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Connecticut's Tony Robertson shoots between Syracuse defenders Keuth Duany and Jeremy McNeil during the second half at the Carrier Dome. Syracuse won 65-60. (AP Photo/Kevin Rivoli)

SYRACUSE, N.Y. (Feb. 19, 2001) -- University of Connecticut lost at BIG EAST rival Syracuse on Monday, Feb. 19, 65-60 at the Carrier Dome. Albert Mouring led the Huskies with 17 points.

Preston Shumpert hit a school-record eight 3-pointers and scored 34 points for Syracuse.

Syracuse (20-6, 8-5 Big East), which had lost three of its last four, led the entire game and gave Jim Boeheim his 23rd 20-win season in 25 years as coach. Connecticut (17-9, 6-7) lost for only the second time in its last six.

Damone Brown had 12 points and seven rebounds, and Kueth Duany had eight points and three blocks for Syracuse.

Albert Mouring led Connecticut with 17 points, Caron Butler had 15, and Souleymane Wane had 10 rebounds.

Connecticut, which never led and trailed by as many as 16 in the first half, got two baskets by Butler to start the second half, the second cutting Syracuse's lead to 42-35 in the first 79 seconds of play.

But a 3 by Shumpert, his final one of the game, put Syracuse ahead 48-35 with 16:26 left. Shumpert, who had 20 points combined on 6-of-31 shooting in his last two games, eclipsed the old mark he held with Dave Johnson.

Desperate for every win it can muster for a chance to make the NCAA tournament, Connecticut refused to fold as Syracuse faltered.

The Orangemen committed two turnovers, Shumpert missed a 3 and was called for a five-second violation, and the Huskies hit eight free throws in a 12-0 run. Two free throws by Johnnie Selvie closed it to 53-51 with 7:31 left.

The Orangemen came right back with eight straight points, six by Shumpert from in close, to take a 61-51 lead with 4:52 left.

But Mouring hit two 3-pointers and Butler's tap-in moved UConn within 62-59 with 1:46 left.

Misses along the baseline by Duany and Shumpert gave the Huskies one last chance in the final minute. But Allen Griffin hit two free throws, Duany blocked a shot underneath by Tony Robertson and Syracuse escaped.

Slow starts have plagued the Orangemen since early January. Syracuse had scored 31 or less in the first half in nine of 13 games, and had lost five of them.

Shumpert took care of that problem on this night, hitting his first six 3-pointers - all in the first half - as the Orangemen quickly gained a double-digit lead.

If not for Butler, who scored six points in the first five minutes, the Huskies would have been in much deeper trouble.

Shumpert's fourth 3 came off a feed from Griffin on a fast break and gave Syracuse a 14-4 lead just 3:20 into the game. It also gave the junior forward 1,002 career points and made him the 43rd Syracuse player to surpass 1,000.

After Connecticut coach Jim Calhoun was called for a technical just over two minutes later with the Huskies trailing by 11, they narrowed the lead to 20-15 on two free throws by Taliek Brown midway through the period.

Then it was the Orangemen's turn. Shumpert set up Damone Brown's turnaround jumper in the lane and Griffin converted his own steal, racing the length of the court for a layup and a 37-24 lead with 3:21 left.

A 3-pointer by Mouring and a bank shot off the glass at the buzzer by Marcus Cox pulled UConn within 42-31 at halftime.

UConn outrebounded Syracuse 47-34, 26-14 on the offensive glass. But their inability to convert many of those second chances was crucial.