Quentin Hillsman rose to his feet on the sideline in anticipation of La’Shay Taft’s wide-open 3-point attempt from the left wing. Taft set her feet, received a cross-court pass and let it go.

The Syracuse head coach then threw his arms in the air and tilted his head, trying to will the ball into the basket. But a split second later, his arms and head went down.

It was Taft’s sixth shot of the first half against Coppin State. And it was her sixth miss.

‘Some days we have on days, some days we have off days,’ Taft said. ‘It’s life, you know?’

For Taft and Syracuse, it seems that nearly every game this season has been an off day from beyond the arc. The Orange (7-3, 0-1 Big East) is shooting a paltry 23.2 percent from 3-point range through 10 games this year. That dismal shooting performance has made Syracuse a one-dimensional team on offense, with a predictable strategy heading into each game. It’s something that has played a large part in SU losing three of its last four games.

Syracuse will try again to find its stroke on the perimeter against Xavier (3-5) at the Duel in the Desert on Sunday at 3 p.m. in Las Vegas. The Orange also plays Oklahoma (4-3) and Ohio (5-5) as part of the tournament.

The Orange went 12-for-76 (15.8 percent) from long range in its last four games and relied too heavily on its inside game as a result. Every time down the floor, the first option is to get the ball to SU center Kayla Alexander and the forwards on the block.

Without even a marginal threat on the perimeter, though, opponents have keyed on shutting down the inside, daring Syracuse’s guards to shoot as they packed the paint on defense. It was a strategy an inferior Coppin State team employed to give the Orange a scare in a 56-50 narrow SU victory last Saturday. But even as the turnovers piled up, Syracuse continued to throw the ball down low into traffic.

‘We got in our high-low and when we didn’t get it, it would be a turnover and we were still were looking and were forcing it, pounding it in,’ SU guard Carmen Tyson-Thomas said. ‘Because when you’re not making shots, you have to do something else.’

Looking inside proved to be the only option against Coppin State. So as Tyson-Thomas said, the Orange forced the ball into the post.

On one possession early in the second half, Rachel Coffey came down the floor and scanned her options. She zeroed in on Alexander, who was fighting for position in the low post and lobbed a pass in her direction from the top of the key.

But Alexander had already turned away and the ball fell into the waiting arms of Eagles center Jeanine Manley. Hillsman could only lean back helplessly against the scorer’s table, bewildered by the play as Coppin State rushed up the court for an easy bucket in transition.

The Eagles knew exactly what to expect on each Orange possession. And it showed.

Syracuse finished with 27 turnovers and went 17-for-70 from the field — its worst shooting performance of the year.

‘The past couple games we haven’t really shot the ball (well) from the perimeter,’ Hillsman said. ‘But obviously we can see what those results are when you don’t. … So we need to get some balance and we need to get our guards scoring the basketball.’

It starts with Taft. The guard arrived at Syracuse as a heralded recruit known for her accuracy from 3-point range. But in her sophomore season, that shooting touch has inexplicably disappeared. She is 15-for-71 from long range this season, a 21.1 percent clip.

Her struggles were perhaps most obvious last Saturday against Coppin State. She missed all six shot attempts in the first half, and her off day continued after the break.

After misfiring on her first two shots of the second half, Taft shot an air ball from beyond the arc on the left wing with just over six minutes to play. On SU’s ensuing possession, Taft revealed her frustration. Despite being outnumbered 1-on-4 on the break and with Hillsman urging her to pull it out, she forced the issue and missed a left-handed layup.

It was her 10th and final shot of the night. Ten misses.

‘I’m going through a little process now, trying to find the rituals and get a rhythm, see what works for me,’ Taft said. ‘I’ve got to do something consistent and have a good rhythm to getting things done. So that’s a process that I’m in now in trying to find myself and my game.’

rjgery@syr.edu

Published on December 14, 2011 at 12:00 pm

Contact Ryne: rjgery@syr.edu