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In the midst of an Atlantic Coast Conference stretch, Syracuse was had dropped eight of its last nine games. Additionally, the Orange had not won a game on the road. They came close in their last road trip to Miami and briefly led against Louisville on the road in mid-January. But neither ended in a victory.

On Tuesday, Syracuse traveled to Charlottesville, Virginia, and faced a UVA side that was winless in ACC play and had only won once at home. And even though the Orange didn’t string together a complete, all-around performance, they held onto the lead for the whole game to secure a crucial conference victory.

Here are four observations from Syracuse’s (10-12, 3-9 Atlantic Coast) 77-70 win over Virginia (3-18, 0-11 ACC).

Najé Murray takes control

Najé Murray missed Syracuse’s final game of 2021 due to COVID-19. She also struggled initially, recording just nine field goals during her first four games back. In back-to-back games against Louisville and Georgia Tech, Murray tied a season-low five points. Since then, she has recorded double figures in four straight games, with her point total gradually increasing during that stretch.

Against Virginia, Murray already accumulated 13 points after the first quarter — more points than UVA did as a team — scoring three shots from deep. Murray was also Syracuse’s most effective defender recording four steals, which she converted into scoring opportunities.

Murray recorded two steals at the end of the first quarter, the first one where she scored a layup on the fast break, and the second where she was slightly pushed out of the way of a consecutive layup. But on Syracuse’s final possession of the quarter, Murray received the ball well outside the arc and hit a 3-pointer with less than a second to go which gave the Orange a 10-point lead into the first break.

Murray quickly rebounded in the third, making 2-of-3 attempts from deep, and finished the quarter with a team-high 19 points. She was Syracuse’s main option in transition, which set up one of those 3s. Christianna Carr secured a rebound and hit Murray on the fast break. Murray found plenty of space to stop right before the arc to hit a 3-pointer to make the score 41-29 in the Orange’s favor. 

Murray continued to fight into the final quarter, drawing crucial fouls and recording her season-high fourth steal. And with just over two-and-a-half minutes remaining, the guard hit her season-high fifth 3-pointer of the game, securing another season-high in points with 24.

Syracuse makes 3s … only when it needs to

Syracuse missed its first two 3-pointers of the game, both forced 3s from Alaysia Styles and Christianna. But the Orange quickly found their stride, settling into their 5-out motion offense, both being assisted by Teisha Hyman, quarterbacking the offense from the top of the key.

Those 3s tapered during the second quarter as Syracuse attempted just one 3-pointer throughout the first six minutes. Both teams were in the midst of a near five minute scoring drought and Virginia had tightened the gap to as little as six points, scoring the quarter’s only 3 during its 7-0 scoring run.

But out of the gate to start the third quarter, Syracuse scored its first 3s since the first quarter. After assisting on Murray’s 3-pointer, then Christianna hit a 3 of her own, receiving a long pass from Styles along the left wing to give Syracuse a 15-point lead.

SU’s consistent 2-3 zone

Five of the game’s first six field-goal attempts were from beyond the arc, which led to the game’s first three made shots, as the two teams largely avoided the paint.

Syracuse usually tries to contain teams to the outside because it will likely never win the battle inside. But on Tuesday, it forced UVA, one of the worst 3-point shooting teams in the country, to shoot from deep. The Cavaliers’ 25.2% from deep was ranked 334th nationally heading into the game.

But Syracuse did well containing Virginia when it did try to attack SU inside because of how well its routine 2-3 zone was set up. The Orange forced UVA to 21 turnovers despite recording only 31 rebounds.

Two vulnerable teams in the paint

Syracuse and Virginia tend to drive their opponents out of the paint for completely different reasons. For the Orange, it’s because of their lack of size inside, but on the Cavaliers’ end, they have the 289th-best 2-point percentage in the country, per Her Hoop Stats.

The first quarter saw both teams combine for 13 3-point attempts with five of the game’s first 3 field goals coming from deep. That number decreased to nine in the second quarter, which was as many field goals as Syracuse and Virginia combined for. UVA led the quarter with six field goals, with five of them coming from inside.

At 6-foot-2, Virginia’s London Clarkson gave Syracuse as much of a physical challenge as the other top-centers in the ACC. While the Orange were about to begin their scoring drought, Clarkson made two crucial layups which led the Cavaliers’ run to inch back at SU’s then 13-point lead.

Clarkson spun around Alaina Rice and easily banked in a layup, and as Rice fouled her in the process, she secured the and-1, scoring from the line. But Hyman broke Syracuse’s drought scoring two free throws of her own. On the ensuing possession, the Orange defense left too wide-open of a gap for Clarkson to hit another layup. Syracuse wouldn’t score again for almost five minutes and Virginia would round out a 7-0 run.

Published on February 8, 2022 at 8:24 pm

Contact Alex: ahcirino@syr.edu