SIOUX FALLS, S.D. — Brianna Butler took a couple steps back and cracked a rare smile. The usually stone-faced guard dropped into her position in Syracuse’s press defense but took a second to realize where the Orange was.

SU had a 15-point lead with just over six minutes standing between her team and its first-ever Final Four.

“That’s when she knows she’s hot,” Brittney Sykes said of Butler’s smile.

The senior sharpshooter leads the nation in 3-pointers attempted this season and she took another 15 attempts on Sunday night. But she also made six of them, the most she has in over six weeks. No. 4 seed Syracuse’s (29-7, 13-3 Atlantic Coast) 89-67 win over No. 7 seed Tennessee (22-14, 8-8 Southeastern) also marked just the third time all season Butler had made that many 3s. After entering the weekend on a 6-of-39 cold spell from deep, she finished with 18 points for the second game in a row.

Even when Butler has gone through slumps throughout her career, Syracuse head coach Quentin Hillsman has never wavered in telling her to keep shooting.

“Every time she catches the ball, faces the basket, I think it’s going in,” Hillsman said. “I think so does the opposing coach because they’re screaming to their players to get out there. She’s a remarkable shooter. She’s the best shooter in college basketball right now.”

Twice in the first two-and-a-half minutes, Butler missed a 3. The first wasn’t even close as it went long and missed the rim.

But two minutes after that, she knocked down her first triple and held three fingers in the air a little bit longer than usual.

“When we get her heated up early, it opens up the lanes for us, people can put the ball on the floor, shoot off the dribble, it opens up lanes,” Sykes said. “And they want to hug her tight and she has the ability to create her shot off the bounce.”

With about three minutes left in the second quarter, Butler hit 3s on back-to-back possessions. The first one gave SU an eight-point lead and Hillsman, who typically holds three fingers up after makes, emphatically whipped his right hand over his head in celebration.

Tennessee pulled within four at the beginning of the fourth quarter. And on Syracuse’s next two possessions, it was Butler who quickly pushed the lead to 10. The Volunteers never got back within single digits.

Again, Hillsman whipped the three fingers over his head.

“We know, at the right time, when we need a shot,” Sykes said, “Butler’s there to give it to us.”

About two minutes after Butler’s back-to-back 3s is when she hit gave SU its 74th, 75th and 76th points.

The feeling, just minutes away from the Final Four by then, was unbelievable, Butler said. That’s when Cornelia Fondren looked up at the scoreboard, too. Syracuse had the game all but wrapped up.

“Brianna Butler’s a great shooter,” Fondren said. “I’ve never had someone on my team that could shoot better than she has.”

Butler is the nation’s active leader in career 3-pointers made. She’s the Orange’s all-time leader in that category.

And in part because of her shooting performance on Sunday, she’ll have at least one more chance to add to those numbers before her time at SU comes to an end.

“It’s like you get into a groove and your confidence is just up there,” Sykes said. “You can miss a shot and be like, ‘You know what? I’m just going to make the next one.’”

Published on March 27, 2016 at 11:24 pm

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