Player and coaches — everyone wanted to take the blame. When asked about Syracuse’s shooting struggles in its 84-71 loss to Miami, SU head coach Quentin Hillsman patted his chest as he rose from his chair and walked out of the press room. The Orange shot 28-of-77 from the field, including a paltry 5-for-32 from 3-point range. But Hillsman said that’s on him. He needs to find his players open space. He needs to get them better looks. He needs to give them the confidence to put them down.

Hillsman proclaimed that when SU needs a leader, he’s the one who should step up. But two minutes later, as SU players graced the podium, Kiara Lewis placed the responsibility on herself and her teammates.

SU’s shooting struggles have come without reason. But as it continues its worst offensive stretch of the season — it hasn’t scored more than 80 points since Jan. 20 — it can only blame one thing: its shooting.

No. 15 Syracuse (17-4, 6-2 Atlantic Coast) has been handicapped by poor shooting over its recent stretch of ACC games. Since the Orange’s conference win against Pittsburgh on Jan. 17, SU has shot 93-of-267 from the field and 32-for-126 from beyond the 3-point arc. The poor shooting stretch has led to two-straight conference losses and close matchups with teams Syracuse ranks far above in the Atlantic Coast.

“It’s hard to win that way,” junior Gabrielle Cooper said, “when you can’t put shots in the basket.”

Against Duke and Virginia, teams with only two conference wins apiece, the Orange rarely squeaked out wins despite an inability to score. SU shot 20.7 percent in the first half against the Blue Devils and went to the break with a five-point deficit.

Though Syracuse’s large quantity of attempts with the 3-ball have looked to hold it back in recent games, Hillsman said the Orange has no intention of changing their gameplan. Since the beginning of the season, SU has stuck to one strategy. It would play fast, it would shoot more than the opponent and it would force mistakes on the defensive end to spawn more opportunities for offense.

In road games, the Orange even shoot more 3s. Emily Engstler said that, since Syracuse’s shooters have seen opposing arena’s rims less often, they shoot more to familiarize themselves. The more shots, Engstler said, the quicker they adjust.

When the shots don’t fall, SU does little to resist its attempts from the field. Hillsman said it’s just a matter of shooting out of slumps. Syracuse players have tried to find individual remedies. Digna Strautmane, who’s shot 41.9 percent from the field at all points from the 3-point line to down low, leads a group of Kadiatou Sissoko, Veronika Vorackova, Engstler and Marie-Paule Foppossi to shoot for 30 minutes before and after practice. After Syracuse shot 23.9 percent from the field against Georgia Tech, multiple SU players shot 100 times each in an effort to dispel the struggles. Hillsman’s strategy for getting out of a shooting slump: eat your postgame meal, and go home.

“We have good shooters. We have shooters who are very comfortable taking the same shots that we took in that game,” Hillsman said of the Georgia Tech game. “I feel very confident if they get those shots again, they’ll hit those shots again.”

But they didn’t. The Orange’s struggles continued after they lost to Georgia Tech. It sunk them once more against Miami, and it almost did so another time the ensuing game against Duke. Though the shooting struggles are something Syracuse needs to workshop, Hillsman said, he confidently declared there wasn’t a need to worry. The Orange would make the NCAA Tournament.

As players and coaches juggled the blame, SU’s shots have continued to fall out of the net.

“You live and you learn,” Cooper said. “Each game you try to get better.”

Published on February 5, 2019 at 11:18 pm

Contact Michael: mmcclear@syr.edu | @MikeJMcCleary