HARTFORD, Conn. — Two nifty tip-ins from two freshman no-names on two straight possessions — with that quick spurt late in the second half, the No. 23 Connecticut men’s basketball team demonstrated what it had and what No. 17 Syracuse lacked.

While the SU offense teetered on the efforts of one player, forward Carmelo Anthony, the Huskies were continuously able to find third and fourth options. And sometimes, fifth and sixth options.

To finish off last night’s 75-61 UConn win, a pair of those options, rookie forwards Hilton Armstrong and Marcus White, tapped in two game-icing buckets.

First, with 2:50 remaining in the game, White deflected an Emeka Okafor turnaround to extend the Husky lead to double digits.

Next time down the court, Armstrong knocked in a Ben Gordon 3-point attempt before it fell beneath the rim. Fittingly, even when Gordon and Okafor — UConn’s two leading scorers — were missing shots, the Huskies never seemed to run out of options.

“We just wanted to make sure Syracuse had to worry about everyone on the court,” Armstrong said.

Seven Connecticut players scored between seven and 15 points. White, the second-leading rebounder last night, and fellow freshman Rashad Anderson, the team’s second-leading scorer, came off the bench.

Syracuse didn’t enjoy such a luxury. The UConn bench outscored SU’s, 23-5.

“We just have more players,” guard Tony Robertson said. “They only have six or seven guys, but we go nine or 10 deep. And the important thing is, all of our guys can score. Syracuse has guys inside who don’t even try to score, so that kind of hurts them.”

White was one of four freshmen to see significant playing time for Connecticut last night, but he displayed a veteran’s knack for finding space and grabbing rebounds — often reaching over SU centers Craig Forth and Jeremy McNeil.

Playing a raw and rough style that interim head coach George Blaney describes as “street ball,” White grabbed eight rebounds. Four of those came offensively.

“Man, Marcus was huge for us tonight,” junior Shamon Tooles said. “We call him The Worm now, like Dennis Rodman, because he gets all the loose balls. That’s his new nickname.”

But it wasn’t just forwards like White and Armstrong who joined UConn’s raft of offensive and defensive options. As the Huskies sprinted out to a 16-4 lead, Anderson, a 6-foot-5 guard, knocked down two consecutive 3-pointers.

Bobbing back down the court with excitement, he screamed: “It’s my time.” And it was. In fact, it was time for every freshman on the Connecticut roster. Yesterday, the quartet of first-year players scored 38 points — better than the combined effort from SU’s more heralded freshmen, despite 29 from Anthony.

The Huskies played without regular starter Taliek Brown, who sat out with a broken left finger. Because of Brown’s absence, every role player in the Connecticut rotation moved into a more primary role.

“This shows we’re a deep team,” said Gordon, who scored 11 points, about 10 fewer than his average. “I only scored (11) points and we still come out on top with a victory. We just have those type of players.”

Following last night’s game, Blaney praised his four freshmen. He commended Denham Brown for his persistent defense on Anthony. He mentioned the bolt of “instant offense” contributed by Anderson’s early 3-point streak. And he lauded Armstrong and Brown for broadening the UConn scoring attack.

“To get eight points, seven rebounds from Armstrong and seven points, eight rebounds from White,” Blaney said. “Getting 15 and 15 out of the (power forward) spot? That’s awesome.”

Published on February 10, 2003 at 12:00 pm