Oshae Brissett kept shooting despite bad day, finally made key 3-pointer

Syracuse freshman Oshae Brissett made just four of his 16 shots in the Orange's game at Pittsburgh on Saturday. (Dennis Nett | dnett@syracuse.com)

Pittsburgh -- Syracuse freshman Oshae Brissett had a simply awful shooting day against Pittsburgh on Saturday.

>>Box score | SU schedule

In one prolonged stretch of shooter's agony, he missed 11 straight shots, including four 3-pointers.

He made his first shot of the day just two minutes into the game and went scoreless for the next 30 minutes.

The 6-foot-8 freshman, who has been one of Syracuse's most consistent players, finished the game with just nine points on 4-for-16 shooting.

"Today was a bad day for me,'' Brissett said after Syracuse's 60-55 win over Pittsburgh on Saturday at the Petersen Events Center.

But even on his worst day, Brissett came up with a big shot.

With just under eight minutes remaining in the game and Syracuse clinging to a 2-point lead, Brissett stepped into an open spot in the corner, took a pass from Marek Dolezaj and went up for a 3-point attempt.

"I just caught it and shot it how I usually do,'' Brissett said. "I was focused on that one. I knew the ball was coming to me because they were sucking into Marek. He was able to kick it out to me and I treated it like any other shot. Like I hadn't missed any the whole game.''

The ball swished through the net for a 45-40 lead. It was the largest margin of the game to that point for Syracuse.

"Oshae will knock it down,'' SU sophomore Tyus Battle said. "He just has to shoot it with confidence. He got the open three and knocked it down.''

A minute later, Battle, who had been struggling himself, hit another 3-pointer to give the Orange all the separation it needed to hold off the Panthers.

The win provided a salve for Brissett, who failed to hit double-figures for just the second time all season. He managed just seven points back on Nov. 18 in Syracuse's 80-67 win over Texas Southern.

In Syracuse's first seven ACC games, Brissett averaged 14 points per game.

"Bad days come to any player,'' Brissett said. "It's just something you've got to get over and go onto the next one.''

A sign of Brissett's off night was his lack of free-throw attempts. Brissett, who was averaging 6.3 free throw attempts per game, didn't go the foul line once against Pitt.

Even as he missed 11 straight shots, including his first four 3-point attempts, Brissett said he didn't worry about his shooting numbers.

"If you think about your shooting numbers, you're taking yourself out of the game. You're playing for yourself. I was having a bad day, but I was trying to do all the other things. Grabbing rebounds, getting steals, blocking shots. I feel I did a lot of that stuff.''

Brissett did do all the stuff. He grabbed eight rebounds, blocked two shots, came up with two steals and also dished off for three assists.

"Everyone wants to have a good night offensively,'' Brissett said. "Everyone wants to play well and help the team. But coach told me to forget what's happened in the past and kept pushing forward and keep making plays to help us win.''

If you purchase a product or register for an account through a link on our site, we may receive compensation. By using this site, you consent to our User Agreement and agree that your clicks, interactions, and personal information may be collected, recorded, and/or stored by us and social media and other third-party partners in accordance with our Privacy Policy.