Quentin Hillsman has said he wants Syracuse to shoot 30 3-pointers every game. He said he hopes for 10 makes from beyond the arc every time out.

Syracuse’s route to reaching those numbers hasn’t always looked efficient on paper. The Orange shoots just 30.8 percent from distance. Even when SU’s players miss shots, Hillsman urges them to keep shooting, and for good reason.

The Orange (17-5, 5-4 Atlantic Coast) ranks third in the country with 679 3-pointers attempted, ninth with 209 made 3-pointers and 11th with 9.5 made 3s per game. But Syracuse ranks 209th in 3-point field goal percentage at 30.8 percent. But, its effective field goal percentage bears out a much more productive offensive team.

Effective field goal percentage accounts for the fact that 3-pointers are worth 50 percent more than 2s. Thirty-three percent from 3 equals 50 percent from 2. So for Syracuse, the amount of 3s it attempts are bound to make the Orange more effective scoring than the simple percentages.

Syracuse has tallied a 48.5 effective field goal percentage on the season. That’s higher than its 41.1 percent overall from the field.

Sometimes, the strategy to keep shooting it from deep backfires. Against N.C. State on Jan. 14 and Miami on Jan. 18, Syracuse made nine 3s, near its season average. But against the Wolfpack, SU missed 20 3s and the Orange went on to miss 26 3s against the Hurricanes. The Orange lost both those games.

“It doesn’t matter how many shots I miss, he’s gonna tell me to keep shooting,” Gabrielle Cooper said on Nov. 28.

In the long run, the strategy pays off for the Orange. Percentages that on paper look putrid from inside the arc can still be somewhat effective from deep. Tiana Mangakahia makes 26.2 percent from deep, Digna Strautmane makes 22.6 percent from 3 and Isis Young makes 29.2 percent from downtown. But all three are firmly above 40 percent in effective field goal percentage, much more bearable because of the frequency with which they shoot the 3-ball.

Against then-No. 11 Florida State on Jan. 7, Syracuse took 20 3s in the first half. It made just five. That 25 percent from 3 equates to a still unimpressive 37.5 percent from two. But SU didn’t shy away from letting it fly in the second half. The Orange shot 16 second-half 3s and made eight on the way to an upset victory. Miranda Drummond made 3-for-8 from 3 in the first half but then was a perfect 5-for-5 in the second half.

In every game except a loss to then-No. 5 Mississippi State, Syracuse has shot more 3s than its opponent. Sometimes, the hot shooting comes in the first half, unlike the game against FSU.

Against Pittsburgh, SU shot 8-for-14 in the first half from distance. But the Orange only made 2-of-16 in the second. The power of the 3 had already done the necessary damage, though. A 13-point halftime lead proved too much for the Panthers to overcome, and 24 of SU’s 44 point in the half came from beyond the arc. Cooper went 4-for-6 from 3 in the first half and then missed all four attempts from deep in the second.

“When I get the ball, I try to get the ball up there and do what I do,” Gabrielle Cooper said on Nov. 28, summing up Hillsman and SU’s strategy.

The Orange takes and makes almost as many 3s as any team in the country. But the rate at which SU makes them is mediocre, at best. By sheer volume of attempts and conversions, though, Syracuse makes up for that mediocrity with an absolute ferocity with which it stands by the 3-ball.

“Hoping for the day that they could start knocking down some more of those 3-point shots,” Hillsman said on Nov. 28. “I think it’s gonna change the whole complexion of the way we play.”

Published on January 29, 2018 at 10:25 pm

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