The Daily Orange

Media Credit: Nick Ruggiero

In his first day off in what felt like forever, Donte Greene did the one thing he said he couldn't wait to get a chance to finally do.

He slept.

"Yeah, you know, I was just trying to stay off my feet," Syracuse's freshman forward said before practice Monday.

The team received a day off from practice on Sunday, something Greene and his teammates seemed to take full advantage of.

It's been that kind of season for Syracuse, rife with injuries and depth issues and a schedule that strains the months of January and February to its limit. Here approaching the stretch run, though, the Orange finally caught a break: a week between games.

After losing to Connecticut, 63-61, at the Carrier Dome last Wednesday, the Orange heads down to Tampa, Fla., to take on struggling South Florida tonight at 7 p.m. (TW 26).

For Syracuse (16-8, 6-5), the trip down to the Sunshine State will mark an end to its weeklong vacation. After its matchup with the Bulls (10-14, 1-10), SU will play four ranked teams in the next 15 days: No. 8 Georgetown, No. 23 Louisville, No. 20 Notre Dame and No. 22 Pittsburgh.

So a week off seemed to come at just the right time.

"It was a good time," Greene said. "I could always go, but it's always good to take some rest, rest your body, especially with the stretch we've got coming up."

As the Big East's bottom-dweller, South Florida would appear to offer a nice tune-up for SU on the eve of the Orange's rough stretch. With their loss to DePaul, 69-61, on Saturday, the Bulls have lost 10 in a row and sit near the lower end of the conference in scoring average and scoring defense.

But Syracuse comes in looking a little different than when it beat USF, 89-77, on Jan. 5. The starting lineup has shifted around. The team's strength has transferred from offense to defense. Even SU's go-to guy has changed during the past few games, from a struggling Greene to an emerging Paul Harris.

The Orange should by now be getting used to practicing shorthanded, and Monday - without even enough players to run a full scrimmage - was a reminder that nothing in the Big East can be taken for granted.

"No, definitely not, especially the way we're playing," Greene said. "(South Florida is) always tough at home. Their record doesn't really show that, but they're always tough at home. Just to go down there, we can't sleep on them."

Continued...

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