Jump shots bricked off the side of the iron, turnovers were abundant and Syracuse played an overall sloppy game of basketball. But when the team saw a weakness, it knew how to exploit it.

The Orange found one in DePaul’s short lineup. Syracuse’s ability to draw fouls against a short DePaul lineup played a crucial rule for keeping SU’s hopes of winning alive. However, its inconsistencies from the charity stripe also might have led to the team’s downfall.

The Orange’s strong play in the paint resulted in 24 free throws, but SU missed 11 of them in the 67-58 loss to the Blue Demons Tuesday.

Syracuse repeatedly moved the ball inside against DePaul’s undersized defense. This strategy often resulted with a Syracuse player on the free-throw line after DePaul defenders wildly slapped at the taller SU lineup.

‘Of course I’m going to try to get the ball more often, but I guess this time it didn’t work out so well,’ said 6-foot-4 center Vaida Sipaviciute, who made 5-of-6 free throws. ‘Coming into the game, like where I have a short defender … I want to try to get the ball as much as possible.’

The Blue Demons had no player on the court taller than 6-foot-1. A majority of their roster was listed at less than 6 feet. To take advantage of the height mismatch, the Orange puts the ball in the hands of its handful of 6-footers and attacked the basket.

Until the final three minutes of the game, SU had made more free throws than DePaul attempted. However, the team’s capability of reaching the free-throw line was hampered by irregularities at the line.

The outcome of the game could have been much different if the Orange found its rhythm shooting free throws.

‘I think we had a chance to make some plays and take the game home, but we didn’t,’ SU head coach Quentin Hillsman said. ‘I think we missed way too many free throws and we shot 54 percent from the free-throw line.’

Syracuse scored a season-low 17 first-half points. The team still reached the free-throw line 10 times in the opening half compared to DePaul’s two attempts, but only five of those attempts dropped through the hoop.

The free-throw attempts gave the team a chance to atone for its careless first-half play, but the misses from the line accounted for SU’s seven-point halftime deficit.

Besides failing to hit free throws, the Orange missed multiple opportunities for 3-point plays. Most of the fouls by the smaller lineup were hacks that did little to alter the close range of the shooter. Yet the Orange saw its 3-point play chances disappear as lay-ups rolled in-and-out of the basket or simply fell short.

The dagger for Syracuse seemed to come with the loss of its best player, ironically, committing fouls. Freshman Nicole Michael fouled out with three minutes remaining, and although she shot below average, the guard remained Syracuse’s best player at drawing fouls. She reached the line a game-high ten times, but she made only half of her attempts from the line.

‘I’m always looking to draw fouls,’ Michael said. ‘Most of the time I don’t get it. That’s my intention to draw fouls, score and get an and-one.’

With Michael on the sideline, the DePaul defense focused on Sipaviciute and the Orange ended the game constantly tossing up 3-pointers.

‘(The free throws were) big; we got to make free throws,’ Hillsman said. ‘We had opportunities to put the ball in the basket with no time going off the clock and we just missed free throws.’

Published on February 20, 2007 at 12:00 pm