominated Syracuse inside in the first meeting and again led Seton Hall with 23 points — managed only two more shots the rest of the half.

SU forward Hakim Warrick sagged from his position in the corner of SU’s 2-3 zone. With Warrick blanketing Whitney from the front and center Jeremy McNeil shoving him out of the lane from the back, Seton Hall (7-8, 2-4) struggled to get the ball inside.

The defensive strategy catapulted Syracuse to a 19-5 run, and Seton Hall never led again. The Pirates spent the majority of their offensive sets trying to force the ball inside, and after being denied by Syracuse’s interior defense, were forced to settle for contested 3-pointers.

‘It felt like a lot of the time they had to shoot as the shot clock was running out,’ Warrick said. ‘We worked on our inside defense a lot after (the last SHU-SU) game. We knew that’s how they got a lot of their baskets.’

While Seton Hall struggled from behind the arc, Syracuse — specifically point guard Gerry McNamara — prospered. McNamara scored eight points during the spurt, including two 3-pointers, while Warrick contributed six. Warrick (22 points) and McNamara (21 points) led five Orangemen in double figures.

In addition to helping set up SU’s offense, Warrick also limited Whitney’s shot attempts. Whitney — the Pirates’ most dominant offensive player — was held to 11 shots. The ineffective tandem of Barrett and Allen hoisted 33.

‘Some guys had really rough nights,’ Orr said. ‘We weren’t in attack mode. We weren’t driving and dishing. There aren’t many nights when Allen’s going to shoot 1 for 15.’

Seton Hall began the second half by closing the gap to seven after Barrett made a pair of 3-pointers, but Syracuse clamped down its defense again.

Boeheim’s lone complaint about Syracuse’s defensive effort was the ease with which Barrett moved into the lane. Barrett often found his way through the first layer of Syracuse defenders.

But fortunately for SU, he looked lost among the second wave.

Barrett shot 1 for 8 from inside the arc, forcing floaters over Syracuse’s inside defenders.

Syracuse’s defense converged on Barrett, as well as the teammates he found with interior passes. As Pirates went up expecting uncontested layups, they met a wall of Syracuse arms.

Carmelo Anthony and McNeil led an interior defense that collected 10 blocked shots. Anthony blocked four while McNeil sent back three, one when he pinned an attempted dunk by Whitney against the backboard.

With the Orangemen leading, 55-43, the defense put the game out of reach. A steal led to a fast-break dunk from McNeil. Then a blocked shot by Warrick allowed guard Kueth Duany to convert a baseline jumper.

Orr was forced to call a timeout, but the Orangemen continued on with a 16-7 spurt.

‘We were in their face the whole game,’ Duany said. ‘We were a lot bigger than they were. We just took their shots away from them.’

Published on January 22, 2003 at 12:00 pm