In the locker room after Syracuse’s first loss of the season, three days away from its first major-conference opponent, some SU players were posed with the question of whether Saturday’s loss to Wichita State was a ‘good loss.’ As if there is such a thing.

There’s no way to determine whether Saturday’s loss will help No. 21 SU tonight when it plays No. 22 Oklahoma State at Madison Square Garden in the first game of the Jimmy V Classic (7 p.m., ESPN). What’s certain, though, is the Orange has a clear understanding of why it lost on Saturday and what it needs to rectify tonight.

‘I think two or three games ago I said we’re just not playing well, we’re not coming out defensively and offensively the way we need to,’ head coach Jim Boeheim said after Saturday’s game. ‘This is what I was talking about three games ago. We’re not coming out ready to play, we haven’t all year and I hate to be right.’

SU (7-1) is averaging just over 34 points in the first half of its eight games this season. It’s averaging almost 43 points in the second halves of those games. Clearly, this is a team that’s taking some time to get its offense together.

On Saturday, SU scored just one point during Wichita State’s costly 27-1 run during 11 minutes of the first half. It marked the second time this season SU entered the locker room trailing.

‘It’s mostly offensively,’ Boeheim said of the struggles. ‘Some defensively but generally if your offense isn’t good your defense struggles sometimes, too, it shouldn’t but it generally does.’

Despite Boeheim’s complaints, SU is 7-1 and has played well enough to win its early-season slate. However, Boeheim realizes SU’s schedule thus far doesn’t represent what it will face in the Big East – or tonight.

The defense has struggled all season, but that’s not uncommon for this time of year. SU has been switching between man-to-man and its trademark 2-3 zone while mixing in some press. During the Orange’s second half comeback on Saturday, it was playing an efficient press. Earlier in the half, though, Wichita State was able to beat the press with its superior passing.

The zone will continue to evolve, and with an experienced backline and the versatility of freshman Paul Harris, it has the potential to be much better than last season’s zone.

‘We have to do a better job of listening to coach,’ senior forward Terrence Roberts said. ‘Everybody has to focus on defense. We’re such a poor defensive team out there playing in our zone. The way we’re playing man-to-man, there’s no reason why our zone shouldn’t be one of the best zones in the country.

‘We’re not a man-to-man team. Coach Boeheim has played zone defense for 30-something years. He’s going to change a little, but he won’t change much.’

When SU last played Oklahoma State (9-0) – in the Jimmy V Classic two seasons ago – the game was at a similar time of year and Boeheim was singing a different tune in the game before. At the time, the Orange was ranked No. 4 and was coming off a 68-55 win over Colgate.

Boeheim complimented the zone defense in the Colgate postgame press conference. It was the man-to-man defense that struggled. Boeheim acknowledged he would have a better idea of the type of team the Orange was after playing the Cowboys, which were No. 5 at the time and coming off a Final Four appearance.

Oklahoma State topped SU, 74-60, giving the Orange its first loss of the season. This time, SU is already aware of its problems. The Cowboys are undefeated again now, although they don’t have the same hype as before.

Still, considering where the Orange is at this point of the season, the quality of Oklahoma State and the fact that SU is coming off a difficult loss, tonight will prove to be another game indicative of SU’s progress.

‘I watched Okalahoma State,’ Boeheim said. ‘They’re a terrific basketball team from the tapes I’ve seen of them. We’ve got to show that we’re a lot better. We’ve struggled every game all year, we’ve just been better than the teams we’re playing against.’

Published on December 3, 2006 at 12:00 pm