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All of a sudden, Syracuse's potent offense has a new scoring option.
Freshman Billy Edelin continues his adjustment to college basketball as the No. 19 Orangemen face West Virginia at WVU Coliseum on Saturday.
Edelin scored 10 points in Syracuse's 88-80 win over archrival Georgetown on Monday -- its fourth victory in five games.
The game was Edelin's sixth with the Orangemen (15-3, 6-2 Big East), but came almost 17 months after he first enrolled at the school.
Edelin, a highly coveted high school prospect from Virginia's Oak Hill Academy, did not play last season after he was banned indefinitely by the university amid accusations of sexual misconduct.
He was suspended for the first 12 games this season after playing in a recreational league during his suspension -- NCAA rules do not allow student-athletes to participate in outside leagues during the school year and only in sanctioned leagues during the summer.
Edelin, a 6-foot-4 guard, scored only two points in seven minutes in his first game, a 73-60 loss to then-No. 2 Pittsburgh on Jan. 18.
However, he played 28 minutes and scored 11 points one game later in his Carrier Dome debut, an 83-65 win over Seton Hall.
``I felt most comfortable today and also in the Seton Hall game,'' Edelin said after Monday's win. ``When I get minutes it is much easier.''
Edelin has averaged 5.2 points and 18.8 minutes so far this season.
``I thought Billy was real good tonight,'' said Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim. ``He looked like he was comfortable out there and made some good plays.''
Edelin joined four other Orangemen in double figures against the Hoyas: Freshmen Gerry McNamara and Carmelo Anthony had 22 points each, senior Kueth Duany added 15 and sophomore Hakim Warrick had 11.
``In most of the big games that we've won this year, we have pretty balanced scoring,'' said McNamara, who increased his consecutive free-throws streaks to 24 overall and 35 in Big East games.
Anthony, the Orangemen's leading scorer with 20.7 points per game, agreed that spreading the wealth is important for Syracuse, which is averaging 80.3 points per game.
``When the stat sheet is balanced and a lot of guys are scoring, it is hard to beat us,'' he said. ``When I'm scoring, and Hakim, and Kueth, and Billy -- Billy came off the bench and gave us 10 points tonight.
``It's pretty hard to play with us when we have that balance.''
The Mountaineers (12-7, 3-4) come in off a 91-83 win Saturday over Villanova -- their third victory in four games. Sophomore forward Drew Schifino, West Virginia's leading scorer with 21.1 points per game, scored 31 points.
Tyrone Sally had 19 points and Chaz Briggs added 11 for the Mountaineers, who never trailed.
Syracuse leads the all-times series 23-15. The Orangemen won both meetings last season and are 5-5 all-time at the WVU Coliseum.
Updated on Friday, Feb 7, 2003 11:04 pm, EST
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