Members of the Cal men's basketball team said earlier this week that Thursday's game against Syracuse would be an important test.

It would be a chance for the Bears, who earned a No. 13 preseason ranking, to gauge their talent on a national scale.

So where do they stand?

Lower than No. 13, it seems.

Playing without senior forward Theo Robertson, Cal suffered the first setback of its young season against the Orange, a forgettable 95-73 effort at Madison Square Garden in New York.

It brought back to earth a team that was picked to contend for the Pac-10. And it didn't really surprise Bears coach Mike Montgomery.

"I don't think that was who we are, but I knew we were going to have problems," he said. "Their size was going to cause us a problem, and it did. Their zone was going to cause us a problem, and it did."

The Bears (2-1) had trouble with Syracuse's signature defense for much of the game, committing 14 turnovers and rarely getting easy looks at the basket. The Orange's length and athleticism off the ball were big reasons for its 17-4 run early in the first half, as Cal's 5-0 advantage to start the game quickly evaporated. The Bears never led again.

"I think turning the ball over as many times as we did forced us to be tentative," Montgomery said.

Point guard Jerome Randle was able to attack the zone by backing away from it, shooting 5-for-10 from long range en route to a game-high 25 points. With less than 13 minutes remaining in the game, his three-pointer from well beyond the NBA line cut the de facto home team's lead to 64-48 and forced it into a full timeout.

His teammates, though, weren't as successful.

Senior shooting guard Patrick Christopher, for example, missed all seven of his shots from distance as Cal-the nation's best three-point shooting team last season-made only six of its 21 attempts from beyond the arc.

"Our zone is designed to be effective against three-point shots," Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim said.

The Orange (3-0), meanwhile, led by as many as 24 points and was buoyed by a balanced offensive effort, as eight players scored at least eight points. Scoop Jardine led the Orange with 22 points, while Wesley Johnson made his presence known on both ends of the floor with 17 points, 11 rebounds and six blocks.

It didn't help the Bears that Robertson sat out with an injured right foot. Sophomore guard Jorge Gutierrez had six points in the place of Robertson, who will not play today against Ohio State. The Buckeyes fell to North Carolina, 77-73, in the other semifinal of the Coaches vs. Cancer tournament.

With or without the veteran, it's a quick turnaround for Cal.

"If you go into (Friday) thinking about this game we just lost," Randle said, "we'll lose again."

Tags: CAL MEN'S BASKETBALL, PATRICK CHRISTOPHER, SYRACUSE, MIKE MONTGOMERY