What We Learned from Syracuse’s Split at the Hall of Fame Women’s Showcase
By Jake Klein | @kleinjake_
Syracuse’s trip to the Basketball Hall of Fame Women’s Showcase in Uncasville, Connecticut, was a mixed bag. The Orange pulled out a gritty comeback Friday to top Utah 61-49, then came back Sunday and were routed 81-55 by No. 6 Michigan. Just being in that event was a step up for SU — which played in the less prestigious Emerald Coast Classic last season. Still, the Orange, while they did show growing strengths in their first Power Conference win of the season, also made clear that they’ve still got a ways to go before they’re competing at a national level.
Here are five takeaways from the event:
- Rebounding is key
If there was one statistical category that defined the weekend for SU, it was the battle on the boards. Friday, Syracuse drove Utah head coach Gavin Petersen crazy by out-rebounding his Utes by 18, with a 24-6 advantage on the offensive boards.
“You’re not going to win a lot of games doing that,” Petersen said postgame.
He’s right. Those second chances helped Syracuse flip the first game in its favor, even on a night where it didn’t shoot particularly well out of the gate. The Orange seemed to rebound with purpose on Friday, and it showed. They compensated for their shaky shooting by out-hustling their opponent, creating extra possessions and extending runs.
Sunday’s bout with Michigan was the exact opposite story. Again, SU struggled to shoot — just 29% from the field for the game — but this time, didn’t make the hustle plays that could’ve helped keep the game at least a bit closer. The Wolverines were +14 on the glass.
“We got boxed out and we stayed boxed out,” SU head coach Felisha-Legette Jack said after Game 2. “That’s not how we play. That’s not what I coach.”
The true answer probably lies somewhere in the middle of Friday’s +18 on the boards and Sunday’s -14. But, add that SU was out-rebounded in its too-close-for-comfort win over Canisius earlier, the takeaway is clear: Syracuse’s ceiling is tied to its rebounding. When they dominate the glass, the Orange can hang with anyone. When they don’t, the margin for error becomes non-existent.
- Defense can carry Syracuse
Just like they dominated on the glass, the Orange turned in perhaps their best defensive performance of the season on Friday against Utah. No, they didn’t hold Utah to 29 points like they did Wagner last week, but to keep the Utes — who scored 61 against No. 25 Washington last week and averaged 84 points a game in their 3-0 start — to 49 points is impressive.
SU forced 21 turnovers in that game, and used their pressure to spark the 11-0 fourth quarter run that eventually put the game away. Yet the Michigan game showed just how fragile that identity can be. Michigan’s offense wasn’t unstoppable, but it was poised and it was patient. The Wolverines kept live-ball turnovers at a minimum and forced Syracuse to defend for long stretches. When you combined it with SU’s rebounding struggles, that defensive pressure simply wasn’t sustainable.
Both results left Syracuse walking away from Uncasville in agreement with what its head coach said all along. Defense will be their foundation. Syracuse won’t win with 80 points a game, but they can win with disciplined pressure and game-long energy. The Utah win proves as much.
- Dominique Darius is Syracuse’s best player
Syracuse’s first four games — though they were all dominant wins — left the Orange without a clear alpha dog. There were hopes that Sophie Burrows could fill the shoes of Georgia Woolley, or that Texas transfer Laila Phelia could be a Dyaisha Fair-level scorer. Instead, any questions about who SU’s most complete and reliable player is were answered at Mohegan by Dominique Darius.
Darius — a USC transfer who played sparingly for the Trojans and UCLA early in her college career — arrived at Syracuse with a chance to finally get meaningful minutes, and she’s taken advantage. This weekend, her performance against Utah was everything Syracuse needed in its biggest game of the young year. Her 16-point, 10-rebound double-double was emblematic not only of her talent, but of her steadiness. She defended well, crashed the glass, and hit the big shots that had the Syracuse bench exuberant and helped the Orange pull away.
Darius plays with a controlled fire. She hits big shots that turn momentum. She rebounds aggressively for her size. Most importantly, she does not disappear when Syracuse’s offense goes cold — she becomes more involved. Even in the loss to Michigan, Darius was one of the few Orange players to attack consistently. The way things have gone, Phelia may finish as the leading scorer, but Darius has emerged as SU’s most consistent player. She’s the one to turn to in big moments.
- Syracuse needs Sophie Burrows to retake form
One of the more confounding aspects to SU’s first few weeks of the season has been the struggle that Sophie Burrows has undergone. In largely the same role as last year — when she averaged 12 points a game on 41 percent shooting, including 39 percent from deep — Burrows is this season averaging just 5.8 points a night. She’s shooting less than 28 percent from the field and, after a 1-11 clip in Uncasville, is now shooting just 12.5 percent from beyond the arc.
This is wholly unexpected. Burrows erupted for a career-high in the NCAA Tournament against UConn at the end of her freshman year, then carried that into a solid sophomore campaign. She was regarded entering the season as one of the few known commodities on this SU roster. Yet, despite impacting the game on defense and on the glass, her offensive struggles have begun to stretch on and really impact SU.
“She’s got to figure it out or I’ve got to sub her out,” Legette-Jack said after the Michigan loss, when Burrows went 0-7 on three-pointers and scored four points. “You can’t just stand out there and go 0-7, she’s got to get to the basket and get to the free-throw line.”
A turnaround for Burrows doesn’t seem out of reach. Syracuse doesn’t need her to score 20 points a game. But if she can knock down a few triples and add on with layups and free throws like Legette-Jack suggested, she can become the key contributor by conference play that Syracuse expected her to be.
- Syracuse has an identity
Maybe the biggest overarching lesson from the Hall of Fame Showcase is that Syracuse seems to know what it wants to be (the difference in results this weekend was simply a matter of succeeding in being what it wanted to be). That’s no small feat, especially considering SU hadn’t faced a Power Conference opponent this year. Many teams, including last year’s Orange, spend half the season or more searching for their winning formula. Syracuse has one:
Defend with discipline
Crash the offensive glass
Play through Darius and Uche Izoje
Win with grit, not with style
This identity was forged in SU’s undefeated start and the win against Utah only confirmed it. And that Syracuse identity wasn’t exposed as fraudulent against Michigan. In fact it was further proven. Evidence of what can happen when SU goes away from those core tenants, especially the first two.
Syracuse didn’t leave Uncasville with perfection, but it left with clarity. The Orange discovered their core strengths — rebounding and defense ‚ and their major challenge — consistency. They learned that Darius is their engine. They learned that Burrows is the key to stability. And they learned that their team identity is real, but still unfinished.
