After falling to Louisville to pick up their first ACC loss of the year, Syracuse women’s basketball is looking to bounce back against the 11-2 NC State Wolfpack.
Syracuse previously beat Wake Forest to open the conference schedule but couldn’t get past Louisville’s stifling defense Thursday night. In the end, the orange only lost by nine points.
Teisha Hyman had her best performance of the season against the Cardinals, finishing the game with 27 points and four assists. Dyaisha Fair managed to get into double figures but wasn’t as explosive a goalscorer as in previous competitions. She finished the game with 13 points, five assists and four steals.
Louisville posed a unique threat to the Orange, having run deep in the NCAA tournament last season. NC State was also an elite team last year. It was a tournament one and made it to the Elite Eight before finally falling to UConn, who lost the championship.
While NC State is currently the sixth-ranked team in the nation, the Wolfpack enter their matchup at the Dome unranked after a 72-58 loss to Duke. Like the Orange, they are 1-1 in the ACC game after also defeating Clemson.
The Wolfpack offense is led by Diamond Johnson, who is averaging just under 14 points per game this season. Johnson also leads the team in assists, averaging just under four per game this year.
It’s worth noting that no single player at NC State averages more than 30 minutes per game. Syracuse, a team that relies on their benchers for good minutes, still has two players averaging over 30 minutes. Dyaisha Fair and Teisha Hyman, SU’s top two scorers, average 34.3 and 30.5 minutes per game respectively.
This means NC State has plenty of bench options that will keep their starters fresh for the duration of the game. Because this is a team with a strong offense, the Orange defense will have their hands full if they hope for another conference win.
Head Coach Felisha Legette-Jack has stated multiple times that her roster is a rebound team. They were greatly overtaken against Louisville, but also lacked the size advantage they’d enjoyed in most of their games this season.
All NC State players can rebound. No player averages more than six rebounds per game, seven rebounds average at least four. On the other hand, Syracuse relies heavily on their bigs to do most of the rebounding. Dariauna Lewis and Asia Strong average 10 and 6.3 rebounds per game, respectively. Aside from Teisha Hyman (who averages just over five rebounds per game), no Orange player averages more than five.
NC State is an elite team with lots of talent to draw from. Syracuse must be prepared to face off against many players in a variety of lineups. Preparing to face so many different players could be difficult, but it’s essential if the Orange wants to win.
To counteract this, the Syracuse bench must be willing to play quality and productive minutes. Asia Strong and Cheyenne McEvans have been playing very well lately, which is what they need to do at the Dome on New Year’s Day.
Tipoff is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. at the JMA Wireless Dome. The game will be broadcast on YES Network.
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