By BILLY HEYEN
The difference between making and missing 3-pointers is usually a few inches, at most. The difference on the scoreboard between making and missing 3-pointers is much larger.
Syracuse (5-4, 1-1 Atlantic Coast) showed Saturday that when it makes its 3-pointers, it can be a tough offense to stop. The Orange cruised past Georgia Tech (4-3, 1-1), 97-63, on the back of a 14-for-33 day shooting from beyond the arc, one shy of the SU program record of 15 made 3s in a game.
“When you make 3s, it just changes the game,” Syracuse head coach Jim Boeheim said postgame Saturday.
READ MORE: Elijah Hughes’ career-high 33 points carry Syracuse
The Orange are only attempting about one more 3-pointer per game this season than last season, up to about 25.6 attempts from distance per game so far. But at least on paper, there should be more makes.
Elijah Hughes came back for year two with a bigger role in the offense — him taking the 3-pointers vacated by Tyus Battle and his hitch-laden jumper should equal a better percentage. Buddy Boeheim’s stepped into a bigger role, and he’s got jump-shot form that SU assistant Gerry McNamara has compared to Warriors’ sharpshooter Klay Thompson. Joe Girard III scored more than 4,700 points in high school, many on the back of his shooting stroke.
“(Girard) made his first two real big 3s in a game where they were coming back a little bit,” Boeheim said Saturday. “Pulled up, he can make that shot.”
Add around that trio the potential for Quincy Guerrier to be an improvement on Oshae Brissett‘s outside shot and the possibility that Marek Dolezaj‘s stroke would trend upward, too, and that’s a strong shooting team.
A 5-for-29 showing from beyond the arc against Virginia on opening night showed the pitfalls of a 3-point reliance, though. Sure, it was the packline defense, but so many long-distance attempts meant only seven shots at the foul line and, when the triples didn’t fall, a historically bad 34-point output.
A similar fate befell the Orange against Oklahoma State in Barclays Center, shooting 8-of-31 from deep in a loss. Before Saturday, it had only been against mid-major opposition Cornell and Bucknell that Syracuse hit double-digit 3-pointers.
Early on at Georgia Tech, a few of Hughes’ 3-pointers were the result of lax defense allowing him plenty of space. As the game went on, Syracuse showed solid ball movement, especially in transition, to get open looks. But many of the makes were simply shots falling that hadn’t been in recent games.
“We made shots,” Boeheim said Saturday. “We got good looks.”
At least optically, Buddy didn’t do anything differently when he curled off screens toward the top of the arc. It’s an offensive action that the Orange have used all season. But especially in the second half Saturday, when Buddy planted his left foot, then right, then rose up with a slight fadeaway, his shots went in.
The same was true for Hughes, who hadn’t had as much early-season variance as Buddy but received similar looks to the ones he’d had all season. In fact, Hughes’ first missed 3-pointer may have been his most open attempt of the day as Girard kicked it up to him on the left wing in transition, but Hughes left it short.
“(Buddy and Hughes) are both good shooters,” Boeheim said Saturday. “If we get them good shots, they can make them.”
Here's the full minute and a half highlight reel of Elijah Hughes' career day. pic.twitter.com/GiIwOyzYlu https://t.co/PV7qLmVfZ9
— Billy Heyen (@BillyHeyen) December 7, 2019
In recent years, the basketball cliche “Live by the 3, die by the 3” has become more true than ever as teams attempt more shots from beyond the arc than ever before. Saturday’s ACC Network color commentator, Chris Spatola, made reference to that in the first half.
“We think this is the Warriors and the Rockets, for crying out loud,” Spatola remarked as the Orange made early 3 after early 3.
Quietly, Syracuse made only two of its final 14 first-half 3-point attempts, but the scorching start meant the halftime lead was still large. The 3s can be so valuable because of the simple math, of being worth 50 percent more than 2s. But as shots further from the basket, teams rarely will make them at a higher percentage.
That means there’s a trade-off for teams that rely on the 3-pointer, by choice or circumstance, as Syracuse does. There are the days when the shooters rise up, and the bench players stand and lift three fingers, and the shots tickle the twine. But there are also the days of missed shots, hands smacked together in frustration and disappointed heads turned toward the floor.
Whether Syracuse lives or dies by the 3-pointer in this season as a whole remains to be seen. But Saturday proved that the Orange’s 3-point recipe isn’t worth giving up on yet.
Leave a Reply