It’s not that complicated.

Those were the last words of Jim Boeheim’s postgame press conference, as he walked away from the podium, after a 69-57 loss to St. John’s on Saturday.

The media’s questions tried to pinpoint specific aspects of Syracuse’s (5-3) slow start, but largely focused on one discernible fact.

“Let me put it this way,” Boeheim, the Orange’s head coach, said. “… We’re either going to make shots or we’re going to lose against good teams.”

Syracuse’s tepid start has included losses to California, then-No. 17 Michigan — which has since lost to the New Jersey Institute of Technology and Eastern Michigan — and most recently St. John’s, which helped the Red Storm surface to No. 24 in the Associated Press Top 25 poll.

The Orange has shot 28 percent or lower from beyond the arc in seven of its eight games, a year after 3-point struggles led to a quarterfinal exit in the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament and a Round of 32 exit in the NCAA Tournament.

So how does SU’s start compare to last year’s from behind the arc? It’s significantly worse and that’s a concern for a team that has shown few signs of improvement as conference play draws closer.

The numbers

Here are Syracuse’s figures from behind the arc in the first eight games of this season and last.

Last season: 43-for-118, 36 percent
This season: 27-for-128, 21 percent

At the start of last year, the Orange was solid from 3 outside of a 2-of-16 game against Fordham and a 7-of-24 game against Colgate. But SU started 8-0 — en route to a 25-0 start — in spite of inconsistent shooting, and it didn’t catch up to Syracuse until a 3-6 finish.

This season, the Orange’s team 3-point percentage is actually generous. Syracuse was a decent 6-for-17 in its loss against Michigan, but that’s the only game it’s shot over 30 percent. The lowlights have been a 2-for-12 showing against Loyola (16.7 percent), 0-for-14 against Holy Cross (0) and 3-for-22 against St. John’s (13.6).

The X-factor

While Syracuse had Tyler Ennis, C.J. Fair and Jerami Grant last season, none of those players were consistent 3-point shooters. In that vain, Syracuse’s perimeter threats have a similar makeup this season, and that starts and ends with Trevor Cooney — the main reason for the slower start.

Here are his numbers at the start of last season compared to this year.

Cooney’s first eight games last season: 26-for-55, 47 percent
Cooney’s first eight games this season: 13-for-46, 28 percent

After the St. John’s game, in which Cooney went 0-for-4 from 3 and scored just two points, Boeheim stressed the importance of finding another 3-point option. The Red Storm face-guarded Cooney for most of the game, and made it a team effort to run him off the 3-point line and trail him hard on every off-ball screen.

And while the emergence of Ron Patterson, Michael Gbinije or B.J. Johnson as a reliable long-range shooter could certainly help the Orange, Cooney was able to shoulder the team’s perimeter production at the start of last season. This year, there have been 14 3s made by other players. Through eight games last season, there were just 17 3s made by other players and that trend continued into the rest of the season.

The difference is that Cooney was shooting close to 50 percent. Syracuse doesn’t necessarily need that; it just needs its only legitimate shooter to play like one.

The takeaway

When it was all said and done, Syracuse underachieved last season. That was ultimately due to its inability to score from the perimeter, and Fair, Grant and Ennis couldn’t compensate for that.

They were all players that could get to the rim with relative ease and create their own scoring opportunities, which is a player that this year’s Orange doesn’t have. Freshman forward Chris McCullough is the closest thing, but he’s been at his best facing up in the short corner and operating in the low post off feeds from the outside.

The lack of that player only accentuates the need for a reliable shooter, as SU’s forward-focused offense makes it dependent on a 3-point threat.

Louisiana Tech (7-2) is SU’s next test and then No. 7 Villanova and soon a full conference slate. The reason for the Orange’s bumpy start isn’t complicated, but winning is going to be.

Published on December 13, 2014 at 10:22 am

Contact Jesse: jcdoug01@syr.edu | @dougherty_jesse