Brandon Triche figured a long run was coming. It has become the hallmark of Syracuse so far this season.

At some point, when the game is close, the Orange will run away from its opponent.

‘I think it might have been like two games this year we haven’t been on a big run,’ Triche said after a 15-0 run helped SU blow out Providence 78-55 on Saturday. ‘So today was another game where we turned the guys over when we can play defense. We stuck to our game plan and it worked.’

SU’s stretch of holding the Friars without a made field goal for 10 minutes was just the latest example. Syracuse buried Villanova on Wednesday behind a 20-2 first-half run to take a 43-24 halftime lead. The game before that, it was a 23-1 run in the first half against No. 25 Marquette in which SU held the Golden Eagles without a field goal for 11:13. The No. 1 Orange (19-0, 6-0 Big East) has been able to turn the switch on when needed to blow past most of its opponents.

And that dominance has Syracuse one win away from setting a record for the best start in school history. SU will shoot for its 20th consecutive victory when it hosts Pittsburgh (11-7, 0-5 Big East) on Monday at 7:30 p.m. in the Carrier Dome. Syracuse head coach Jim Boeheim, at 875 career wins, is one win away from tying Adolph Rupp for fourth all-time among Division I head coaches.

The Panthers have lost six straight games and their last win was Dec. 20. But for Syracuse to set a school record, it has to figure out how to beat Pittsburgh for the first time since 2006.

‘They’re a good team. I don’t care what their record is,’ Boeheim said. ‘They’re a good team, and they’ll come in here Monday night and play well.’

Pittsburgh has handed SU its first loss of the season each of the last two years. Last year, the Panthers withstood a 17-0 run from Syracuse to beat the Orange, 74-66, in Pittsburgh.

But those types of runs have been why SU ascended to the top ranking in the nation this year. Boeheim has said time after time that basketball has always been a game of runs.

This year, Syracuse has had the majority of them.

Triche had one reason for why it’s almost becoming an expectation for the Orange to have a dominant stretch every game.

‘Our defense,’ he said. ‘You can’t really say it’s one person because it’s a different person who starts it every time. I think we play off each other so much, we play off each other’s energy.’

On Dec. 17, Kris Joseph and James Southerland got hot from long range to spark a 23-0 run in the first half against North Carolina State. Five days later, three players hit five 3-pointers as SU went on a 19-0 run to close the first half in a blowout win over Tulane.

Scoop Jardine and Dion Waiters were the catalysts against Providence on Saturday. Waiters knocked down a 3-pointer to put the Orange ahead 28-16, and he and Jardine put immense pressure on the Friars’ guards in the backcourt to force seven consecutive turnovers.

Another long run, another double-digit halftime lead. Syracuse has led by more than 10 points at the half in five of its six conference games.

The Orange is playing a team going in the opposite direction on Monday, as Pittsburgh is the only Big East team without a conference win. But the SU players have said the opponent doesn’t really matter.

‘It was about us going out there and playing well,’ Jardine said after Saturday’s win. ‘And tonight we did that and now we got a Pitt team coming in here, a team that’s been beating us who is down this year, people would say.

‘But they’ll come in here and beat us again if we’re not on our A-game, so we know that and the focus is going to stay the same.’

If the Orange wins Monday, the rest of its winning streak to start the season will just be extending a record. Boeheim is only four wins shy of Dean Smith for third on the all-time wins list, so he will presumably tie and pass another coaching legend in the near future.

And Syracuse has not displayed many signs of letting up recently. Triche and Waiters both said that the Marquette game, in which SU nearly blew an 18-point halftime lead, served as a reminder that any team can come back.

SU center Fab Melo said the team is staying focused and is trying not to think about the big picture of the records the Orange is setting.

‘We just think about winning games,’ Melo said. ‘We want to stay undefeated as long as we can. That’s all we’re focused on.’

mcooperj@syr.edu 

Published on January 15, 2012 at 12:00 pm

Contact Mark: mcooperj@syr.edu | @mark_cooperjr