Syracuse won, but did everything it could not to.

Whether it was the Orange not making a single field goal in the final eight minutes, or the six turnovers and three missed free throws during the same stretch, SU was grinding out a game that, had Georgia Tech played any better, could have just as easily been a Syracuse loss.

“Obviously, you never want to turn the ball over, but we just got to the point where we knew we had to just get shots down the floor or make sure we get the ball secured,” SU head coach Quentin Hillsman said. “When you turn the ball over like that, you’re not happy.”

The No. 25 Orange (17-7, 7-4 Atlantic Coast) used 20 offensive rebounds and 21 forced turnovers to overcome a sloppy performance in a 65-60 win over Georgia Tech (14-10, 4-6) on Sunday afternoon at McCamish Pavilion. Brianna Butler — who shot 2-of-21 in SU’s win over No. 13 UNC on Thursday — had arguably her best game of the season, scoring 14 points on 5-of-11 shooting.

Syracuse also held GT’s top scorer, Kaela Davis, to just 6-of-21 from the field. Six of her points came with less than a minute left and the game already out of reach.

“Like I always say, we need (Butler) to keep shooting, it’s what it’s all about,” Hillsman said. “We need her to keep shooting the ball and keep being aggressive and that’s what she did.”

Syracuse was able to play sloppily because of the early lead it built in the first half. The Orange raced out to a 33-19 advantage after an Isabella Slim 3-pointer. But the Yellow Jackets made four of their final eight field goals on an 8-0 run just before halftime.

In the second half, Syracuse never lost the lead, but had to work hard to keep it. After Zaire O’Neil’s layup cut the lead to five, Butler hit a 3 to extend the lead to 40-32. Less than three minutes later Katarina Vuckovic hit a 3 to cut the lead to seven, but it took only 40 seconds to bring the deficit back up to 11.

The difference wouldn’t get closer than six before the final buzzer, following Syracuse’s two turnovers in the final minute. But with only 21 seconds to play, the lead was more than comfortable. Alexis Peterson hit two game-icing free throws, and Davis’ 3-pointer at the buzzer only did favors for the box score as the Orange won its second-straight ACC game.

“At the end of the day it’s about us taking it one game at a time,” Hillsman said. “Obviously we do want to win the rest of our games … We really just want to make sure that whatever we do we work hard and try to clean up our game and get better.”

Published on February 8, 2015 at 6:11 pm

Contact Sam: sblum@syr.edu | @SamBlum3