ATLANTA — Georgia Tech coach Damon Stoudemire's philosophy is simple. “You can win with three people, but you can't lose with two people.”
In that case, Syracuse had no chance against the Yellow Jackets on Saturday.
Stoudamire's approach. An aggressive perimeter defense designed to take away or challenge 3-pointers led Syracuse to its worst shooting performance of the season on Saturday. The Orange took just four of 25 shots from beyond the 3-point arc in a 65-60 loss to Georgia Tech at McCamish Pavilion.
“They never found their rhythm,” Stoudemire said.
And he was right.
Syracuse's 60 points were the lowest total in an ACC game this season. The last time Syracuse scored fewer than 60 points was on Nov. 21 in a 76-57 loss to Gonzaga at the Maui Invitational.
“Offensively, 60 points is not enough,” Syracuse coach Adrian Autry said. “I thought we missed some easy games at the end. It wasn't an easy shot, but there were some shots that we should have made and didn't. We ended up shooting threes. The big thing was that we hit a lot. That's not a good recipe for us right now.”
For most of the season, that's been a recipe for disaster. Syracuse entered Saturday's game ranked 14th in the ACC with a 31.2% 3-point shooting percentage. That number will plummet after the Orange made 4 of 25 on Saturday.
“We were getting the shots we wanted,” SU forward Chris Bell said. “We just didn't beat them. A lot of credit to Tech. They did a really great job today. But I feel like we missed some shots, but that's really it. .”
Bell's 3-pointer gave Syracuse the final lead of the game. He hit a triple from the corner in front of the SU bench to give the Orange a 55-54 lead with 5:50 remaining.
Syracuse didn't make a shot the rest of the game.
Not another shot.
“I went into the lane,” Autry said. “I knew they were in the bonus, so I was trying to get into the lane and put some pressure on the rim. I missed a couple of pull-ups, I missed a couple of step-throughs, but then I missed a couple of shots. I took a picture of it.”
Syracuse committed just seven turnovers the entire game, but lost the ball twice in the final six minutes of the game.
“It was an execution late in the game,” Autry said. “We only had seven turnovers, but I think it was a little big for us to have two or three in the second half.”
The half-court offense, which was free-flowing in Tuesday's win over North Carolina, stalled again against Georgia Tech. Of Syracuse's 60 points, 12 came on free throws and another 15 came in transition. Almost half of SU's points were scored outside the line or half court.
Bell and JJ Sterling were the only Syracuse players to make 3-pointers. Both went 2-of-7 from the 3-point line. The rest of the Orange went a combined 0-for-11. Judah Mintz failed four times. Kyle Cuff missed three. Quadir Copeland and Justin Taylor were both 0-for-2.
“I felt like I missed a few shots,” Bell said. “We always take the same shots. That forces us to rely on our defense, and we weren't able to do that tonight.”
Syracuse currently goes 1-5 when making four or fewer 3-pointers in a game. His only win came against Pittsburgh, despite going 3-for-17 at bat. His other losses were to Gonzaga, Duke, North Carolina, and Florida State, and his home loss to the Seminoles was one of 14 games.
Duke, North Carolina, and Florida State all rank in the top five in the ACC in 3-point defense. Georgia Tech is ranked No. 9 despite Stoudemire's philosophy that three-man is worse than his two-man.
“The shots just didn’t fall,” Autry said. “We all know this is a win-lose game. We didn't shoot the ball well.”
The shooting numbers were in stark contrast to Syracuse's offensive execution in Tuesday's win over North Carolina. The Orange held the Tar Heels to 86 points on 62% shooting. Syracuse made his 3-point attempt on 8 of his 17 attempts from his line, for a success percentage of .471.
“As you can imagine, this is the most disappointing loss, especially after a game in which both of us played well,” Sterling said. “And today we just went the other way. We keep making leaps and bounds, but we remain stagnant.”
Contact Mike Waters anytime: Email | twitter
