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After a close contest with No. 17 Duke, Syracuse will face its highest-ranked opponent of the season at No. 3 Louisville. The Orange have dropped three straight Atlantic Coast Conference games and are one loss away from falling back to .500. Louisville has won 13 straight and are off to a perfect start in conference play.

Syracuse looks to avoid continuing its longest losing streak since the 2008-09 season against a Louisville side that concedes fewer than 50 points per game. The Orange head to the KFC Yum! Center for the first of a two-game road trip where they desperately need a victory to keep their postseason hopes alive.

Here is everything you need to know before Syracuse (8-7, 1-4 ACC) hosts No. 3 Louisville (13-1, 3-0 ACC).

All-time series

Louisville leads 15-7.

Last time they played

The two sides last faced in the semifinal game of the 2021 ACC Tournament, with then-No. 5 Louisville — the tournament’s top seed — advancing to the championship winning 72-59. Four Cardinal players reached double-figures, including an Olivia Cochran double-double in points and rebounds, recording 10 each. Syracuse’s Emily Engstler — who transferred to Louisville during the offseason — also recorded a double-double in the same categories, leading all players with 21 points along with 10 rebounds.

But the Orange struggled from deep, failing to register a single 3-pointer in the first half and finishing the game 3-for-17 from beyond the arc. By the fourth quarter, Louisville had already established a 12-point lead, and Syracuse shot just 4-for-16 in the final frame, unable to generate a comeback after its buzzer-beating one-point victory the day before against FSU.

The Cardinals report

Louisville will be the toughest team Syracuse has faced so far. It has defeated four ranked opponents including then-No. 7 UConn and No. 15 Georgia Tech, with its only loss coming in its season-opening overtime loss to Arizona. Since then, the Cardinals have gone on an absolute tear, winning 13 straight games, including three consecutive conference wins ahead of Thursday’s game.

The Cardinals average nearly 45% from the field and over 35% from deep. Defensively, Louisville has recorded 60 blocks and 149 steals (20th nationally), per Her Hoop Stats, and successfully pulled in roughly three-quarters of its defensive rebound attempts.

Despite four Syracuse players averaging more points per game than Louisville’s top scorer, the Orange will once again be the smaller team, restricting them to its 3-point shooting where they will likely not outshoot the Cardinals.

How Syracuse beats Louisville

Syracuse just needs to hit its 3s to beat Louisville. The Orange have won eight of the nine games they have made over a third of their 3-pointers, which includes a victory over a ranked Ohio State where they registered 97 points. But recently, Syracuse has not been able to rely on 3-point shooting, having shot below 35% in every game during its losing streak.

Louisville enters Thursday’s game as the 18th-best 3-point shooting team in the country, per Her Hoop Stats, averaging 36.4% per game. It has made at least 30% of its 3s in all but four games, including 53.3% against UConn.

Instead, Syracuse must build off its defensive momentum in the paint when it held the Blue Devils to just 28 points inside. It outrebounded the tallest team it has faced thus far, and physically, Louisville will be a similar task.

Player to watch: Emily Engstler, forward, No. 21

Aside from being one of Syracuse’s biggest losses to the transfer portal this offseason, Engstler has turned into one of the most productive players in the country. The senior forward has already been named to the Cheryl Miller Award watch list and leads Louisville in rebounds (118), steals (39) and 3-point field-goal percentage (54.8%) — which is also 12th best in the country, per Her Hoop Stats.

Engstler has recorded four double-doubles in the Cardinals’ 13-game win streak since their overtime loss to Arizona, a game where Engstler was held to a season-low two points. Since then she has emerged as Louisville’s third-highest point scorer, helping spark wins over ranked opponents such as UConn and Georgia Tech.

She enters Thursday’s contest after a three-year stint with Syracuse, where she led the team in rebounds her sophomore and junior seasons and is coming off a 2020-21 season where she recorded seven double-doubles.

Stat to know: 47.6 opponent points per game

Louisville has allowed the second-fewest points per game in the country. It beats teams by an average of 22.5 points per game, per Her Hoop Stats, and averages over 70 on its own. The Cardinals have only allowed over 50 points six times this season, and have been able to hold ranked sides like Georgia Tech and Michigan below that scoring mark. Teams have only averaged a 33.3% success rate from the field, as the Cardinals pose the second-best scoring defense in the country.

Syracuse, on the other hand, has made at most a third of its shots from the field in its last three games including a season-low 21.1% against North Carolina. The Orange’s three lowest shooting percentages have come in defeats against ranked conference opponents. However, SU average six more points per game than the Cardinals do and still shoot above 40%, but face its third top 100 scoring defense in the last four games.

Published on January 12, 2022 at 3:30 pm

Contact Alex: ahcirino@syr.edu