Atlanta ― Georgia Tech coach Damon Stoudamire’s philosophy is simple: “Threes beat you, but twos don’t.’’
In that case, Syracuse never stood a chance against the Yellow Jackets on Saturday.
Stoudamire’s approach; an aggressive perimeter defense designed to take away or challenge 3-point shots, forced Syracuse into one of its worst shooting performances of the season on Saturday. The Orange took 25 shots from beyond the 3-point arc and made only four in a 65-60 loss to Georgia Tech at the McCamish Pavilion.
“They never found their rhythm,’’ Stoudamire said.
And he was right.
Syracuse’s 60 points was its lowest total in an ACC game this season. The last time Syracuse scored fewer than 60 was in a 76-57 loss to Gonzaga in the Maui Invitational on Nov. 21.
”Offensively, 60 points is not enough,’’ Syracuse coach Adrian Autry said. “I thought we missed some easy ones at the end. Not easy ones, but some shots that we needed to make and we didn’t make them. It came down ultimately to we shot a lot of threes. That’s not a good recipe for us right now.’’
It’s been a recipe for disaster for most of the season. Syracuse entered Saturday’s game ranked 14th in the ACC in 3-point shooting at 31.2%. That figure will plummet after the Orange’s 4-for-25 effort on Saturday.
“We were getting the shots we wanted,’’ SU forward Chris Bell said. “We just didn’t knock them down. Great credit to Tech. They did a really great job today. But I feel like we missed a couple shots, and that was really it.’’
A 3-pointer from Bell gave Syracuse its final lead of the game. He drained a triple from the corner in front of the SU bench to give the Orange a 55-54 lead with 5:50 remaining.
Syracuse did not make another shot the rest of the game.
Not another shot.
“We got into the lane,’’ Autry said. “We knew they were in the bonus, so we were trying to get into the lane, put pressure on the rim. We missed a couple pull-ups, a couple step-throughs, and then we took a couple shots.’’
Syracuse committed just seven turnovers the entire game but lost the ball twice in the game’s final six minutes.
“The late-game execution,’’ Autry said. “Even though we only had seven turnovers, I feel like we made two or three late that were kind of big.’’
The halfcourt offense, which had been free-flowing in Tuesday’s win over North Carolina, became stagnant again versus Georgia Tech. Of Syracuse’s 60 points, 12 came on free throws and another 15 came in transition. Nearly half of SU’s points were scored either at the line or outside of the halfcourt.
Bell and JJ Starling were the only Syracuse players who made a 3-pointer. They both went 2-for-7 outside the 3-point line. The rest of the Orange combined to go 0-for-11. Judah Mintz missed four. Kyle Cuffe missed three. Quadir Copeland and Justin Taylor were both 0-for-2.
“It felt like we missed a couple shots,’’ Bell said. “We usually make those same shots. Then you got to rely on defense and we didn’t do that tonight.’’
Syracuse is now 1-5 when it makes four or fewer 3-pointers in a game. The lone win came against Pittsburgh despite a 3-for-17 showing from beyond the arc. The other losses were to Gonzaga, Duke, North Carolina and Florida State, a 1-for-14 nightmare in the home loss to the Seminoles.
Duke, North Carolina and Florida State all rank in the top five in the ACC in 3-point percentage defense. Georgia Tech, despite Stoudamire’s philosophy of 3s being worse than 2s, ranks ninth.
“The shots just didn’t fall,’’ Autry said. “We all know it’s a make-and-miss game. We didn’t shoot the ball well.’’
The shooting numbers stood in stark contrast to Syracuse’s offensive execution in Tuesday’s win over North Carolina. The Orange torched the Tar Heels for 86 points on 62% shooting. Syracuse connected on eight of its 17 attempts from the 3-point line, a robust .471 percentage.
“I’m sure you can imagine this is the most disappointing loss, especially coming after a game where you played really good together,’’ Starling said. “Then today just progressed backwards. We keep taking these jumps, but we stay stagnant.’’
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