Get the latest Syracuse news delivered right to your inbox.
Subscribe to our sports newsletter here.

Syracuse hadn’t beaten a top-five team since it bested Louisville in 2020, and coming off a close loss to No. 17 Duke, it was looking to repeat 2020’s success. The Orange entered their game against the Cardinals on the second three-game losing streak of the season. Brought on by dampened shooting from deep and an increase in foul trouble, the Orange haven’t won a true road game yet this season.

The Orange couldn’t buck either trend on Thursday despite keeping the game close against No. 3 Louisville for most of the night. SU overcame 20 turnovers, the tremendous performance of Hailey Van Lith and the Cardinals exploiting SU’s lack of size, and SU remained close to UL for the majority of the game. But a late surge in the final three and a half minutes of the fourth quarter negated all of that, and the Orange (8-8, 1-5 Atlantic Coast) fell to Louisville (14-1, 4-0) 84-71.

Here are five observation from the Orange’s loss to the Cardinals:

Louisville exploits interior early and often

Syracuse was once again inhibited by its lack of size, a constant point that acting head coach Vonn Read has continued to harp on throughout the year, pointing out that opponents realize the lack of size down low. Early against the Orange, Louisville became the latest team to exploit SU down low, routinely dishing the ball down to the post and allowing big men like Olivia Cochran to body up Christianna Carr and Alaysia Styles for close-range layups.

Read said that prior to Syracuse’s loss against No. 17 Duke, the team had struggled stopping teams from scoring inside the paint, giving up at least 50 points in both conference losses. “We just have to do a better job defensively of trying not to move our feet and trying not to put ourselves in those situations to put us in foul trouble,” Read said earlier this week.

The Orange found periodic success down low: Najé Murray grabbed a physical rebound over Louisville forwards and Styles extended an arm to break up a pass down low. But the majority of Louisville’s points in the first half came from inside the paint.

Najé Murray’s struggles continue

Earlier in the week, Murray said she simply needs to make the shots she’s taking. The senior came in averaging 12.6 points per game and is still a solid contributor to Syracuse’s three-pronged back court. However, over the previous two games, she had gone 3-for-17 and 2-for-13 from the field, respectively. Thursday night spelled the same troubles for her. Murray was just 1-for-6 from the field and unsuccessful on both attempts from deep at the end of the first half, tacking on a costly turnover early in the game as well.

Murray, who entered as one of the ACC’s top three-point shooters, finally found success from deep in the third quarter to bring the game within three points. But that was sandwiched in between a travel call and her committing a shooting foul that led to two more UL points. Even when she tried to draw a charge down low on Liz Dixon during the first quarter, she just fell over and allowed the Cardinals’ forward to hit a wide open layup.

Turnovers return

The Orange have mitigated turnovers since getting more comfortable with each other on the court. With sporadic exceptions, Syracuse has hung onto the ball. A tough road game against Louisville, however, returned SU to the sloppy form it had at the beginning of the season. With less than a minute to go in the first quarter, Christianna tried to dish the ball over to Murray, but the pass went nowhere close to its intended target. Louisville easily stole it away, finishing the sequence with a transition layup on the other end.

Syracuse had 15 turnovers after the first half, leading to nine Louisville points. Coughing the ball up stifled SU’s comeback attempts and added to transition opportunities for the Cardinals that extended solidified leads. In the third quarter, Styles collected a missed layup from Murray, but as Styles picked her head up to look for a pass, she stepped out of bounds. The ensuing play led to Cochran burying a wide open layup.

Less than two minutes into the fourth quarter and with Louisville leading by four points, Van Lith shuffled her feet on Alaina Rice, standing tall enough to force her down low. Rice couldn’t get around the guard and was forced to throw an errand pass across the court to Christianna that sailed out of bounds and led to another SU turnover.

Hailey Van Lith lifts off

Syracuse typically allows one player to burst out for a prolific offensive performance, even in blowout games against inferior nonconference opponents. Against Louisville, it was Van Lith, but the performance was nothing out of the ordinary for the sophomore. She entered the game averaging 11.1 points per game and was automatic off the dribble against the Orange. She hit from everywhere, showcasing her ability from all three levels on the court.

Early in the first quarter, Van Lith collected a lost dribble from Murray and powered through a Syracuse defender in transition to make the contested layup. Later in the quarter, she sat on the outer arc and allowed three SU defenders to break inside for a crashing Cochran. Once Cochran slung the ball outside to her, Van Lith used the space to easily nail the three-pointer and extend Louisville’s lead. Finally, in the midst of a three-minute scoring drought from the Orange, Van Lith collected a pass on the outside, waited as Christianna flew past her and stepped up for a mid range shot she swished through. The guard finished with 20 points.

Then, with 4:55 to go in the game, Van Lith collected a pass from the top of the key, quickly turned and nailed a three-pointer over an outstretched Teisha Hyman to give the Cardinals a four-point lead while prompting Read to call a timeout.

3-pointers galore

Success from deep typically comes for the Orange. They’ve been a potent team from deep throughout the season, and it was a large contributor to the six-game winning streak they had earlier in the season. Against the Cardinals, Syracuse overcame a difficult task, as Louisville is one of the best 3-point defensive teams in the country. Led by Chrislyn Carr’s dynamic shooting from deep, the Orange shot 8-of-17 from beyond the arc, a rate they hadn’t seen since the blowout SU placed on Clemson on Dec. 11. Syracuse’s first two makes came from deep, one from Chrislyn on the baseline extended and one from a wide open Christianna from the corner.

It didn’t lead to the most points Syracuse has scored this season, nor did it allow for a lot of leads against the No. 3 team in the country. But the timely shots kept the game close enough for the Orange to remain within striking distance throughout and brought them back when Louisville tried to pull away in the second and third quarters.

Published on January 13, 2022 at 9:24 pm

Contact Anthony: aalandt@syr.edu | @anthonyalandt