Syracuse knew where to point fingers at the cause of the team’s two-game losing streak.

It could have been the extent to which Syracuse traveled, moving from Syracuse to Boise, Idaho, to Laie, Hawaii. It might have had to do with the Orange playing three games in five days. Or it may have been that SU’s game against Arizona featured two power outages and no shot clocks.

But the players agreed it was Syracuse’s inability to shoot well that led to two consecutive losses to Arizona and Brigham Young in the Hukilau Invitational.

‘If we had hit more shots I think we would have been more successful,’ SU center Kayla Alexander said. ‘It’s still a learning experience. Take away what you can and don’t dwell on it.’

Following SU’s two worst offensive performances of the season, it will look to right the ship when it opens up Big East play against West Virginia at 7 p.m. in the Carrier Dome on Wednesday. The Orange players have put the poor shooting games behind them, but it won’t get any easier against the Mountaineers. West Virginia is fourth in the nation in field-goal percentage defense.

Last season, Syracuse opened conference play with a 1-3 record, which dramatically hurt the team’s prospects of making the NCAA tournament. Entering the conference opener this season, SU will need to do everything in its power to avoid a similar beginning to the conference portion of the schedule.

And that starts with figuring out its shooting woes.

In the team’s last three games on the road against Boise State, Arizona and BYU, the Orange had its three worst shooting nights of the season. SU shot 37.1 percent or worse in each contest.

‘I feel like we’re just going to come out and play to our best ability,’ senior forward Iasia Hemingway said. ‘We know how it felt last year to go 1-3, so I look forward to it, and I think everybody has the same mindset winning these games and getting ready for Big East play.’

Against Boise State, Syracuse dominated on the glass, outrebounding the Broncos 57-26 to make up for a lackluster 37.1 field-goal percentage en route to a 70-47 victory. But in the other two contests the team’s inaccuracy would prove too much to overcome. The Orange shot the ball an astounding 84 times in its game against Arizona but converted only 26 times and went a ghastly 9-of-38 from beyond the arc.

The next day, Alexander was the only player to make more than three field goal attempts against BYU.

Head coach Quentin Hillsman said the team’s struggles carried over into its preparation. The Orange could not utilize its full-court press effectively because of a limited number of inbounds passes under the hoop following made shots by SU.

‘You have to score the basketball,’ Hillsman said. ‘So you take nothing away from poor shooting performances because you have to make shots. If you can’t make shots we can’t set up our press, so it starts with making shots.’

Before the game, Hillsman made it no secret that the Orange’s focus was to get the ball inside to Alexander or in the high post to Hemingway. Though those two players were effective at points during the Hukilau Invitational, the guard play was lacking.

Starters Carmen Tyson-Thomas, Elashier Hall and La’Shay Taft shot a combined 4-of-28 from 3-point range in Friday’s loss to the Wildcats. Alexander was limited to 13 points and SU lost by six.

Each team knew Alexander was the focal point of the offense, double-teaming her at every opportunity. It left the perimeter open, but the guards could not knock down their open opportunities to take advantage of the undefended space.

‘It’s all about how we’re getting our shots and where we’re getting them from,’ Hillsman said. ‘That’s the most important thing. It’s getting the shots that you want in our offense. I think we do a very good job of getting them, we just have to make them.’

But Alexander is confident that the shots will start falling. Players have returned to the comforts of the Carrier Dome and have taken more shots before and after practice.

And those repetitions may prove valuable when the Orange takes the court on Wednesday.

Said Alexander: ‘It’s another game for us to go out there and take what we learned on the trip and to get better.’

adtredin@syr.edu 

Published on December 6, 2011 at 12:00 pm