Even after its win against Louisville on Saturday, the Syracuse men’s basketball team remains without a victory against a team assured of making the NCAA Tournament.

That could change tonight.

No. 11 West Virginia, undefeated in the Big East only two weeks ago, has lost three of four. With a win in front of a spirited crowd on Saturday, Syracuse is suddenly the team entering this game in good spirits. The teams play tonight at 7 in the Carrier Dome.

Besides momentum, history is on SU’s side as well. Syracuse (18-8, 6-6 Big East) has not lost to West Virginia since 2000-01 – a total of seven games – including last year’s Big East tournament championship game.

The game marks the third time this season Syracuse has appeared in Saturday-Monday games to accommodate television, but the first instance when both games are at home. And as opposed to January, when SU head coach Jim Boeheim and others complained about the scheduling, only positive words were spoken this time around. Not surprising, considering the team was coming off a win and poised with such an opportunity right away.

‘It forces us to stay focused, forget about this game, and look at the next game,’ Orange forward Terrence Roberts said. ‘I think it’s tough, but as a team I think we like it because we need to get back in the swing of things.’

Though Syracuse beat WVU for its first conference championship since 1992, the Mountaineers had the last laugh a year ago. They became a national sensation when they advanced to the Elite Eight as an eighth seed. Center Kevin Pittsnogle led an explosive group of 3-point shooters that carried success into this season. Even after an 81-75 loss to UConn on Sunday, West Virginia (18-7, 9-3) is still third in the conference.

‘Coach (Boeheim) said they are similar in how they attack our zone,’ Syracuse guard Eric Devendorf said. ‘They spread the zone out and like to shoot the ball a lot. We’ve got to close down on shooters and rebound the ball.’

Besides Pittsnogle, Mike Gansey is the other Mountaineer scoring in double digits thanks to a 44.4 percent shooting from the 3-point line. Since Pittsnogle plays many minutes on the perimeter, WVU has little scoring presence on the inside.

Roberts already knew what his preparation for West Virginia’s 3-point heavy offense would entail. Several minutes after talking about Hakim Warrick with regard to the NBA All-Star game slam dunk competition that occurred hours earlier, Roberts spoke of specifically how his former teammate approached games against West Virginia.

‘I’m gonna sit back and watch a lot of film from when Hak was in there,’ Roberts said. ‘He did a great job against West Virginia these last couple of years and that’s why we haven’t lost to them in a while.’

The zone frustrated the Mountaineers last March. In SU’s 68-59 title game win, West Virginia only hit 36 percent of its shots – 31 percent from the 3-point line.

Since West Virginia plays almost exclusively on the perimeter offensively, it’s easily last in the Big East in rebounding margin in conference play (-11.4). If the Orange can force the Mountaineers into one shot per possession and cause turnovers like it did against Louisville on Saturday, SU’s offense can run. Shooters like guard Gerry McNamara have been most effective with open looks on fast breaks this season.

Thus the formula is there for SU’s first quality win of the season – and 19th overall. A victory would go a long way toward guaranteeing an NCAA Tournament berth. As it stands now, SU remains on the bubble.

‘For me the magic number is 20 wins,’ Devendorf said. ‘When you get 20 wins, it looks good. Hopefully we can fight through this and get to the tournament.’

Published on February 19, 2006 at 12:00 pm