It didn’t take long for Quentin Hillsman to form an opinion following a look at his first half-season schedule.

‘I was like, ‘How stupid was this?” the Syracuse head coach said. ‘It was funny because I was listening to (SU men’s head coach Jim) Boeheim’s press conference the other day and I had the same feeling he had when I saw the schedule.’

Syracuse (6-2) has spent much of its early season away from home. Its first three games were on the road. And if that wasn’t enough, the Orange traveled to Anchorage last week for the Great Alaska Shootout.

In all, Syracuse played five away games in 13 days, going 3-2.’It’s hard to fit in 13 games before the end of December,’ Hillsman said. ‘Somehow, someway, we have to find a way to do a better job so our games are spread out so we have enough rest.’

After trips to Loudonville, N.Y., Ohio, Maryland and Alaska to open up the season, Hillsman said his team’s fatigue from the many trips was a factor in its loss at the Great Alaska Shootout. SU lost to Alaska-Anchorage in the tournament finale.

‘We’ve had a lot of games. We’ve been really, really pushing our kids a lot and we’ve just had a ton of games,’ Hillsman said. ‘I was worried about our legs possibly being gone for (Lehigh) but we came out and we played well.’

The Orange has three home games against a trio of teams with one win: Delaware State (1-4) on Saturday Dec. 6, Niagara (1-5) on Sunday Dec. 14 and Ohio (3-4) on Dec. 21.

The rest Hillsman and the team need may be in store. Having more spread-out contests leading into January buys Hillsman and the team some time to heal before the Big East schedule starts.

‘I just feel like were getting refocused again, coming back to what we have to do,’ sophomore guard Erica Morrow said. ‘Vionca (Murray) is back playing well and (Nicole Michael) is back from her head injury; I feel like we’re just getting back to our old ways.’

Hillsman backs off comment

During the press conference following the Orange’s 58-57 loss at the hands of the Alaska-Anchorage, a visibly upset Hillsman accused the game’s officials of cheating on multiple occasions.

The Orange head coach disputed a timeout awarded to the Seawolves with 21 seconds remaining, maintaining that the stoppage was granted incorrectly because Syracuse was in possession of the ball, according to the Anchorage Daily News.

Hillsman substantiated his statements in the post-game conference by pointing to his team’s substantial advantage on the offensive boards, suggesting that a team with such a great advantage could not lose, ‘unless the refs are helping the other team.’

But after a week to cool down and a 72-40 thrashing of Longwood on Sunday, a calmer Hillsman admitted his mistakes.

‘I think overall, when you talk about the postgame conference, it was a bad choice of words,’ Hillsman said Monday. ‘That’s exactly what it was, it was a bad choice of words. Refereeing is a hard job and it’s subjective, it’s human error. That’s the best thing I can really say.’

Berry gets valuable minutes

Freshman Troya Berry’s hard work in the preseason has paid off. The freshman – who has been moved up and down the depth chart, playing both forward positions and center – has seen action in the team’s last three games.

Berry has notched 38 total minutes of play against UAA, Longwood and Lehigh in the team’s latest stretch and scored 16 points – including a career-high 11 against Longwood.

‘It feels good, I love my team, and I love playing with them,’ Berry said.

ctorr@syr.edu

Published on December 3, 2008 at 12:00 pm