St. Joseph’s has experienced a pretty good few days of basketball, all things considered. A last-second victory at Drexel provided a spark, and then a program-defining victory over a strong Maryland team set the fire.

“It’s been awesome,” St. Joseph’s associate head coach Susan Moran said. “The win against Drexel was huge, a buzzer-beater at their place. It gave us the belief for the Maryland game.”

The 50-49 home victory over then-No. 5 Maryland was St. Joseph’s first victory over a top-5 team since 1977, sending the Terrapins to No. 10 and giving the Redhawks votes in this week’s Associated Press poll. The upset sets the stage for Tuesday night’s nonconference showdown between undefeated Syracuse (3-0) and St. Joseph’s (2-1) at Hagan Arena in Philadelphia. It will be SU’s third stop on a seven-game road swing.

After rarely being tested in its opening stretch of stress-free victories against Fairleigh Dickinson, Maine and Cornell, Syracuse turns its attention to the Redhawks for what should be its toughest test so far in the young season. SU won by 24 points or more in all of its first three games, with senior center Kayla Alexander posting a double-double in each game. For her efforts, Alexander was named Big East Player of the Week on Monday.

Moran is doing the bulk of St. Joseph’s scouting for the SU game, and is impressed by Alexander’s ability to score inside in a variety of ways, with both her left and right hands. For Moran, the task of completely stifling Alexander is almost impossible, so the Redhawks will focus on containing her dominance as much as possible.

This involves forcing Alexander to score in ways that she isn’t used to, Moran said.

“With a player like that on the inside, you need to make her do something different,” Moran said. “Make sure she doesn’t get anything easy. But she’s good enough to turn both ways, and the kid will still get her looks either way.”

Alexander’s dominance to start the season is not a surprise, after the 6-foot-4 two-time All-Big East selection was named to this year’s Preseason All-Big East team. The Milton, Ontario product averaged 16.2 points and 8.8 rebounds per game during last season’s WNIT, and has picked up where she left off by averaging 21.7 points and 11.7 rebounds per game in SU’s 3-0 start.

For Alexander, the positive start is no time for the Orange to become complacent. Rather, the team must strive to keep improving as it works through the meat of its early-season road trip, Alexander said.

“Making sure that we stay composed on the road (is key),” Alexander said after the win against Cornell. “Especially when there’s adversity in the situation that we’re in. Keep the intensity up, stay together and work hard.”

Aside from containing Alexander, the Redhawks find a challenge in preparing for SU’s young starting lineup. The Orange have started three freshmen in all three games so far, making it tough for St. Joseph’s to study the strengths and weaknesses of Brittney Sykes, Cornelia Fondren and Brianna Butler.

Moran doesn’t want to put too much importance in the early statistics posted by SU’s freshmen, knowing that these numbers could change as the season progresses.

“It has been a little difficult,” Moran said. “With the returners, you can look at what they did last year. But like the point guard (Fondren), she’s 2-for-4 from three-point range, so 50 percent, but in March will she be 3-for-25 or 25-for-50?”

In SU’s 80-35 win over Cornell on Friday, the Orange freshmen contributed in all capacities. In addition to the three starters who all played at least 19 minutes, freshman forward Pachis Roberts came off the bench to notch 8 points and 4 steals.

Aside from Alexander and the freshmen, St. Joseph’s is preparing for a deep Syracuse lineup. Key contributors Carmen Tyson-Thomas and Shakeya Leary combined for 26 points and 14 rebounds off the bench against Cornell, and Moran feels that the Orange can attack with a variety of weapons.

“Despite having a young starting lineup, the kids are putting up numbers.” Moran said. “It’s an explosive group, with the ability to score quickly. And defensively, they’re long and athletic.”

If the Redhawks allow the big win over Maryland to alter their preparation for Syracuse, the Orange will be primed to take control of the game, Moran said. Although St. Joseph’s players are “amped” after the upset, Moran feels the team has its head in the right place, setting the stage for a hard-fought battle on Tuesday night.

“They enjoyed the win, and they know they can look back on it for years to come,” Moran said. “But the group is pretty focused. We can’t lose focus, or else we’ll start to lose games.”

 

Published on November 20, 2012 at 12:29 pm

Contact Kevin: kmprisei@syr.edu