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With just over one minute remaining in the first quarter, Syracuse held a one-point lead over No. 3 Louisville, cutting an eight-point deficit from earlier in the quarter. Chrislyn Carr held the ball on the right wing of the outer arc and opted against driving, instead choosing to drift back to create enough space between her and Emily Engstler for a shot to extend SU’s lead to two possessions for the first time Thursday night.

But as Chrislyn tried to pick up her dribble, the former Syracuse guard poked the ball away and jolted toward Louisville’s basket. Out of frustration, Chrislyn fouled Engstler before she could take more than two steps away. Her ensuing free throws put the Orange in a deficit once again, a position they would stay in for the rest of the night.

Syracuse has ensured turnovers aren’t as big a problem as they were at the beginning of the season. And while its turnover rate of 17.7%, according to Her Hoop Stats, is still relatively high in the country, the team hasn’t coughed up the ball as much since its loss against Minnesota. The problems of coughing up the ball have still been prevalent throughout the season, especially against Clemson and North Carolina, but Syracuse’s (8-8, 1-5 Atlantic Coast) 20 turnovers against No. 3 Louisville (14-1, 4-0) ensured that it wouldn’t pull off the upset to earn its first road win of the season.

“Foul trouble has created some issues for us,” acting head coach Vonn Read said earlier this week. “We just have to do a better job of defensively trying to move our feet, trying to not put ourselves in those situations to get in foul trouble.”

SU had its work cut out for it heading into Thursday’s game. Both Read and Najé Murray mentioned the stellar defensive effort that Louisville has put together this season. The Cardinals have one of the top defensive units in the country, allowing just 49.2 points per game. They rank 24th in the country with 10.7 steals per game and have the 18th-highest steal rate in the country, led by Engstler.

It was the unforced errors, errand passes and poorly-timed turnovers, however, that hindered Syracuse’s chances. Right after a Kianna Smith layup to give the Cardinals a two-point lead in the first quarter, Christianna Carr threw an off-target chest pass that Smith picked off. On the ensuing drive toward the Louisville basket, Teisha Hyman drew her second foul of the game, forcing Read to dip into his bench in favor of Alaina Rice.

Read has said before that he doesn’t like playing players with multiple fouls for extended periods of time, but if Alaysia Styles or someone who is leading the Orange’s offense gets into foul trouble, he’s forced to keep them on the court. Syracuse had 16 personal fouls against Louisville, one more than what the team averages. When the team picks up at least 16 fouls, they have a record of 3-7.

“We don’t play a lot of people. One person out of our five really throws off our rotation,” Murray said earlier this week. “We just can’t foul. It just can’t happen.”

Just as continuously turning over the ball allowed Louisville to stave off Syracuse’s comeback attempts, the Orange also constantly sent the Cardinals to the free-throw line. The Orange like to force turnovers on their opponents as well, and Murray said earlier in the season that the team likes to hit a benchmark of 25 takeaways each game. Those allow SU to transition quickly into a fast-break offense that usually translates into points. Louisville took that approach and exploited it against the Orange.

In the third quarter, Murray crashed in from the right side of the outer arc. She received the inbound pass and had a clear lane to the basket for a layup. But before she could get a dribble down and make a final cut to get into position, the referee’s whistle signaled a traveling violation. A few possessions later, Styles collected a missed layup from Murray, but as Styles picked her head up to look for a pass, she stepped out of bounds. Louisville quickly inbounded the ball and took off down the court, leading to Olivia Cochran burying a wide open layup.

After a missed shot from Hailey Van Lith, Christianna coughed up her fourth turnover of the game to give the ball back to Louisville with a four-point lead. Three minutes and 10 seconds remained in regulation, and the Cardinals had quickly hung eight points on Syracuse’s four to extend the lead down the stretch. The change of possession allowed Louisville head coach Jeff Walz to call a timeout and settle down his team for one final push.

Out of the break, Louisville scored on a layup, and another turnover from Hyman allowed Van Lith to extend UL’s lead even more. A final shooting foul on Christianna ballooned the Cardinals’ lead to 11 points, and a conference road game against a top-five team that just three minutes prior seemed winnable was out of hand.

“We had some tough moments there handling the ball, behind tight with the ball,” Read said. “We got to get better there.”

Published on January 13, 2022 at 11:21 pm

Contact Anthony: aalandt@syr.edu | @anthonyalandt