Syracuse played much of the second half without Terrence Roberts and Andy Rautins, who both suffered injuries in the first half of Tuesday night’s 103-91 loss to Notre Dame.

Roberts played 11 minutes in the second half but spent the rest of the time on the bench with his orange warmup top on after re-aggravating a knee injury that has bothered him all season.

‘His knee is banged up a little bit,’ SU head coach Jim Boeheim said. ‘I kept him out because his knee is pretty swollen.’

Rautins was injured in the first half when he collided with Notre Dame forward Zach Hillesland. Rautins was trying to draw the charge and Hillesland bumped into him hard just outside of the paint and the two hit the floor.

‘He just came down straight on me and I had some contact with the floor,’ Rautins said. ‘I just wasn’t able to come back.’

Rautins was charged with the blocking foul and Hillesland made both free throws to give the Irish a 12-point lead.

Boeheim said there is no timetable for how long Rautins could be out and only described the malady as an injury to Rautins’ knee. The sophomore scored Syracuse’s first six points on two 3-pointers. They were his only points on the night.

Despite missing much of the second half, Roberts scored a season-high 20 points and grabbed six rebounds. He finished 8-of-12 from the field, a sign of improved offensive efficiency around the basket.

As for the knee, Roberts is relegated to dealing with it for the rest of the season.

‘It’s sore,’ Roberts said. ‘It’s something I’m going to have to deal with throughout the rest of the year because I’m not going to take any more games off. Whatever the pain is, I’m going to have to play through it.

Devendorf struggles

Eric Devendorf has been SU’s second-best scorer this season and one of the best scorers in the Big East, but he didn’t play like it in Tuesday’s 103-91 loss to Notre Dame.

Devendorf was 0-for-11 in 26 minutes. He was 0-for-6 from 3-point range. SU managed to score 91 points even without Devendorf’s 13.5 points per game. Notre Dame outplayed the Orange to the point that even if Devendorf produced, it probably wouldn’t have made a significant difference, but it at least makes one wonder.

‘This was really the first game Eric has had a bad game,’ Syracuse head coach Jim Boeheim said. ‘He’s been really our steadiest player and this was the first night he couldn’t get anything going.’

Devendorf was not available for comment after the game.

Irish OK without Kurz

Notre Dame was playing without forward Rob Kurz, who sprained his ankle against Villanova on Saturday.

Kurz has been one of the top Big East big men this season, averaging 14 points and 8.8 rebounds. SU didn’t know he wasn’t playing until the day of the game.

‘We didn’t expect it; we just found out today,’ SU center Darryl Watkins said. ‘There were just a couple things they did differently.’

Without its best inside presence, the Irish did its work from the outside. Ten first-half 3-pointers and the inside play of freshman Luke Harangody made up for Kurz’s absence.

This and that

Fans at the Carrier Dome were given placecards honoring Jim Boeheim’s 1,000 games. There was a video tribute for Boeheim before the game. …Fifth-year senior Matt Gorman cut his hair after spending the first 20 games with shaggy locks.

Published on January 30, 2007 at 12:00 pm