Syracuse Women’s Basketball struggles against ranked ACC opponents
By Josh Solomon | @JoshSolo29
After back-to-back losses for Syracuse Women’s Basketball out in California, SU’s window of making the ACC tournament continued to dwindle. Remember, implemented this season, the bottom three teams in the conference standings do not even make it to the tournament. After the Orange’s time in the Golden State, the squad had the fourth worst record in the ACC. SU had two games this week against No. 9 North Carolina and No. 11 Duke, both of which were struggles.
Starting in the dome against UNC, Syracuse was fighting through the defensive pressure that North Carolina brought from the South. The Orange knew it was going to be a defensive battle versus the Tar Heels who have the best scoring defense in the ACC, allowing just 56 pointers per game. The first quarter ended with a three-point UNC lead. North Carolina was able to open things up more in the second quarter, outsourcing Syracuse 20-13 in the frame and leading by 10 heading into halftime. Despite SU putting up the same amount of points as UNC in the third and fourth quarters, that wasn’t enough.
The biggest surprise in the contest was SU’s lack of three-point shooting in the final quarter. Going into the fourth being down 10, you would think Orange head coach Felisha Legette-Jack would ask her squad to attempt more shots from downtown. Especially with the Cuse going 60% from beyond the arc in the first three quarters. However, only one shot was taken in the fourth quarter from deep. The lack of three-point shooting led to Syracuse’s 68-58 defeat against North Carolina.
“If you see a person take a shot and they clank it off the backboard, they really mistimed it,” Coach FLJ said about her team playing scared. “We showed short shots and when we show short shots that to me is that we showed fear.”
After the loss to North Carolina, Syracuse headed down to the Tar Heel State to take on No. 11 Duke on Sunday. The Blue Devils were also coming into the matchup struggling with back-to-back losses against No. 1 Notre Dame and an unranked Louisville squad.
Syracuse and Duke traded points, similar to the contest against UNC, it was just a single-digit lead (20-13) at the end of the first quarter. But the Blue Devils were feasting in the second, outsourcing the Orange 21-6 in those 10 minutes. SU shot just 21% from the field in that quarter and shot under 30% in the game. After that second quarter, nothing was pushing Syracuse ahead in the other half. It was an 80-49 Duke victory marking the worst SU loss since its 41-point loss earlier in conference play against Boston College on January 19th. Blue Devils had a diverse scoresheet with five players finishing with double figures. Duke forward Toby Fournier led her team with 22 points and six rebounds. For SU, it was once again the Aussie duo with guards Georgia Woolley and Sophie Burrows being the only two players with double-digit point totals. That was the case in both of the ‘Cuse’s games this week.
“They were the better team today and the best team won today,” Legette-Jack said after the contest. “Maybe we didn’t get out high enough, maybe we didn’t box out strong enough.”
Regardless of what Syracuse did wrong, the squad is now teetering its ACC tournament hopes. SU with a 4-12 conference record is tied alongside Miami and Pittsburgh for the third-worst spot in the ACC standings. The Orange have a chance to break that tie when they take on the Panthers on Thursday. Tipoff is at 7 inside the JMA Wireless Dome.
