In the three days following Syracuse’s embarrassing 62-58 loss to then-last place Providence, Quentin Hillsman was so frustrated he couldn’t even watch the tape.

The SU head coach would last five minutes before his emotions got the better of him. So he’d turn it off. He didn’t need to see anymore. He knew his team mailed in a passionless 40 minutes. He heard the voices saying his dream season was over after its first losing streak of the year.

‘The more I watched the more intense and the more upset I got at our kids,’ Hillsman said. ‘Because I thought that we didn’t put a lot of effort into that game at Providence.’

So he took to the practice court and challenged his players. He told them they were responsible for their own destiny, and they [ITALICS]were[/ITALICS] going to beat Cincinnati on Saturday.

But he couldn’t be sure.

‘For the first time this year, I didn’t know how they would respond,’ Hillsman said. ‘I really didn’t know how they would respond.’

Syracuse responded with a 66-56 win over the Bearcats Saturday in front of 1,570 at the Carrier Dome and earned the team its 20th win of the year for the first time since 1988 and for only the third time in the 37-year history of the program.

The Orange (20-6, 8-5 Big East) used double-figure scoring efforts from four players to break a two-game losing streak. Against backcourt-oriented Cincinnati (11-14, 2-12), SU used its frontcourt depth to generate a 28-12 advantage in the paint and a 13-5 advantage on second-chance points.

In the second half, Syracuse’s smothering defense forced UC to shoot only 7-for-26 from the field, including 0-for-6 from 3. After a hard-fought first half, Syracuse took the lead on a Vionca Murray jumper with 17:59 left in the second half and wouldn’t trail the rest of the game.

Chandrea Jones bounced back from a slump with a double-double (18 points, 11 rebounds), and Erica Morrow had 16 points on 6-of-18 shooting. Syracuse as a whole shot 44 percent (12-for-27) in the final 20 minutes.

‘Coach said it was up to us, and that we needed to keep working hard and play strong and play how we did at the beginning of the season,’ forward Nicole Michael said of the team’s second-half effort. ‘I saw more intensity and confidence. We were picking each other up, and we didn’t stop playing hard.’

That effort was clearly moving to Hillsman, who gave an emotional 11-minute postgame press conference in which the second-year coach reflected on his team’s turnaround, from 9-20 last year to having 20 wins with three games to play and a good shot at an NCAA Tournament bid.

‘It means a lot, I think back to the first day when I got the interim job, and all I ever wanted to do here was to make this program a respectable program,’ Hillsman said. ‘And I think that a lot of coaches here have put in a lot of hard work. A lot of coaches have tried to get their team to this level, and you don’t know how hard it is or how hard it’s going to be.

‘Along the way, you get humbled by having 9-75 seasons; it felt like 75 I’m telling you.’

After spending the last few weeks reiterating his one-game-at-a-time mantra, Hillsman talked big picture – not just about this season but about the program overall – and came to realize the importance of his team’s accomplishment.

‘This is a proud moment for us and our program and our kids,’ Hillsman said. ‘I’m extremely happy, I’m extremely tired, I’m extremely sick, but I just feel strong inside for what our kids have accomplished.’

All this after a relatively easy 10-point home win over the last place team in the Big East. But that didn’t matter to Hillsman. He issued a challenge to his players and simply stood by as they took it and ran.

‘I don’t want any of the glory or the credit because the credit goes to my kids and the credit goes to God for standing by us and for my kids just to be aggressive and be strong,’ Hillsman said. ‘I am just so happy for our kids and for this university.’

kbaustin@syr.edu

Published on February 24, 2008 at 12:00 pm