Scoop Jardine knew the unorthodox change was coming. Right from the opening of the second half, when the Syracuse players still struggled to get to their spots in the 2-3 zone, Jardine sensed his head coach Jim Boeheim would venture into mostly uncharted territory — into man-to-man defense.

‘I knew it,’ Jardine said. ‘When we’re late to our spots like that, we’re going to go man.’

Minutes into the second half, Boeheim employed two un-Boeheim defensive techniques. Both, he said, were out of desperation in an attempt to mount a rally from a double-digit halftime deficit against Seton Hall. Both were implemented because Boeheim’s trademark zone wasn’t getting stops.

Neither worked. Syracuse still fell to the Pirates 90-68 in its worst home loss since 1998.

The first change implemented a full-court press — a move Boeheim admitted he had low expectations of from the start. The press helped lead to eight Seton Hall turnovers, but it also led to possessions during which the Pirates got up the court seamlessly and put in easy baskets.

‘We can’t press,’ Boeheim said. ‘We don’t have the speed or the quickness to press. Realistically, there are not two teams in the country out of 340 that press.

‘Press is what you do when you are desperate. We were desperate tonight, so we tried. We are lucky that we got the turnovers that we did, but we are not a pressing team.’

The second change was the switch to man-to-man that Jardine expected. Multiple players could not remember the last time they played man-to-man in a regular-season game under Boeheim.

That switch, too, did not produce the desired effects, as Seton Hall scored more points in the second half (47) than it did in the first (43). In all, the 90 points were the most points given up by a Syracuse team since its six-overtime contest with Connecticut in the 2009 Big East tournament.

And in the end, Boeheim realizes the best teams in college basketball play their style of defense to win. For Syracuse, that is the zone. And for Syracuse, that zone has to improve.

‘We have to play zone,’ Boeheim said. ‘We have to work on our defense, it is our defense. Most teams have adopted a defense, and that’s the one they use, and that’s our defense. We have got to do a better job with it.’

Southerland inserted into starting lineup

For the first time all season, Jim Boeheim mixed up his starting lineup without being forced. Sophomore forward James Southerland was thrust into the starting lineup on the road against then-No. 5 Pittsburgh last Monday, but that was because Kris Joseph didn’t travel with the team due to a concussion.

Against Seton Hall Tuesday, Southerland made a surprise return to the starting lineup. This time, he was starting in place of freshman center Fab Melo.

Rick Jackson moved to the middle of the zone defense like he has in several games this season. He was flanked by Southerland and Joseph on the wings in a smaller but quicker lineup for the Orange.

But despite getting the start, Southerland’s struggles continued from a production standpoint. He finished the game with four points on 1-for-5 shooting from the field in 19 minutes of action.

‘We thought starting the game with James, he’d get a couple open looks early,’ Boeheim said. ‘He got them, he just wasn’t able to knock them down.’

Jackson remained in the middle for most of the game, with Melo playing four minutes off the bench Tuesday.

With Melo struggling, Boeheim is still tinkering with the lineup to figure out what works best — something no coach wants to be doing 21 games into the season. But when Melo is out of the game, SU struggles with defense and rebounding, Boeheim pointed out. The problem is that Melo simply isn’t in the playing condition needed to receive extended minutes in the Big East.

‘I don’t know what it is,’ Boeheim admitted. ‘He’s worked in practice, but he is tired in a minute. He could not get back down the court after about a minute and 10 seconds (into the game). Whether it’s just the fact that he hasn’t done enough running over the course of the last three or four years, played enough basketball, I don’t know.’

Moving forward, though, Boeheim did say he would return to using Melo and fellow freshman Baye Moussa Keita at the center position. It’s too much to ask of Jackson to play in the middle of the zone for an entire game, he said.

Now it’s just a matter of how long it takes for Melo to adjust to the speed of play.

‘When he can get (down court), he can make plays,’ Boeheim said. ‘But he cannot get there at the pace these games are played at. Without him out there, we’re very small.’

bplogiur@syr.edu

aljohn@syr.edu

Published on January 25, 2011 at 12:00 pm