For a guy who endured one of the worst shooting nights of his life, Dustin Hellenga seemed pretty eager to get his hands on a box score last night.

In fact, after his team lost to Syracuse, Hellenga grabbed three copies of the box score, folded them carefully in half and placed them delicately in his basketball bag.

‘I’m keeping these to show people,’ Hellenga said. ‘This is the proof. We should have blown out last season’s national champions.’

Hellenga’s argument is based on one simple statistic: Rhode Island, which led for most of the game, made one 3-pointer in 21 attempts – slightly less than five percent.

Midway through the second half, Rhode Island held a two-point lead despite 0-for-18 shooting from 3-point range.

‘If we had made just a few of those, like just an average number, we could have been up by 15 or 20 points,’ said Hellenga, who made one of nine 3s. ‘I’d say this is the worst shooting night I can remember.’

In the other locker room, though, Syracuse players mused that, perhaps, they had played some of the best defense they could remember.

‘We locked down on the outside shooters and forced them to shoot from way outside,’ said SU guard Josh Pace. ‘That’s what the zone is all about. We did a great job getting out on those shots.’

Said URI head coach Jim Baron: ‘Some of the outside shots we took were tough looks, sure. But you still hope to hit just a few of them. That was the difference.’

Forgotten freshmen?

After playing well in the first half, the three Syracuse freshmen seemed a bit surprised to spend all of crunch time on the bench.

Though Terrence Roberts, Demetris Nichols and Darryl Watkins all played solidly early, SU head coach Jim Boeheim kept his veteran starting five on the court for the last 10 minutes of the game.

‘I kept thinking I was going to get back out there,’ said Roberts, who had four points and two steals in nine minutes. ‘I would have liked to play more, sure. But I guess coach was just more comfortable with the guys on the court.’

Early in the game, Boeheim seemed at ease with the freshmen on the court. After centers Craig Forth and Jeremy McNeil both drew Boeheim’s ire, Watkins took over for six minutes and played nicely. Roberts dove all over the floor and, after a few minutes, exited to a loud ovation.

Perhaps most important, Nichols came in and nailed his first college 3-pointer, which tied the game at 30.

‘That was a huge, huge boost for me,’ Nichols said. ‘I’ve kind of been hesitant with my shot, and that gave me a lot more confidence. I think it made coach feel better too about my game.’

No Gorman

Speaking of playing time, or lack thereof, Matt Gorman never got a chance to shed his warm-ups, making him the only scholarship Orangemen not to play.

‘You get ready and psyched up before the game and then never get a chance to get in there,’ said Gorman, a sophomore forward. ‘It’s just disappointing, but I’m not going to freak out about it after (two games).’

Gorman is used to being frustrated about playing time. He rarely saw the court last year as a freshman and, over the summer, briefly thought about transferring.

After yesterday’s game, Gorman looked dejected before he listened to a pep talk from his father.

‘He just told me to keep my head up,’ Gorman said. ‘I know how to deal with the frustration pretty well.’

Published on December 1, 2003 at 12:00 pm