For a few minutes there, it looked like Eric Devendorf would steal the show. The freshman had talked for weeks about playing well for his friend and teammate Gerry McNamara in the senior’s final game on Sunday.

As McNamara struggled to gain his composure in the minutes following his Senior Day ceremony, Devendorf single-handily brought SU back from an early 11-point deficit with nine points in two minutes.

While Devendorf cooled off to finish second on the team with 19 points, he continued a late-season trend of being the Orange’s most consistent and versatile offensive performer. But that’s only half the equation. His defensive inefficiencies that have been present much of the year were also on display again in SU’s 92-82 loss. He’s been a two-sided coin for Syracuse head coach Jim Boeheim all season.

‘Eric has been a good offensive player all year long,’ Boeheim said. ‘He’s got to work on the other end.’

Certainly one player is not to blame for allowing Villanova’s four starting guards – Allan Ray (28), Randy Foye (21), Kyle Lowry (17) and Mike Nardi (12) – to score 78 points. But Devendorf has been one of the major culprits for an inconsistent 2-3 zone that shifts in energy from game to game.

His head down and his arm propped on his locker following the game Sunday, Devendorf said he wants to lift weights in the offseason to help him stick with defenders in traffic.

‘Defensively I’m looking to stay in front of people more and work on my strength,’ Devendorf said. ‘I think if I get stronger that will help me keep people in front of me. Sometimes they just bump off of me.’

Devendorf played 33 minutes and saw most of the Wildcats’ 13 3-pointers – six from Ray and four from Nardi. For the second straight game, he and others said simply hot shooting from their opponent was as much a factor as their defense.

‘I think anybody who is a great defensive team is going to struggle against Villanova,’ Devendorf said. ‘They have three NBA prospects in their guards – Lowry, Ray and Foye. We obviously didn’t play good enough on defense. But I left it all out on the floor. I can say the same for his teammates.’

It’s the freshman’s offense that made Boeheim declare before the season that Devendorf would be the Big East’s top newcomer. At times Devendorf demonstrated that praise would be worthy, but only recently has he cemented his status as one of the team’s primary options, particularly with junior forward Demetris Nichols struggling.

After scoring two points on 0-for-11 shooting at Connecticut on Feb. 8, Devendorf finished the regular season with seven straight games in double digits. His 19 points on Sunday was the most of that stretch.

The nine-point spurt early in the game against Villanova started with a four-point play. He was fouled by Foye after nailing a transition 3. He later hit a lay-up and another 3-pointer. His second-half scoring was more spaced out as he tried to help McNamara erase Villanova’s lead.

Many of his two-point field goals in the game and throughout the season have come via the left hand. He’s easily the team’s best finisher when driving to the basket and has demonstrated he actually prefers the weak side.

‘Maybe at the beginning of the year I didn’t know what to expect,’ Devendorf said. ‘I just have confidence in myself and my abilities to get to the basket and to score.’

But it’s the experience more than anything that SU assistant coach Mike Hopkins said will help him when he eventually is in McNamara’s position as a team leader. Devendorf has easily played the most minutes of any freshman this season and has time to develop of both sides of the ball, particularly on defense.

‘I think the biggest thing as a freshman with Eric is that he’s accumulating a lot of minutes,’ Hopkins said, ‘and getting comfortable of what he’s trying to do.’

Published on March 5, 2006 at 12:00 pm