Quentin Hillsman blames Brianna Butler’s shooting struggles on himself.

Her 28.8 3-point shooting percentage, that’s his fault. Her 10 games of 10 or more missed shots, he’ll take responsibility.

But in a season that’s seen Butler go from one of the conference’s top scoring threats to one of its worst shooters by percentage, Hillsman said there isn’t a thing he’d do differently.

“She is going to struggle shooting the ball, because she plays for a coach who will not let her not shoot the ball,” said Hillsman, the Syracuse head coach. “She’s going to take some bad ones and we’ll live with that. Because every time she touches it, they’re yelling ‘shooter,’ and they’re running full speed at her.”

Butler’s season has been defined by her struggles. And though Hillsman has continually professed his confidence in her scoring ability, her numbers haven’t justified it.

Last year, Butler averaged 14.5 points per game and shot 34.4 percent from 3. This season she’s taking two more shots per game, but not making as many. She’s had seven games where she’s taken at least 20 shots, but hasn’t made 10 in any of them.

Now with Brittney Sykes out for the year with her second torn ACL in two seasons, Butler has unsuccessfully tried to take on an increased scoring role. But with other scoring options beginning to develop around her, her 18-of-66 combined shooting against SU’s three Top 10 opponents — games in which SU lost by an average of 5.7 points — has been more of a burden than a necessity.

“My offense just isn’t really falling this year compared to last year, but I’m not doing anything particularly different compared to last year,” Butler said. “… Shooters go through droughts, and the best way you get out of that is to keep shooting.”

When she’s coming off screens, there’s more than one person waiting to guard her. It leaves other players open and spaces the floor, but has prevented her from getting the same wide-open looks that she knocked down a season before.

Despite her struggles, and because of them, she’s continued to have a shoot-first mentality. Right before halftime against No. 4 Notre Dame on Jan. 4, she nailed a long 27-foot pull-up 3-pointer to give Syracuse a four-point lead, its largest of the night.

It’s come at her detriment, too. When the Orange hosted Virginia on Sunday, her layup attempt off the dribble went out of control and off the side of the backboard while the Cavaliers were in the midst of cutting an 18-point lead in half.

“There’s nothing positive coming if a player’s not producing. You’ve got to find a way to get her to produce,” Hillsman said. “… Her best shot is one that I’m making her shoot. If she doesn’t take the shot, she won’t play.”

Last season, she and Sykes accounted for 42.2 percent of the team’s scoring. With Sykes’ injury and Butler’s offensive decline, that number has shrunk to 18.7 percent. It’s a different team.

Butler says she’s been in the gym more than she was last season. She felt better when Syracuse played Duke on Jan. 8 and she hit seven 3s, but followed that 23-point performance with a 2-of-12 shooting stat line against Virginia.

“She’s our best shooter, so you want to get her as many shots as she can,” forward Taylor Ford said. “Any given day I’m sure she could win a 3-point shooting contest.”

Around her are scoring options. Everyone in Hillsman’s 10-player rotation has scored at a more efficient rate than Butler. Point guard Alexis Peterson is averaging 14.2 points per game with a 47.4 field goal percentage, guard Diamond Henderson is averaging over 16 points in her last seven games and forward Briana Day is averaging a double-double despite playing less than 25 minutes per game.

There’s talent on Syracuse that wasn’t around when Butler was the premier outside shooting force of the Atlantic Coast Conference. But even though this team is different, Butler still wants to revert back to that same player.

“No one wants to shoot this poorly or to not do as well as they did last year,” Butler said before trailing off. “You always want to play better but, yeah.”

Published on January 15, 2015 at 12:20 am

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