Forget about backdoor cuts, free-throw shooting and foul trouble.

Right now, the Syracuse men’s basketball team is focusing on something a little more basic: defense.

On the verge of a crucial, ABC-televised matchup at 3:30 Sunday afternoon at Notre Dame (17-7, 7-4 Big East), Syracuse’s zone defense is in drastic need of a quick fix.

Recently, SU’s 2-3 zone — historically an elementary aspect of the Orangemen (18-7, 7-4) — has been so ineffective that head coach Jim Boeheim has favored a man-to-man defense.

“The zone, two games in a row has been no factor,” Boeheim said after his team lost to Pittsburgh on Sunday. “We aren’t moving as well in it as we need to. If you play man-to-man you have to expend more energy than you want to. But our zone has not been a factor. That is the No. 1 problem we have.”

Earlier in the year, it was Syracuse’s No. 1 strength. Through 21 games, the Orangemen held their opponents to just 65 points per contest on 40 percent shooting and 32 percent three-point shooting.

But over the last four games, Syracuse has surrendered an average of 74 points. Worse yet, recent opponents shot 43 percent from three-point range, a clip better than any team in the Big East has shot for the season.

The problem: SU defenders fail to rotate past screens and jump out at long-range shooters. In the late seconds of Pittsburgh’s victory, forward Kueth Duany, known as a tenacious defender, left Brandin Knight open for two fatal threes.

“Kueth has been with us four years, and he had the two biggest breakdowns not going out on the three-point shooter, which is his responsibility,” Boeheim said. “Fourth year, that shouldn’t happen. Those are things that we have to correct if we want to be successful going down the stretch.”

“We just haven’t been active in the zone,” Duany said. “We haven’t covered our assignment. In the zone, if one guy doesn’t cover then there’s an area where we are burned. There’s a crack in our defense now.”

A crack that Notre Dame could easily expose as a gaping hole. The Fighting Irish are second in the Big East in scoring average (79.1) and second in three-point percentage (38.3).

Notre Dame sharpshooters David Graves, Chris Thomas and Matt Carroll all rank in the top six in conference three-point percentage. The trio combines for nearly seven threes each game.

To make it worse, Notre Dame could be the hottest team in the conference, having won five in a row before losing at Rutgers last night.

If the outside shots aren’t falling, the Fighting Irish have no trouble dumping the ball down to Ryan Humphrey, a 6-foot-8 power forward who is fearless on the boards. Humphrey averages 19 points and 10 rebounds but scored 28 and grabbed 11 when Notre Dame lost, 56-51, at the Carrier Dome earlier this year.

Humphrey’s point total has benefited from the passing of freshman point guard Chris Thomas, named last week’s Sports Illustrated Player of the Week after averaging 27 points and 11.5 assists in games against Rutgers and Georgetown.

Even with a boatload of talent, Notre Dame still sees Syracuse as the traditional powerhouse.

“Syracuse is one of those teams with a lot of tradition,” Humphrey said. “They’re one of the teams that’s usually at the top. Last year we were at the top, but we’re fighting to get back to the top again.”

But what put Syracuse at the top for years — the zone — now has it struggling mightily. The Orangemen know that to return to the pinnacle of the conference, the zone has to improve.

“Any type of defense you play, all five guys have to be working,” Preston Shumpert said. “You get like three or four guys working hard and one or two guys aren’t, that hurts you. Everybody just has to get back to working hard again for us to be successful.”

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Published on February 14, 2002 at 12:00 pm