Quentin Hillsman knows what doomed his Syracuse team in its loss to Oklahoma on Monday. It’s the same shortcoming that has troubled the Orange time and time again this season.

And the SU head coach is starting to feel like a broken record trying to explain his team’s Achilles heel.

‘We got to make shots. There’s not really too many ways to keep phrasing that,’ Hillsman said in a phone interview. ‘We’re getting shots, we got to make shots. I think we took 69 shots tonight, that’s a lot of shots. We got to make sure that we make them.’

Syracuse (8-4, 0-1 Big East) failed to connect on enough shots to keep pace with Oklahoma in a blowout loss, falling 82-63 at the Duel in the Desert in Las Vegas. The Orange shot 27.5 percent from the field — making just 19-of-69 shot attempts — while the Sooners (6-3) caught fire, shooting 44.1 percent from the field and 55.6 percent from 3-point range. For Hillsman, the heavily slanted numbers on the stat sheet effectively explain his team’s loss.

SU will try to bounce back in its third and final game at the tournament in Las Vegas when it takes on Ohio (6-6) on Tuesday at 3 p.m.

The Orange found itself playing from behind all game due to its shooting struggles, hitting 1-of-8 from the field to start the game. The Orange fell behind 11-2 just four minutes into the first half and was never able to cut into the Sooners’ commanding lead. SU went into halftime down by 12.

‘When you dig a hole against a team like that, it’s tough to fight out because they’re a very good basketball team and they’re very disciplined,’ Hillsman said. ‘It’s a situation of when you get yourself in a hole like that you have to find a way to fight out of it and we just didn’t do it tonight.’

Oklahoma’s disciplined approach on offense proved to be an effective one. Guard Morgan Hook led the Sooners with 21 points, forward Joanna McFarland added 19, and Aaryn Ellenberg chipped in with 16 of her own. The backcourt tandem of Hook and Ellenberg shot a scorching 8-of-11 from beyond the arc to help build and maintain OU’s sizable lead.

Hillsman said the Sooners spread the Orange out on defense, making it tough to get to their shooters on the perimeter. And the head coach said they were patient, often knocking down the big 3s with the shot clock winding down.

The Sooners trio of scorers came out of the break and keyed a 9-2 run that expanded their lead to 55-36 nearly four minutes into the second half. The run put an end to any prayer for a comeback for SU as the Orange shot 7-of-31 from the field.

Hillsman said SU centers Kayla Alexander and Shakeya Leary, who combined to shoot 6-of-18 from the field for 13 points, were bothered by the formidable presence of Oklahoma’s frontcourt of the 6-foot-3 McFarland and 6-foot-6 center Nicole Griffin.

With the inside game neutralized, SU’s guards got open looks. But as Hillsman said, the shooting woes continued and they couldn’t knock down the shots to get back into the game.

‘We need to make shots again. We’re getting up-and-down in these games where we’re not making shots,’ he said. ‘I thought the kids really really played hard and competed but obviously, you have to make shots to win a basketball game.’

rjgery@syr.edu

Published on December 19, 2011 at 12:00 pm

Contact Ryne: rjgery@syr.edu