PISCATAWAY, N.J. — Somehow, Carmelo Anthony left here smiling last night.

After Syracuse’s 68-65 loss to Rutgers, Anthony followed his teammates to the locker room only to stop a few steps short. He turned to the Rutgers’ student section — which was busy chanting “overrated” — looked up, shook his head and smiled big.

“I decided I’d smile at ‘em to let ‘em know they didn’t break our spirit,” Anthony said. “Plus, I hadn’t smiled all night.”

He never had a reason to.

In a strategy that’s becoming all too familiar to Anthony, Rutgers mostly double-teamed the freshman, limiting him to 17 points. Anthony scored just four in the first half.

“We wanted to stop Anthony, and we did a great job of that,” Rutgers head coach Gary Waters said. “He’s going to score his points, but he didn’t kill us.”

Rutgers forward Mike Sherrod marked Anthony for most of the night and received help from a slew of teammates. In the first half, Anthony took just five shots, making one. He didn’t score in the first 10 minutes.

Anthony looked for outside shots early and tried to beat Sherrod off the dribble. He wound up with three turnovers and a boatload of frustration. It peaked midway through the first half, when Rutgers’ Juel Wiggan taunted Anthony into a technical.

“It’s like they brought that guy in just to piss me off,” Anthony said. “That’s all he did, was try to get under my skin. It kind of took me out of the first half.”

Anthony calmed down at halftime, though, and steadied himself for the last 20 minutes. With 6-foot-4 Ricky Shields guarding him for stretches in the second half, Anthony posted up and scored a respectable 13.

“He didn’t look great,” Rutgers forward Herve Lamizana said. “We thought he’d be a superstar, but I guess there was a little too much hype.”

“That’s why I smiled at ‘em,” Anthony said. “They got this one, but we’ll have another chance at our place.”

Billy ball

For the first time since high school, Billy Edelin felt like he made a key difference. Just not the difference he had hoped for.

“I thought I made too many mistakes, and that hurt us,” said Edelin, who turned it over five times in 33 minutes. “Without a few of those turnovers, it could have been a different story. At some points in the game, I still felt a little rusty.”

But in between those patches, Edelin showed flashes of promise. He pulled down nine rebounds, the most any guard has snagged for the Orangemen this year. He also scored eight points and dished a team-high four assists.

Since Rutgers went with a full-court press for the entire game, Edelin — one of SU’s best ball-handlers — logged the most minutes (33) of his career.

“Billy came in and did some great things,” Boeheim said. “He played very well. Without him, we wouldn’t have had a chance against their pressure. When teams decide to press us, he’s going to be in a lot. I thought he did a nice job.”

No Q

In what’s becoming a postgame ritual, Boeheim decided to challenge senior forward Kueth Duany unprompted.

“(Duany) had a nightmare of a game,” Boeheim said. “We can’t afford to get that from our only senior when we’re playing on the road.”

Duany made just 1 of 10 shots, giving him three points to go with two rebounds in 23 minutes. Boeheim was so displeased with the senior’s play that he chose to keep him on the bench at the end of the game. Instead he went with Edelin, who’s now played four college games versus Duany’s four college years.

This and that

For the third game in a row, sophomore Josh Pace played less than five minutes. Last night, he played four, scoring one point. … Rutgers shot a season-low 26 percent in the first half. … Syracuse made less than half its free throws, knocking down 10 of 22. … Rutgers freshman Adrian Hill played in his first Big East game, scoring two points in six minutes. … The game was Rutgers’ fourth sellout of the year. … Syracuse made just one 3-pointer to Rutgers’ nine.

Published on January 29, 2003 at 12:00 pm