Each moment once seemed unlikely, if not unimaginable.

Trevor Cooney biting his jersey after seven missed 3-pointers. Jim Boeheim screaming at his best player after a defensive lapse. That player, C.J. Fair, walking off the Carrier Dome court for the last time after losing to a team with five conference wins.

Remember when Syracuse was 25-0?

The streak Boeheim called the most incredible achievement in program history has faded fast — as has the team that came back to beat conference opponent after conference opponent earlier this season.

Now, the Orange is stuck in a 1-4 slide over the last two weeks that’s coincided in part with Jerami Grant’s nagging sore back.

“We’re not going to be able to win unless somebody can do more than they’re doing right now,” Boeheim said after his team’s loss to unranked Georgia Tech on Tuesday night.

Grant’s absence has inhibited the Orange’s production at both ends of the court. It’s forced Fair and Tyler Ennis to pick up the slack offensively, and forced clearly unprepared freshman Tyler Roberson into 23 minutes of No. 7 SU’s (26-4, 13-4 Atlantic Coast) 67-62 loss to the Yellow Jackets (14-16, 5-12).

But Syracuse’s troubles don’t end with the 6-foot-8 sophomore, who sat on the sideline wearing a sharp dark blue button-down shirt and tan suspenders. Cooney’s painful shooting woes, Rakeem Christmas’ offensive disappearance and the 2-3 zone’s despicable dissolution have less to do with the loss of Grant, and more to do with a change in confidence that can be felt throughout the whole team.

“When we went on the streak earlier in the season, I think we kind of had the mentality that nobody could beat us. We were going to find ways to win,” Ennis said. “I think we kind of got away from that in the last couple games.”

Ennis and Fair combined to take 42 of the Orange’s 64 shots against the Yellow Jackets. And while some were ugly — one Fair scoop attempt in the second half that caromed off the top of the backboard sticks out — 19 fell through the nylon. Overall, the duo has done well to score the ball in Grant’s absence.

Its supporting cast, however, has failed to score efficiently.

Cooney, whose 3-point percentage was once above 50 percent, missed his first seven triples against Georgia Tech. Open shots, too.

He’s shooting 20.1 percent from range over the last six games, and is likely the largest reason why the Orange hasn’t averaged one point per possession in a game since Feb. 12.

“I’m getting good shots, I’m getting the same shots,” Cooney said. “Honestly I don’t know what it is really.

“I could go back and watch the film, I doubt I will though.”

Christmas, who appeared to turn a corner with a 14-point, 12-rebound, seven-block performance against N.C. State on Feb. 15, has struggled to avoid foul trouble since and mustered just two shot attempts in 28 minutes. Michael Gbinije’s shot has been barely better than Cooney’s. And Baye Moussa Keita is barely worth mentioning on the offensive end.

“Somebody else has got to score,” Boeheim said, “and at this point in time those guys have not been able to do that on any kind of a consistent basis and for us to be good. Somebody else has to get it going.”

While Boeheim refused to blame the team’s defense for the loss to Georgia Tech — calling it “reasonably good” — that end of the court has only been marginally better for the Orange.

Against the Yellow Jackets — the 278rd-best scoring team in the nation, and one without strong outside shooters — the defense might have hit a new low.

GT made 12-of-26 field goals in the first half, running Robert Carter Jr. in the high post and Daniel Miller on the baseline.

The same 2-3 zone that helped carry SU early in its conference schedule looked pitiful as players sprinted back in and out of place through the first half.

“You don’t want to have this great start and not have the proper ending for it,” Fair said. “I think that’s something we need to have in the back of our minds.”

Grant is expected to return to practice within a few days, Boeheim said, and when he does, many of SU’s issues will be alleviated.

Yes, the Orange needs Grant to make any kind of run in the NCAA Tournament. But it also needs a consistent, if not hot, Cooney and a defense that can force turnovers and get the Orange out in transition.

If those things don’t happen — even with Grant’s return — Syracuse won’t be going anywhere this March.

Said Boeheim: “C.J. and Tyler scored 46 points in a game we can’t win against a team that’s won six, seven games in the league, so we’ve got to get somebody else.”

Stephen Bailey is the sports editor at The Daily Orange where his column appears occasionally. He can be reached at sebail01@syr.edu or on Twitter at @Stephen_Bailey1.

Published on March 5, 2014 at 2:03 am