Five national championships, 13 Big East tournament titles and thousands of screaming fans loomed before Syracuse when it visited Storrs, Conn., on Saturday.

The Orange were trounced 76-45 by fifth-ranked Connecticut, but Syracuse women’s basketball coach Quentin Hillsman thinks its better to play UConn sooner than later because everything from the Huskies’ intense style of play to the riotous atmosphere provided a learning experience to a young Orange team.

Syracuse returns home tonight to take on Big East foe Pittsburgh at 7 p.m. The Carrier Dome remains one of the wildest arenas to experience a men’s basketball game, but to imagine the same environment for a women’s game requires stretching the imagination. Hillsman thinks the answer for filling the stands is an obvious one-winning.

This is why Hillsman believes taking on Connecticut early in the season will benefit an inexperienced Orange squad that has only two seniors on its roster.

‘I think it’s huge to get probably one of the top teams in the conference early on in the schedule,’ Hillsman said. ‘At least now you know what level you need to play at to win. I think with us being so young, we need to see what level we need to play at to be able to compete and beat some of the top teams in the conference.’

Despite the 31-point loss, Hillsman said he felt the team showed many times throughout the game it could keep up with a top opponent. SU’s defense did a commendable job of preventing Connecticut from long periods of consistent shooting, Hillsman said. The Huskies scored most of their points during large runs, where Syracuse’s shooters could not answer the scoring spurts sparked by UConn stars like Kalana Greene and Tina Charles.

SU’s second-year head coach was quick to point out Connecticut, who is currently 4-0 in the Big East, defeated conference opponents Georgetown and Seton Hall by respective margins of 58 and 48.

The Orange were down by 22 points with three minutes remaining and Hillsman said playing a team as powerful as Connecticut, a statistic such as that can boost a team’s confidence, especially one that placed last in the Big East a year ago.

For Syracuse, the experience at Connecticut could have a positive effect on the Orange as early as tonight against the Panthers.

‘Pittsburgh and UConn are kind of much of the same,’ Hillsman said. ‘They have a strong inside presence and they have one or two guards who can really make plays. The UConn game was kind of a good segue into the Pittsburgh game.’

Another rousing feature for the Syracuse players in Storrs was playing before a large crowd. Close to 10,000 spectators consistently fill Gampel Pavilion. To put it into perspective, when Connecticut visited the Carrier Dome last year, it brought the largest crowd ever to a Syracuse women’s basketball home game – 3,779 fans.

Syracuse forward Brittany Smith, who sat out Saturday with a foot injury, had a perfect position on the sidelines to hear the boisterous Husky fans. She said the faithful UConn supporters coupled with the numerous championship banners hanging from the rafters created a sensation that displays the Connecticut legacy.

Published on January 15, 2007 at 12:00 pm