The Syracuse men’s basketball team may be famous for its unique 2-3 zone. The zone is designed to confuse opponents, rotating to cut off easy inside shots and forcing teams to shoot from the perimeter.

But with the exception of SU’s 35-point win over Texas Tech on Nov. 17, the zone has been unusually porous this season. The leaky Orange defense has allowed opposing players, often smaller and less athletic, to penetrate inside for easy looks at the basket in SU’s last three games.

Syracuse head coach Jim Boeheim said defense is a major concern for an inexperienced SU team still trying to replace last year’s three best defensive players. The Orange will try to tighten its defense tonight against Manhattan at 7 in the Carrier Dome.

‘We have to defend better,’ Boeheim said. ‘That’s something that we can do on a more consistent basis and are not doing. … You didn’t see too many layups on us last year and now we’ve seen three games where people have shot a lot of layups. We have to get better defensively and that’s a concern.’

The Orange’s inability to prevent penetration was a major reason it lost to Bucknell on Nov. 29. The Bison guards maneuvered through gaps in the zone for easy layups, scoring 34 points in the paint against Syracuse.

The zone’s troubles continued into the first half of Friday’s game against Siena. The Saints are an extremely small team with its tallest starter, David Ryan, standing only 6 feet, 7 inches tall. Still, Siena managed to score 34 points in the paint against a tall SU interior.

‘We had very poor effort against Siena in the first half. … Particularly, inside defensively was not good,’ Boeheim said. ‘The guards got beat on the perimeter and that causes problems for us inside. We have a lot to do and I think that’s pretty obvious.’

Defense is a major concern for the Orange because its offense has yet to find its rhythm.

Against the Saints, Syracuse’s offense put together a solid effort, scoring 96 points. But the Orange won’t be able to score that many points against most Big East teams and it knows defense will determine whether games are won or lost once the conference schedule begins in January.

‘I thought we played pretty well in the last game on the offensive end, but defensively we struggled,’ SU guard Gerry McNamara said. ‘That’s something we have to improve on. If we play good defense, we’re going to win games.’

The Orange’s victory over Texas Tech is the model for what SU can do when the zone works. The Red Raiders scored only 46 points and shot 28.8 percent from the floor. Syracuse confused the Red Raiders, who often passed the ball around the perimeter looking for a shot in vain.

The tough defense sparked SU’s offense, giving the Orange its only all-around effort so far this season.

‘Usually that’s where we’re going to win – on defense,’ Syracuse guard Eric Devendorf said. ‘The offense is going to come, but if we play good defense, we should get the victory.’

SU’s defense lapsed after its match-up with Texas Tech. Florida bullied the Orange down low after beating the zone early with outside shots. That lapse carried through last week with sub-par efforts against Bucknell and Siena.

The main difference was the Orange was active and energetic on defense against the Red Raiders. SU hasn’t shown that kind of energy since.

‘If you’re active in the zone, it’s tough to score on,’ McNamara said. ‘We weren’t active the last game and the game before that we weren’t active. If we’re active, we can stop some people and that’s got to be the focus coming up.’

Published on November 29, 2005 at 12:00 pm