Here’s reality: Syracuse was in the absolute worst situation any 2010-11 college basketball team could have put itself in Monday. No team this year has experienced a deficit near 19-0 in the environment Syracuse was in … only to claw back from it.

The Orange was playing against one of the best teams in the country in Pittsburgh. The game was played in the Big East’s Zoo, in an atmosphere that froze Syracuse’s clockwork offense in its tracks.

And the Orange was down 19 points without Kris Joseph.

‘Obviously he is a big part of our team, and we certainly missed him tonight,’ SU head coach Jim Boeheim said.

In the end, SU fell short. And it was because SU was without one of its three indispensables in Joseph — Scoop Jardine and Rick Jackson being the others.

With an injury to any of those three, SU loses one of its greatest assets. Forget SU’s depth. Syracuse’s big three spur the depth. That trio wasn’t whole for the first time all year on Monday. Keeping Joseph, Jardine and Jackson healthy is not only a key. It is a must.

If SU learned anything last year, it was that without one of its big three, a string of tournament wins isn’t likely. Last year, it was Arinze Onuaku who went down with an injury, leading to Syracuse’s earlier-than-anticipated exit in the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament.

The effect of Joseph’s injury was amplified by the crazed Oakland Zoo environment Monday. Sure, Syracuse showed mettle. Maybe the most mettle any college team has shown all year.

But in those first eight minutes, sans Joseph, SU lacked the veteran will and mindset to execute in hostile territory. After eight minutes, Jardine started SU’s run back into the game by undertaking that certain mindset, hitting a contested 3 and giving the Orange its first points of the game. But it is too much of a role for him and Jackson to undertake.

Syracuse did come back to tie the game with 13 minutes to go. Confidence surfaced in the face of near impossibility. But the Orange couldn’t finish because it didn’t have the veteran scoring mindset to get off to a good start.

And even though Boeheim said the obvious postgame on Monday, he would rather not have SU experience life without Joseph any longer.

‘You just have to play with what you have,’ he said. ‘Nothing you can do about that.’

aolivero@syr.edu

Published on January 18, 2011 at 12:00 pm