College basketball rarely offers unique guards like Billy Edelin and Josh Pace, teammates who eschew jump shots for nifty – yet more often ugly – floaters.

‘Not a lot of guards play that way across the country,’ said Edelin, the Syracuse men’s basketball team’s starting point guard. ‘You go to the playground, and you see that a lot.’

On Saturday afternoon, Edelin and Pace turned the Carrier Dome into their own personal playground, running wild on Michigan State in the No. 17 Orangemen’s 96-83 win. Edelin and Pace both scored 22 points in SU’s most impressive victory of the season – an auspicious launching point for the Orangemen’s Big East schedule, which begins Wednesday night with a home game against tail-spinning St. John’s.

Syracuse improved to 9-1. The Spartans, who play perhaps the toughest non-conference schedule in college basketball history this season, fell to 5-6.

The Orangemen appeared every bit the cocky defending national champions, shooting a season-best 60 percent as they dissected Michigan State’s defense by pushing the tempo. Such a strategy fits Edelin and Pace’s styles. After all, the guards combined to shoot 0 for 4 on 3-pointers last year.

With Pace moving to the small forward position to replace Carmelo Anthony, players say the Orangemen have worked more on their fast-paced game this year. Last year, SU often fell into up-tempo mode by accident.

‘They’re just relentless going to the basket,’ power forward Hakim Warrick said of Edelin and Pace. ‘When you’ve got guys like Billy and Josh, you want to get into an up-tempo battle.’

Said Pace: ‘On the playground, you’ve got bigger people out there, so you’ve gotta try to go by them.’

Perhaps he states it so simply because he makes it look so easy. Stopping Pace and Edelin when they cut through the lane is far more difficult.

‘It’s almost impossible,’ walk-on guard Ronneil Herron said of defending Edelin’s floater.

Herron ought to know. He and fellow walk-on Andrew Kouwe guard the 6-foot-3 Edelin every day in practice. More often than not, Edelin backs them down and lofts his floater -a shot even his own father, William, called ‘ugly’ – over their heads.

‘If (Edelin) gets into the lane, it’s buckets,’ Warrick said. ‘You can just count on it.’

Indeed, assistant coach Mike Hopkins, who works with SU’s guards, called Edelin and Pace’s floaters ‘instinctual shots.’

Like Edelin, Pace knows his limitations. Neither player is a perimeter scorer. Edelin is 1 for 4 from 3-point range this season, while Pace is 0 for 2. Gerry McNamara remains SU’s only outside threat at this point in the season. So on Saturday, Pace opted for what works best: a slash-and-dash style that produced 10-for-12 shooting, eight rebounds, four assists and two steals. His 22 points were a career high by seven.

Pace epitomized his afternoon with two seconds remaining in the first half, when he snagged a full-court pass from Craig Forth, dribbled toward the free-throw line, whirled around and swished a 10-foot jumper – complete, of course, with his trademark unsightly hitch.

‘Josh was tremendous today,’ SU head coach Jim Boeheim said.

And since SU’s opponents often focus on McNamara and Warrick, Edelin and Pace will likely see more opportunities.

‘We’re ready,’ Pace said, ‘for Big East play.’

Published on January 2, 2004 at 12:00 pm