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After knocking down 13 3-pointers in a win against Pittsburgh, Syracuse tried to get hot from deep again against Miami.

Miami’s full-court press gave the Orange open looks, opening up Christianna Carr for their first attempt. But she missed. Then, Teisha Hyman missed from the right wing after catching a cross-court pass.

Following four more misses, SU finally found the bottom of the net via Najé Murray on its seventh attempt. But Chrislyn Carr missed twice from beyond the arc on the ensuing two possessions, bringing SU to a 11% mark from 3-point range at the end of the first quarter.

“They kept letting us hang around, (but) we weren’t shooting the ball well,” acting head coach Vonn Read said.

Syracuse (9-11, 2-8 Atlantic Coast) almost recovered from its early shooting struggles, but it ultimately lost 71-65 against Miami (12-8, 5-5 ACC). The Orange fell off from their recent success after shooting 40.6% from deep in the 80-72 win over Pittsburgh, instead mimicking their 20.0% and 15.0% nights against Georgia Tech and Notre Dame. SU failed to pick up its first road win of the season, and Murray, who led the team in points on Thursday, was ejected at the end of the third quarter.

Read said the success from deep against Pittsburgh was expected since SU had repeatedly earned good looks but just weren’t able to find the bottom of the net in previous games. “It was just a matter of time — they’ve been getting some good shots,” Read said.

The Orange continued to shoot from deep, attempting to beat the Hurricanes’ press by repeatedly sending cross-court passes to open shooters early in the shot clock. In the second quarter, Hyman tried to take the offense into her own hands. Starting at the top of the key, Hyman worked to the free-throw line with a defender closely on her. She faked a floater to her right, spinning to her left for an off-balanced shot that got SU within three.

The Hurricanes stopped their full-court press briefly midway through the second quarter, allowing SU to set up its 5-out offense and run down the shot clock. After an array of passes, Hyman received the ball behind the 3-point line on the right wing. She stepped back to her right, successfully converting her first deep heave of the night.

“Teisha got (the scoring) going a little bit,” Read said postgame.

But Syracuse couldn’t get its first lead of the game as Chrislyn missed on an easy transition layup a few plays later. The Hurricanes took a 34-31 lead, giving the Orange another chance to tie the game, but Chrislyn missed from the left wing on SU’s last shot of the half. Still, the second quarter was a more successful period (3-for-7) for Syracuse from 3-point range.

Syracuse started the second half the same way it started the first: unable to convert on its opening shots. The Hurricanes scored on the other end, and after a costly turnover from Murray while trying to get the ball inside to Alaysia Styles for a layup, Kelsey Marshall drove inside and dribbled behind her back for a layup. The shot gave Miami its largest lead of the game — 12 — forcing Read to call a timeout.

Out of the break, Murray positioned herself at the right wing. With the set play from the timeout, Murray was wide-open for the attempt, finding the bottom of the net to get the Orange back within single digits.

The brief Syracuse spurt — like a lot of them were against Miami — was temporary, as the next time Murray was open from deep, she shot too short again. Christianna secured a rebound and tried to move the ball fast in transition on the Orange’s next possession, but Mykea Gray stole the ball and scored on the other end.

As the offense continued to struggle, SU tried to force more shots inside the paint, but repeatedly missed. Following another 3-point miss from Murray, Hyman was open for a 3-pointer with the third quarter winding down. But Styles didn’t see Hyman despite Read putting his hands up and pointing at his leading scorer from the sidelines.

The Orange headed into the fourth quarter without Murray, who was ejected in the third quarter after two intentional fouls. They moved to other options from deep like Styles, whose defenses have left open from deep throughout the season.

Syracuse fought back to within one, stringing together layups and makes at the free-throw line to cut into the 16-point deficit. But Chrislyn missed from deep again, and on the next attempt from beyond the arc, Hyman missed from the left wing.

Still, the Orange came back again, starting with a 3-pointer from Christianna. Then Alaina Rice scored in transition after a Miami turnover.

With 24 seconds left in the game, Christianna got the ball from Chrislyn at the top of the key, standing deep behind the 3-point line. Her heave was completely uncontested, but the ball airballed, halting Syracuse’s final chance at a comeback.

“We were right there,” Read said postgame. “We had the ball with the chance to take the lead and they closed the game on us.”

Published on February 3, 2022 at 9:17 pm

Contact Anish: asvasude@syr.edu | @anish_vasu