Duo forces shots
PITTSBURGH — They’ve been fail-proof emergency solutions, the ultimate safety nets for the Syracuse men’s basketball team.
Every time the Orangemen almost slipped this season, Carmelo Anthony and Gerry McNamara, as freshmen no less, pulled SU to safety.
On Saturday, in the Orangemen’s 73-60 loss to No. 2 Pittsburgh, Anthony and McNamara tried again to slip into their Superman suits. But they tripped dashing out of the phone booth.
The freshmen combined for seven turnovers, forced shots and failed at turning a slugfest of a game into a bunch of one-on-one matchups.
“(Anthony) probably overdribbled a little bit,” SU head coach Jim Boeheim said. “But it’s a learning experience. He’s been able to do that all year and make those plays.”
But the Panthers’ Bermuda Triangle of a defense — a veritable graveyard of crossovers and backdoor cuts — shut down Anthony, holding him to 14 points on 6-of-15 shooting. Jaron Brown — yes, Jaron Brown — made Anthony look nothing like an NBA lottery pick.
“Jaron Brown was playing me so close,” Anthony said. “I had to use my dribble to get off him.”
It didn’t work. Brown stuck to Anthony like cheap cologne, guarding him close enough to count his cornrows.
With 12:39 left in the second half and the Orangemen down, 48-40, Anthony lost the ball to Chevon Troutman, who sprinted down the court for a layup that sent the 12,508 fans into hysterics.
Seven minutes later, the Orangemen trailed by 10 and desperately needed a calming possession from McNamara, who is, to be fair, as steady as an executioner.
Instead, McNamara missed an off-balance 3-pointer, a poor decision that all too fittingly guillotined SU’s chances.
Said McNamara, who had three of SU’s nine assists: “Mentally, you get drained a little bit when you have people all over you all game.”
Welcome to the Big East, kid. Pittsburgh’s Petersen Events Center, Notre Dame’s Joyce Center and Rutgers’ RAC aren’t exactly mint-on-your-pillow joints.
Road games in this conference require focus, not hubris, ball movement, not Globetrotter moves. Because once you kick up a divot, you’re already digging your grave.
“We’ve been able to get away with creating things,” SU guard Kueth Duany said. “(Pitt’s) defense basically handled our ball penetration. So you’ve got to get a lot of ball movement, but we just didn’t get it done.”
Said SU forward Hakim Warrick: “When they got the lead, everyone was trying to go one-on-one and trying to take over to get us back in the game. We got caught up in that, and they got a couple easy breakaways.”
Certainly, Syracuse isn’t a high-shorts, horned-rim-glasses team that flourishes in a set offense. Rather, the Orangemen specialize in running the floor.
Consider this season’s typical SU scoring series: a quick steal (the Orangemen average 9.77), a couple long passes and a rim-rattling dunk from Warrick or Duany, all of which Carl Eilenberg, the Carrier Dome public address announcer, recounts in perfect sequence.
The run-and-gun style won’t fly during a three-game stretch (Jan. 29-Feb. 3) in which the Orangemen face Rutgers, Pittsburgh and Georgetown, which all rank in the top 5 in the Big East in defense.
But if the Orangemen learned anything from their loss at Pittsburgh — and this might be a tough pill to swallow — it’s that Anthony and McNamara aren’t their ultimate remedies.
