Mike Hopkins curses at Fab Melo when he wants the freshman center to know he played well. The Syracuse assistant coach tells Melo to return the language when he feels he has done something well on the court.

It is not language with any hint of malice. Rather, it is meant to spur confidence. It is one word between the coach and player that speaks to their relationship as they’ve worked together to address Melo’s early-season struggles. Entering Tuesday’s game, Melo, SU’s starting center and a former McDonald’s All-American, was averaging a paltry 1.3 points and 1.8 rebounds in 12 minutes per game.

‘We said a bad word to each other (at practice),’ Hopkins said after SU’s 78-58 win over Cornell Tuesday. ‘I told him, ‘When you play good, I want for you to look at me and say that word.”

Tuesday, Melo finally screamed that word — a word Hopkins wouldn’t divulge — after fulfilling his assistant coach’s charge and putting together his best performance of the season. Melo scored eight points, hauled in seven rebounds and had four blocks — a tie for team-high on the year — in 22 minutes against the Big Red.

It was finally a night worthy of his Big East preseason Freshman of the Year title. Throughout the first six games of the season, Melo looked lost both offensively and defensively, and fellow freshman big man Baye Moussa Keita spelled him for most of SU’s minutes at center. Melo played only 14 combined minutes in the Legends Classic weekend in Atlantic City, N.J., and Orange head coach Jim Boeheim even started Moussa Keita at the beginning of the second half in a 53-50 win over Michigan Friday.

In the Boardwalk Hall locker room after the Michigan win, the scene was a snapshot of Melo’s play to that point. It also was a snapshot of his and Hopkins’ relationship and attempts to get Melo out of his slump.

He slouched in the back corner of the locker room with a grim look on his face as Hopkins sat close, almost protecting him. Hopkins said he didn’t feel Melo was down during the period of struggles but disappointed in himself. He said Melo wasn’t at a comfort level, and Hopkins himself was trying to provide that.

Melo attributed that scene and those struggles to pressure he wasn’t ready for.

‘The first five games, I got caught up in pressure. The next ‘Melo in Syracuse,” he said, referencing former SU forward Carmelo Anthony. ‘I didn’t expect that. Now I feel comfortable to play basketball.’

Melo’s comfort was apparent at the start of the second half against Cornell. Ten seconds in, it felt like déjà vu as Cornell guard Chris Wroblewski stole the ball from him. However, six seconds later Melo swatted Cornell’s leading scorer on the night, Errick Peck, and started a fastbreak.

But again, it was a second half from Melo — and the rest of the team — Boeheim wasn’t pleased with. The head coach liked what he saw early. It still wasn’t enough, though, even if Hopkins said the freshman made a ‘defensive difference.’ Still not consistent.

‘Tonight (Melo) was a little more active.’ Boeheim said. ‘He has got to be able to get up and down to get positioning. I thought tonight when he got positioning, he created something. Something happened.’

Enough happened for Melo for him to lose himself in another scene. As he left the game for good with 42 seconds to go, the center high-fived every member of the Syracuse bench, including Hopkins. But Hopkins was expecting more than the high-five. He was looking for the verbal exchange the two envisioned. Now was the perfect time.

But with the Carrier Dome crowd finally cheering for him, Melo forgot about the plan. Hopkins screamed to no avail. Finally, he got his attention.

Coach and player looked at each other and smiled. Hopkins raised his hand to his mouth to conceal the verbiage. He cursed at Melo.

And Melo gladly cursed back.

‘I told him the day before, ‘My goal in life is for you to hate me at the end of the year,” Hopkins said. ‘So (tonight) I was saying ‘Fab! Fab!’ And he looked at me, turned around and cursed at me in a positive way.’

aolivero@syr.edu

Published on November 30, 2010 at 12:00 pm