Standing at the podium following his team’s contest against South Florida, Syracuse head coach Quentin Hillsman said his team probably prepped more for the Bulls than it had for any other team this season.

With the Orange having five days off between Tuesday’s loss against No. 5 Louisville and Sunday’s action against USF, Hillsman and his team worked hard to get out of its 3-6 hole in the Big East and get back on the winning track.

The prep work wasn’t enough – and now, the Orange’s season is on life support.

Syracuse lost for the sixth time in seven tries, as USF defeated Syracuse, 88-79, in front of 1,600 fans at the Carrier Dome. Syracuse (14-9, 3-7 Big East) has lost four games in a row at home, and has dropped more games this year in the Big East than it did all of last season.

‘I guess the main thing that I really can say is I have no intention of giving up and my kids have no intention of giving up, and we’re going to keep fighting,’ Hillsman said. ‘And we’re not the kind of team that’s going to lay down and take this. We’re a team that’s going to continue to play hard and continue to compete.’

For most of the game Sunday, Syracuse made you want to believe it could snap out of its awful stretch. In the first half, after trailing by as much as 11 points, SU closed the half on a 20-9 run to tie the game at 38-38.

When the Orange cut the deficit to 60-59 on senior guard Chandrea Jones’ free throw with 7:52 remaining, the optimism and excitement that the Orange could find a way to pull out a win reverberated through the crowd. But USF (17-6, 4-6 Big East) answered with a 20-10 run that gave the Bulls an 80-69 lead with 2:07 left.

And when Tasha Harris hit two 3-pointers to cut the lead to 85-79 with 26 seconds left, the crowd had hopes of a miraculous comeback as it roared in approval. On the next possession, though, Harris air-balled the shot, and SU had to live with another home loss.

‘We’re just not hitting shots,’ Jones said. ‘Everybody goes through a slump, and I guess we’re still in our slump. We just have to get out and keep playing hard.’

Hillsman said the biggest factors in the Orange loss were the points off turnovers and transition points. USF had a 20-7 advantage in points off turnovers, and a 20-6 advantage in fast-break points.

In one of the key possessions of the game, with 5:43 left and SU only trailing by three, USF’s Jazmine Sepulveda intercepted a pass intended for Erica Morrow from Harris and went for an easy layup to extend the lead to five. The deficit would never become closer again.

Hillsman said his team needs to get back and have a floor balance, as USF was able to get a lot of quick run-outs. The Bulls were able to take rebounds and push up the court and get quick looks that lead to easy baskets.

This led the Bulls to a 58.6 shooting percentage in the second half. USF only shot 35.9 percent in the first half.

‘I think we did a pretty good job of guarding the 3-point shot,’ Hillsman said. ‘We gotta do a better job of floor balance because when they are breaking out and we can’t get back in our defensive set, that’s when they started hitting a few shots on us.’

Both Jones and junior forward Nicole Michael, who led the team with 21 and 27 points respectively, said the Orange will keep fighting. But the Orange needed this contest to make a late push for a winning record in the Big East. Despite the NCAA Tournament far away, Michael won’t concede anything yet.

‘We’re not giving up,’ Michael said. ‘We have six more games. We’re not going to give up. We never give up.’

SU now has six games to try and right the ship. Six games to try and finish above .500 in Big East play, six games to try and avoid that dreaded first day of play in the Big East Tournament.

‘We’re going to work like crazy and keep competing and keep playing hard,’ Hillsman said. ‘I’m going to keep coaching as hard as I can, and we’re going to push our kids to be the best basketball players they can be.’

mrehalt@syr.edu

Published on February 8, 2009 at 12:00 pm