It’s practically guaranteed for a Jim Boeheim-coached team: 20 wins. Only twice in the Syracuse men’s basketball head coach’s previous 29 seasons have the Orange failed to crack the number.

Up until several weeks ago, there was no worry the third time would occur in season No. 30. But four losses in five games put this year’s Syracuse team in jeopardy of making history.

While the Orange is only four wins away from 20 with eight regular season games to play, the schedule is daunting. The first challenge comes tonight when Syracuse faces No. 1 Connecticut at 9 in the Hartford Civic Center.

Thanks to Syracuse’s recent slump, UConn head coach Jim Calhoun has moved four wins ahead of fellow Hall of Famer Boeheim on the all-time list, 723-719.

Tonight’s game comes less than a month after the Huskies (20-1, 7-1 Big East) handily defeated the Orange, 88-80, at the Carrier Dome on Jan. 16. Only a late surge by Syracuse (16-6, 4-4 Big East) made the final score close. Connecticut ended the first half on a 24-4 run and at one point in the second half led 55-32. The game snapped SU’s 12-game winning streak and sent the Orange on its downhill spiral.

UConn’s front court – 6-foot-11 Hilton Armstrong, 6-foot-10 Josh Boone, 6-foot-9 Rudy Gay – present the biggest problem for Syracuse. They make up the front line of one of the few teams in the Big East that can outsize the Orange. In the first meeting, both Terrence Roberts and Darryl Watkins fouled out after miserable performances. Roberts finished with two points and six rebounds and Watkins had one point and four rebounds. Afterward Boeheim echoed a similar refrain.

‘We really have trouble scoring when we throw Terrence the ball in the low post, he gets pushed outside,’ Boeheim said. ‘He has trouble getting back down. Our big guys have got to get better.’

Boeheim was pleased with the offense as a whole against the Scarlet Knights, particularly after point guard Gerry McNamara suffered a severe charley horse at the 5:32 mark of the first half and did not return. Sophomore Josh Wright filled in and hit several big shots and directed a balanced attack that will be necessary tonight against the Huskies.

‘Offensively we did not press at all, Boeheim said. ‘That’s the one thing about that game – we played through the whole thing. Even when Gerry got hurt we were not pressing.’

Expected to return tonight, McNamara faces the team that has given him the most trouble during his career. In eight career games, McNamara has never shot well against the Huskies. In his career, he is 15-of-69 from the 3-point line, a 21.7 percent clip. That trend continued in the first meeting of the season, when he shot 2-of-9 and scored 14 points.

After UConn, Syracuse still has three remaining games against ranked teams – versus No. 9 West Virginia, at No. 15 Georgetown and versus No. 4 Villanova. Of course, there still is the Big East Tournament to reach 20 wins if the Orange don’t reach the mark during the regular season. But Boeheim doesn’t seem to think that will be necessary. He doesn’t expect a repeat of the 1981-82 and 1996-97 that fell short of 20 victories.

‘I’ve questioned the toughness of our players a couple of times,’ Boeheim said. ‘Although when you look at what we’ve done, we’ve been way behind against quality teams and we keep fighting back.

‘We fought back against Connecticut as bad as we were down. At Villanova, we were down 20 but we got it back to four. At Pittsburgh we’re down 18 or 19 but we got it back to four and tonight we’re down and we fight back. This team fights hard. They make some mistakes; it’s going to happen when you’re young, but they keep fighting.’

Published on February 7, 2006 at 12:00 pm