It was embarrassed on national television by a conference rival, 88-74. It walked off the court with an ‘overrated’ chant echoing throughout the Verizon Center. For the Syracuse men’s basketball team, Wednesday night’s loss to Georgetown is a memory the Orange would like to forget rather quickly.

Coming into Georgetown, SU had passed nearly every obstacle thrown at it. Beating ranked opponents on the road? Check. Overcoming second-half deficits? Check. Responding to a buzzer-beating loss? Check.

After a double-digit loss to the Hoyas? We’ll see. The question is how will SU bounce back after a game in which it seemed to be overmatched in almost every aspect of the contest.

‘I mean, no one wants to lose two games in a row,’ Rick Jackson said after Wednesday night’s loss against Georgetown. ‘I think us losing is just going to help us, to will us to win this next game.’

A loss on the road to a conference foe isn’t surprising, but how SU lost was. Entering Wednesday’s game, Syracuse was third in the nation in 3-point field-goal percentage defense at .264. But the Hoyas more than doubled that number from beyond the arc. In the first half, they shot 50 percent from 3-point land and climbed to 80 percent in the second half. It was the highest percentage an opponent shot against Syracuse since Dec. 8, 2007 against Rhode Island.

The timing for a defensive letdown is at the worst possible time for Syracuse (16-2, 4-1 Big East) as it welcomes No. 12 Notre Dame (12-4, 3-2 Big East) to the Carrier Dome Saturday at 2 p.m. (ESPN). The Irish lead the Big East in scoring, posting 82.2 points per game. Notre Dame also leads the conference in 3-point percentage at 41.3 percent.

‘They’ll have about 20 3-point field goals if we play defense like we did today,’ head coach Jim Boeheim said Wednesday night. ‘It’s a bad effort for us on defense. That happens. We have to forget about this one now and start thinking about playing Notre Dame Saturday.’

The 20 3-pointers might not be much of an exaggeration, either. The last time Notre Dame played SU in the Dome, it scored 103 points in a win and shot 11-of-23 from 3-point range. Ten of the 3-pointers came in the first half, as the Irish shot 58.8 percent from long distance.

But the Orange will have a few things on its side as well. Andy Rautins is expected to return to the lineup, after only playing nine minutes against Georgetown and contributing no points due to a bruised left knee he suffered in the first half. Rautins had been the Orange’s leading scorer since conference play began, contributing 15 points a game, but his average dropped to 12 after last night’s effort.

After the Georgetown game, Boeheim said Rautins’ status for Saturday was unknown. On the Big East teleconference Thursday, he gave a positive diagnosis.

‘Well it looks like, from what I’ve heard, that he will be able to play Saturday,’ Boeheim said. ‘He’s got nothing, no damage. He’s got a slight sprain or bruise. He’s walking now, as we speak. We anticipate he’ll be able to do some stuff today and maybe even practice. We’re hoping he’ll practice tomorrow.’

The Orange should also have a lot of support from the crowd Saturday. The largest on-campus crowd of the year in college basketball is expected for the game.

‘We know there’s going to be a ton of people at home and we have to protect our home court against Notre Dame,’ Rautins said. ‘And if we don’t play defense against them, they can put up 100 points against us. We’ll be fired up and ready to go though.’

The Orange will also be looking for the long ball. Some of Georgetown’s success may have come as a surprise. The Hoyas entered the game eighth in the Big East in 3-point field-goal percentage, shooting 33.2 percent. In conference play they are even worse, shooting at a 31.3 percent clip – good enough for 10th.

But even with the surprising success, Syracuse knows in a conference as tough as the Big East, any opponent can catch fire from anywhere on the court.

‘(We have to) go and have some good practices and hopefully go and have a good game against Notre Dame,’ Eric Devendorf said. ‘You have to go and prepare for every game, and that’s what we have to do Saturday.

‘It’s the Big East, so that’s what we expect every day with every team, so tonight we didn’t come out and play the way we’re supposed to play, but we have to worry about Saturday and Notre Dame.’

Published on January 19, 2009 at 12:00 pm