STORRS, Conn. – Paul Harris knew he was going to have a big role. But the circumstances were supposed to be different.

Syracuse head coach Jim Boeheim had hinted he would play Harris and Matt Gorman more than usual against Connecticut, given SU forward Terrence Roberts has been bothered by his knee. But Roberts didn’t get a breather – not to rest his knee at least. Roberts and forward Darryl Watkins fouled out and Gorman recorded four fouls. Their foul trouble limited the Syracuse big men to 26, 10 and 19 minutes, respectively.

That left Harris with an increased role and he responded by notching a double-double – 13 points and 10 rebounds in 28 minutes. But it wasn’t enough to lead a victory as Connecticut defeated Syracuse, 67-60, and won the rebounding battle, 49-32.

‘They both were tough,’ Harris said of the Huskies’ 7-foot-3 center Hasheem Thabeet and 6-foot-7 Jeff Adrien, who combined for 16 rebounds and 5 blocks. ‘I think I got hit by both of them a couple times. Thabeet is a very tall guy. He’s a big guy out there. But I just kept playing. I wanted to get the W but we fell short.’

Harris tried to drive to the basket only to be blocked by freshman forward Gavin Edwards early in the game. Moments later, Boeheim substituted Gorman for Harris at the 13:40 mark. But Gorman picked up his second foul with 6:04 left in the half. That’s when Harris started taking control.

He hit a rare outside jumper from the right baseline to make the game 18-17 – a jumper that would normally cause Boeheim to bench Harris given his weak shooting abilities. But the freshman said that Boeheim has given him permission to shoot from the outside – as long as it’s not from 3-point range.

After Adrien airballed a jumper on the following possession, Harris grabbed the rebound, passed the ball to SU forward Demetris Nichols and then drew a foul off a missed tip-in. He sank 1-of-2 free-throws. Harris accomplished those feats in 17 seconds.

‘Paul came out and played pretty well,’ SU guard Josh Wright said. ‘He has to build on that and keep getting better.’

He then grabbed an offensive board off a Nichols miss and tried directing the offense up top. Harris dribbled right off a Roberts screen and found Eric Devendorf wide open on the wing, which resulted in a 3-pointer that put SU up 21-20 at the 4:17 mark in the first half.

‘Paul played like he should’ve been playing,’ Watkins said. ‘He played it smart. He knew what they could do and he knew what he could do against them as a weapon. He took that and went at it.’

A minute later, Harris showcased the power game that has been limited in Big East play. He drove from the top of the key to the right baseline for an open lay-up to make the game 25-22 with 3:15 left before halftime.

In the second half, Harris tried brining the ball up the floor on a few plays. SU guard Eric Devendorf hesitated giving the ball but Harris insisted. Devendorf obliged.

‘I felt comfortable handling the ball,’ Harris said. ‘I tried to make a couple plays. I think I kind of did. Hopefully I get the chance. You never know.’

But that quickly stopped. After two possessions, Devendorf took over the ball-handling duties.

Harris did not play without his mistakes, either. On one play in the second half, SU guard Andy Rautins fed him a bounce pass only to have it slip out of Harris’s fingers. And no matter how impressive he was on the glass, Harris’ effort could not overcome SU’s loss of big men due to foul trouble.

‘Everybody played bad tonight,’ Roberts said. ‘You can’t say it’s a bright spot because Paul came out and played OK. He made bad mistakes just like everybody else did.’

Published on February 5, 2007 at 12:00 pm