NEW YORK — The butterflies gone, Oshae Brissett jabbed, faked a drive and stepped back into a 3-pointer from the left wing. Syracuse’s freshman forward created all the separation he needed against North Carolina forward Cameron Johnson, who hounded him all night, and fired it from deep.

The net snapped. It allowed Brissett to breathe, for a moment. It absolved his earlier struggles: driving and airballing, driving and hitting the side of the backboard, driving and drawing a whistle for an offensive foul. It embodied the calm he felt after the nerves of the day before, when he shot 2-for-11 and missed all six 3-pointers in a win over Wake Forest.

“I couldn’t have another game like I did yesterday,” Brissett said. “I came in with a lot more confidence than I did yesterday. I was pretty nervous, first ACC Tournament game, so looking at the big lights and the atmosphere kind of got me shook up a little bit. Today, I felt like I picked my shots and I knew how to knock them down.”

Brissett and his game-high 20 points on 7-for-14 shooting was the lone offensive bright spot in No. 11-seed Syracuse’s (20-13, 8-10 Atlantic Coast) 78-59 loss to No. 6-seed North Carolina (23-9, 11-7). The Tar Heels bottled-up the other two members of Syracuse’s big three, guards Frank Howard and Tyus Battle, who combined to shoot 8-for-39 (20.5 percent). The loss eliminated Syracuse in the second round of the ACC Tournament on Wednesday night at the Barclays Center and left SU’s NCAA Tournament future uncertain.

If the Orange is to make any postseason push, it needs more production from Battle and Howard, as well as Brissett to do almost exactly what he did against UNC.

“He’s our best 3-point shooter,” head coach Jim Boeheim said. “He started out slow but he shot well. He kept us in there a little bit tonight with it.”

Brissett’s fourth of five 3s Wednesday came just before halftime. After two UNC offensive rebounds resulted in a backboard-rattling dunk, the Heels seemed prepared to take a 13-point lead to the break. But there was time. Time for Brissett to hoist an off-balance shot that had little business going in, looking short the whole way but somehow sneaking past the front of the rim. Time for him to sprint down the other end of the court for a defensive possession that never happened.

He stopped to watch UNC’s heave go nowhere near the net. He looked around and pressed his palms to the floor. The universal hand gesture for “Calm down.” He wanted the strong Syracuse contingent in the stands to understand: “I got you.” He had told himself something before the game, and he now knew he was right.

“Told myself, ‘You’re not going to have another bad shooting day,’” Brissett said. “‘You’re just going to play the game that you know how to play.’”

In the second half, North Carolina’s tightly packed, help-heavy defense adjusted to Brissett heating up and pushed out, running him off the 3-point line. Brissett countered by beating his defender, most often Johnson, off the dribble. He finished the takes he’s sometimes struggled to this season. But for as many shots as Brissett canned, UNC seemed to jab back with two more. He was quickly losing steam as the Tar Heels bullied the Orange down low and ran away from Syracuse’s big push for a comeback late in the second half. By the time he got his last bucket, a tough layup with about two minutes to play, it was over.

On a night Brissett felt comfortable, none of his teammates did. His effort wasn’t enough.

Published on March 8, 2018 at 2:32 am

Contact Sam: sjfortie@syr.edu | @Sam4TR