Markell Johnson bounced in Buddy Boeheim’s face repeatedly. Johnson denied passes and altered shot attempts. After making his first 3-pointer of the game, Buddy made just one of his final seven against North Carolina State. Without Elijah Hughes in the game, the Wolfpack swarmed him.

Johnson often remained on Buddy at the 3-point arc in lieu of helping stop another drive to the basket.

“That’s how teams are adjusting,” Buddy said. “They’re playing out on the shooters.”

Syracuse (15-12, 8-8 Atlantic Coast) started this season shooting more than 20 3-pointers in every non-conference game except Colgate. In half of the Orange’s first 16 games this year, Syracuse shot 29 3-pointers or more. But starting in ACC play and even more so recently, SU has stopped chucking from long range. Defenses adjusted, and those shots aren’t open anymore.

Syracuse has hit more than 30% of its 3-pointers in three of its last 10 games and hasn’t attempted 29 3-pointers since beating Virginia on Jan. 11. In the Orange’s most recent win over Georgia Tech, SU shot 14 3-pointers — its lowest attempt total of the season.

“We’re still not making a lot of 3s,” head coach Jim Boeheim said after Saturday’s win over Georgia Tech. “That’s just who we are, really. We’re not making those. We have to get to the paint, try to get inside and score in there. That’s what we’ve been trying to do.

Syracuse was supposed to live and die by the 3-pointer this season. From the Orange’s first scrimmage, in which it shot 33 3-pointers, Syracuse players acknowledged 3-pointers would be an emphasis.

As early as Syracuse’s opener against Virginia, the Orange struggled to move off ball and find open shooting looks. At that point, Syracuse wasn’t driving toward the hoop and creating opportunities inside the 3-point arc, either. The result was Syracuse’s worst offensive output under Boeheim.

“Obviously, we look to shoot and make shots,” Buddy said after the season-opening loss. “But they weren’t falling. And we’ll just learn from that and move forward.”

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Following the 5-for-29 performance, the Orange relied heavily on 3-point shots. Through non-conference play, Syracuse ranked in the top quarter of the country in percentage of total points coming from 3-pointers.

Once the calendar turned to the new year and ACC play began, Syracuse’s offense shifted while defenses began to cover them differently. In both games against Virginia Tech, Wabissa Bede clamped down on Syracuse’s shooters. Hughes and Buddy both opted for drives to the basket in those games when defenders covered them far out.

Increasing two-point scoring has been a trend in Buddy’s game over the past month, and Syracuse’s offense as a whole. The Orange now score 34% of their points from 3s — 93rd in the nation. While Syracuse once had one of the best 3-point shooting duos in the nation, it now shoots the 3-ball worse than 163 other Division I teams.

The Orange are still scoring, it just comes from different areas now.

On plays like the ones against NC State in which Johnson locked on Buddy, the opportunity to drive opened up for someone else. Syracuse has learned that strictly 3-pointers doesn’t work. On one play early in the game, Johnson could’ve contested a driving Quincy Guerrier, but moved out of his way to cover Buddy. Guerrier scored on the drive. Repeatedly, Marek Dolezaj has done the same and has scored more than 20 points twice in the last ten games and in double figures five times over that span.

“We’ve kind of figured out the ability, got the ability to go in the lane as well and make plays,” Joe Girard III said. “We just have to finish in there.”

Syracuse has had mixed results since its 3-point shooting declined. In the past month, Syracuse’s 3-point shooting has correlated with wins or losses. In a year where Syracuse’s shooting has faltered from beyond the arc, their season may find a similar fate.

“We got three premier really good shooters. Great shooters,” Buddy said. “We thought we were going to get our looks but things change.”

Published on February 26, 2020 at 12:01 am

Contact Josh: jlschafe@syr.edu | @Schafer_44