Syracuse’s makes were sporadic. The numbers were ugly. The Orange went 35.4 percent from the field, and a paltry 17.4 percent from the 3-point line. Coupled with its 38-36 rebounding deficiency, there was no real way Syracuse could hold off Connecticut long enough to pull out a win.

The Huskies, on the other hand, shot their way to a 66-58 upset over SU.

Now the Orange has its next opportunity to reclaim its shooting form against a team that’s limping toward the end of the season. Syracuse (20-4, 8-3 Big East) plays Seton Hall on Saturday at 8.p.m. at the Prudential Center in Newark, N.J. The Pirates (13-12, 2-10) are on a six-game losing streak. This is Syracuse’s last tune-up before its toughest stretch of the season where three of its next four opponents are Georgetown, Marquette and Louisville.

“We didn’t rebound well, and we didn’t really shoot the ball that well,” SU forward C.J. Fair said. “You’ll have games like that where you don’t shoot the ball that well.”

In five games this season, the Orange shot shy of 40 percent from the field. In 11 games, SU shot shy of 30 percent from the arc.

The numbers are even more ugly when it comes to individual shooting performances.

Brandon Triche, who spends most of his time at shooting guard, is 6-of-37 (16.2 percent) from the arc in his last six games. Michael Carter-Williams is 8-of-24 from the arc in his last six. And Trevor Cooney, who was supposed to be a knockdown shooter off the bench, is 6-of-20 from the arc in that same stretch as his playing time continues to dwindle.

Syracuse’s shooting struggles wouldn’t be so costly if it consistently closed out on shooters. Many times this season, though, the Orange failed to close out shooters on the wings or in the corner and its led to giving up some big points. That’s exactly what happened Wednesday against Connecticut.

“They shot 8-of-14 from 3, which is the best anybody’s shot against us in a long time,” Syracuse head coach Jim Boeheim said following his team’s loss to the Huskies on Wednesday. “And we didn’t shoot so well.”

James Southerland, who was back for his second game since he cleared up his eligibility issues, was one of the Orange’s lone shooters to knock down shots from deep. Southerland drained four of his nine 3-point attempts against the Huskies.

As he continued to hit them, Connecticut started to extend its defense out to him, which opened up the inside for points in the paint. But Syracuse failed to take advantage of those opportunities throughout the game.

“I feel like not only is it one of those nights, but we have to adjust when we’re not hitting shots,” Southerland said. “As soon as they started pressing up on me we could of took it to the basket and got easy points, and they were also switching which also made it easier to get to the line.”

While Seton Hall is struggling, the Pirates are sixth in the Big East in 3-point shooting at 33.1 percent. Syracuse is 12th at 30.3 percent.

SHU also has the fourth best 3-point shooter in the conference in guard Brandon Mobley, who’s shooting 44 percent from the arc. Mobley’s teammate, Aaron Cosby, is 12th at 37.7 percent from deep.

Syracuse is a streaky shooting team. That’s been the case all season and it’s led to four losses. The Orange is heading toward the final stretch of the season, which includes some of the top teams in the Big East.

The reason for the Orange’s recent struggles isn’t a mystery. For a team stocked with talent, there’s been one common theme in all four defeats.

“I think it’s the shooting,” Fair said. “We didn’t shoot the ball well.”

Published on February 16, 2013 at 12:54 pm

Contact Chris: cjiseman@syr.edu | @chris_iseman