Trevor Cooney’s long 3 off a screen at the top of arc bounced high off the rim. It clanked the cylinder twice more before dropping through the net.

That was the first shot that brought Syracuse back.

Getting bombarded on the glass, shooting 2-of-12 from 3, the Orange was hanging on by a thread.

But Cooney’s first 3 gave SU the lead. His second 3, one minute and 17 seconds later, put Syracuse up six. That was the third shot, sandwiching a long 3 from Michael Gbinije. Wisconsin called a timeout.

“But after that,” Cooney said, “we couldn’t get that bucket we needed to really push it and make that run.”

Outside of that 77-second span, Syracuse (6-1) shot 4-of-21 from behind the arc. SU head coach Jim Boeheim said the difference was simply SU’s poor offense. It was a team that made its living in the Bahamas by shooting 46.6 percent from 3, facing a team in Wisconsin (5-3) that allowed teams to hit 45.1 percent of 3-pointers. The formula proved far from absolute on Wednesday, as the Orange dropped a 66-58 overtime decision to the Badgers in the Big Ten-ACC Challenge in the Carrier Dome.

Wisconsin’s guards chased over screens and forced the Orange into long, difficult 3s. Some of the shots that fell a week ago simply missed a week later.

“They shot themselves out of it by trying to shoot themselves into it,” Wisconsin forward Nigel Hayes said.

The shot clock had wound down to two seconds before Dajuan Coleman picked up a ball bouncing well away from the 3-point line and shuffled it over to Malachi Richardson. The freshman was forced into a quick release 30 feet away from the basket that banked high off the glass and in on the very first possession of the game.

Syracuse had picked up where it left off. Six 3-point attempts from Richardson later, that was still his only make. Tyler Lydon finished 0-for-3. Cooney, who hit those two 3s, didn’t make another before or after that.

When the rebounding failed Syracuse in the Bahamas, the shooting was there to pick it up.

“The difference really in these games is we played just as hard, probably just as well as we played in the tournament,” Boeheim said, “but we shot 50 percent from the 3 and we didn’t miss free throws. Simple as that, simple as that.”

With 46 seconds left in overtime, and Syracuse down by five, Richardson missed from deep. Before that, Gbinije missed a jumper. He missed again after as well. The fans in the Carrier Dome had started streaming out by the time Gbinije pulled up and hit Syracuse’s all-too-late final long-range shot of the night.

It was 62-58 with 21 seconds to play in overtime, and it served only as feigned hope. Syracuse’s run had gained momentum in the second half. It was capped off when Gbinije put Syracuse up four with 3:12 left to play in regulation. Now, the Orange was down by four.

“With such a close and tough game, we’re not really mentally conscious of the missed shots,” Gbinije said “… It’s after the game that we’re able to reflect, and I haven’t reflected much yet.”

On Wednesday, Gbinije and the Orange had 17 missed 3s to reflect on. Syracuse’s undefeated start to the season was undone because it failed to do what it had done best.

Published on December 2, 2015 at 11:25 pm

Contact Sam: sblum@syr.edu | @SamBlum3