SYRACUSE - It may not be the NCAA tournament, but it's still a postseason game.

And Jim Boeheim's still coaching.

The 32-year veteran isn't going easy on his youthful bunch just because it's the NIT.

So when Syracuse made mistakes, and there were plenty, against Robert Morris in a first-round affair Tuesday, Boeheim did what he does best.

He glared. He scowled. He screamed. He even threw his blazer.

Boeheim was as spent as his players after an 87-81 victory.

Don't tell him it's just the NIT.

“Everybody had their own little yell session,” Donte Greene said of the post-game locker room.

“Paul (Harris) got yelled at. I got yelled at. Scoop (Jardine) got yelled at. Rick (Jackson) got yelled at. (Boeheim's) just teaching us - he's preparing us for the future.”

The Colonials raining in 16 3-pointers didn't help matters, but that wasn't the focus of Boeheim's anguish.

“We forced a lot of bad shots but we can't get a rebound,” Boeheim said.

“They have a 6-foot guy outrebounding us. We've got a 6-9 and a 6-8 guy, and a 6-foot guys comes down with the ball. They get wide open 3s because we don't get enough offensive rebounds.

“Where we should hurt them - on the boards - we didn't.”

Boeheim is the first to admit that inexperience is a major factor in the Orange's inconsistency.

With five first-year players and two sophomores playing all the minutes, lapses in play are expected.

But the talent is palpable. Greene and Jonny Flynn may be freshmen, but they're easily two of the better players in the Big East.

Harris and Arinze Onuaku are only second-year players, but each have had breakout seasons.

With the skillfulness in this Syracuse lineup, it's easy to get frustrated when turnovers and mental breakdowns lead directly to easy baskets for the opposition.

“What's so difficult with this team - anybody can see it,” Boeheim said. “When we do what we want to do, we're really good.

“When we move the ball good, we get good shots. We shoot a good percentage. But we make some unbelievable turnovers. It's the same mistakes from the beginning of the season. That's what disturbs me the most at this stage of the year.”

Syracuse's 18 turnovers was an eye sore on Tuesday's stat sheet, but much of that had to do with Flynn's back injury, which kept in sidelined for the game's final 26 minutes.

With Flynn in warm-ups, the Orange were down a ball-handler and limited to a six-man rotation.

And it's not the first time that a star has gone down for this team.

Juniors Eric Devendorf and Andy Rautins were lost earlier in the season to injury, leaving the Orange undermanned and lacking veteran leadership.

So losing Flynn, who had previously played 39.8 minutes in his last four outings, was quite a pot hole to maneuver around.

“It's a hard game to lose Jonny,” Boeheim said.

“If Jonny got hurt six weeks ago, we'd be fishing some place right now, not playing.”

But fellow freshman Jardine filled in admirably for his fallen counterpart, scoring 15 points and dishing out six assists.

And Greene stepped up as well, scoring a career-high 27 points on a career-high six 3-pointers.

Kristof Ongenaet left with a few more bruises too.

He had 13 points and made five key free throws down the stretch as the outcome remained up in the air.

Many Syracuse players faced questions in the past few days as to whether they would have something to play for in the NIT.

They answered those questions loudly against Robert Morris.

“We're still playing for the city of Syracuse, we're still playing for ourselves,” Jardine said.

The Orange may throw the ball away too often.

They may get outrebounded by smaller opponents.

They may take some questionable shots.

But when this team is down, they don't tap out.

That's why Boeheim's not done coaching.

And that's why this team isn't done listening.

“Coach may be crazy sometimes,” Jardine said, “but he knows what he's talking about.”