BUFFALO, N.Y. — Two days after answering questions at the podium about what went right, Trevor Cooney was back to his old routine.

He had his own place in the locker room where a handful of reporters would gather at a time to ask what went wrong. Why weren’t the shots falling? Was it the looks he was getting? Was something off with his release?

He sat there with a blank look, fielding familiar questions and spitting out familiar answers.

“I just never really got any good looks tonight and I never really got into a good rhythm,” he said, “and when that happens, it’s hard to carry it on and make shots.”

His shooting woes coincided with Syracuse’s (28-6, 14-4 Atlantic Coast) late-season swoon. Often enough there was someone to fill the scoring void, but not on Saturday. The No. 3-seed Orange, already a poor shooting team, went a miserable 0-for-10 from beyond the arc during a season-ending 55-53 loss to No. 11-seed Dayton (25-10, 10-6 Atlantic 10) in the third round of the NCAA Tournament.

Cooney went 0-for-4 and sat for most of the second half. Tyler Ennis went 0-for-5. Michael Gbinije missed his only attempt. It was the first time since 1995 that the Orange didn’t make a 3-pointer in a game.

It kept SU from getting over the hump and evening the game late during the second half — and winning the game on a last-second try.

“The only thing we could make was a layup,” Syracuse head coach Jim Boeheim said.

Eventually, he noted, the Orange broke through and got to the rim, but sometimes three points are critical, and SU’s best chances to score in bunches came from and-ones.

When Syracuse needed three points to answer a Flyer triple, Ennis drove to the rim for a three-point play. Every heave from beyond the arc was futile — including Ennis’ potential game-winning shot at the buzzer — but Boeheim never felt like his team was due to hit one.

“There’s a lot of guys in (Las) Vegas that think that, too,” Boeheim said. “They go home with nothing.”

Most of the Orange’s 3-point attempts weren’t shots that had a chance to go in and just didn’t fall — they were shots that were completely off the mark.

Two of Cooney’s early 3s missed the rim entirely. On one look, it appeared that his arm got hit, but no foul was called. The next air ball, though, was just a hurried shot that missed everything.

“Some of my better games this year have come when I missed my first shot, I missed my second shot, I missed my third shot,” Cooney said.

He only got one more look, but that was off the mark, too, and he sat on the bench for all but eight minutes of the second half.

In his place, Gbinije played one of his best games of the year, but the team’s third most reliable 3-point shooter didn’t give SU anything extra from deep. His only attempt was a wide-open, potentially game-tying triple from the right corner that rimmed out.

“We had a couple of good shots,” Boeheim said. “They didn’t go in.”

That phrase has become part of Syracuse’s routine, too. The coach has embraced his team’s shooting struggles, but the problem was at its worst at the worst possible time.

As jump shot after jump shot missed, UD was able to pack the defense in against a one-dimensional offense that didn’t make a shot outside the paint until 10:23 remained in the game.

“They’re a small team, but they’re scrappy, and they’re quick to the ball and rotations,” SU forward C.J. Fair said. “Every time we put the ball down, they got a hand in there.”

The last resort for Syracuse on the perimeter is Ennis. He’s second on the team in both makes and percentage, but hadn’t insisted on the outside shot until the past few weeks.

When he takes enough, he typically drills at least one or two, but he was as guilty as anyone for missing open looks and taking long shots that he shouldn’t have.

“None of us really made shots tonight. It’s just tough,” Cooney said. “This is just a tough pill to swallow, especially to lose when you don’t play well.”

Once again on Friday, Boeheim voiced his confidence in Cooney’s shooting and insisted that he was a good shooter.

“I’m confident that when we get him good shots, he’s going to make them,” he said. “I’m very confident in that until the game’s over and he doesn’t.”

On Saturday, he didn’t and the Orange’s season came to an abrupt close. There’s always next game for him to find his stroke again, but talking about that was the one part of Cooney’s postgame routine that he ditched.

Now that chance won’t come again until November.

Published on March 23, 2014 at 2:12 am

Contact David: dbwilson@syr.edu | @DBWilson2