NEW YORK — In the days leading up to Syracuse’s biggest game of the season, Miami head coach Jim Larranaga and his staff had a revelation that’s clung to Orange all year: If John Gillon has a big game, so does SU.

That was the case earlier this season against the Hurricanes, when the senior point guard dished 11 assists and came two points shy of a double-double. It was the case for Gillon in an overtime win at North Carolina State and the case in a home upset of Duke.

It’s been the case all season, so Larranaga made sure it wouldn’t be on Wednesday. The Hurricanes clogged the paint and made it difficult for Gillon to drive for most of the game, resulting in a more deliberate SU offense that doesn’t maximize its strengths.

Gillon turned the ball over three times and scored all eight of his points in the second half, enduring one of his most frustrating performances of the season.

“I didn’t do my job as the point guard tonight,” Gillon said in a quiet Syracuse locker room.

With Gillon leading an offense that leaned on 3-pointers and long jump shots for most of the afternoon, SU (18-14, 10-8 Atlantic Coast) spent most of its 62-57 loss to Miami (21-10, 10-8) playing catchup. While the Orange has mounted plenty of comeback wins this season, that wouldn’t be the case in the second round of the ACC tournament on Wednesday in the Barclays Center. A win would have given Syracuse more comfort about its NCAA Tournament fate, but it’s now a tossup that officially will be decided on Sunday.

The most glaring stain on SU’s tournament resume is a lack of road wins, a trend that correlates substantially with Gillon’s performance. In the Orange’s most recent road losses at Louisville and Georgia Tech, the 6-foot point guard mirrored the disappointing outcome with disappointing play.

When Syracuse’s offense doesn’t have its ringleader, it doesn’t have much at all.

“I’m the head of the snake,” Gillon said. “I’m the point guard. If I’m not having a big game, it’s going to be tough for us to do what we need to do.”

Jessica Sheldon | Staff Photographer

Despite the game-long troubles to penetrate and attack Miami’s defense, Gillon had chances to make up for every one of the Orange’s offensive woes. He charged down the court with 7.7 seconds left and a chance to tie the game with a 3-pointer. He pulled up a few feet from the top of the key, losing his balance as he let go of the shot, but the shot landed wide.

He tried to scream it out to his teammates, hoping they could snag a rebound in desperation. They had no such luck. Unlike Gillon’s previous highlight reel moments this year, this game-deciding shot wouldn’t fall through.

“It was absolutely the right play,” SU head coach Jim Boeheim said, defending Gillon’s decision to take the shot himself.

Miami threw a couple of different defensive schemes against Syracuse throughout the game. It utilized man-to-man to stymie SU in the first half, switched to a matchup zone for most of the second half and then moved back into man-to-man for the final three minutes of the game.

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The common thread through the Hurricanes’ defenses was Ja’Quan Newton, the junior point guard tasked with guarding Gillon. It wasn’t that Newton alone forced Gillon to pass the ball around the arc instead of driving, but the entire Miami defense did well to hedge the Orange’s ball screens atop the key.

Gillon said it felt almost like a double team, jamming up the paint with green jerseys and leaving almost no free space. The result was a lot of passing and several Syracuse scoring attempts with single digits on the shot clock.

“They’re just a very good defensive team,” Boeheim said. “They made it difficult.”

With Gillon unable to get any drive-and-kick action going, the offensive burden was then placed on the shoulders of Andrew White, Tyler Lydon and Tyus Battle. White was the only one to significantly alter his offensive game, getting to the rim at a higher rate than usual to score a game-high 22 points.

Battle and Lydon didn’t respond with extraordinary performances. The freshman scored 14 and the sophomore managed only five points. Most of that falls back on Gillon and he’s well aware of it.

“Not every night is going to be your night,” Battle said. “It happens. You just have to bounce back and see what happens next game.”

Unfortunately for Syracuse, that might not be in the NCAA Tournament.

Published on March 8, 2017 at 6:03 pm

Contact Connor: [email protected] | @connorgrossman