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Syracuse’s game against No. 23 Virginia Tech on Thursday was meant almost as a tuneup for what it would face just three days later. Heading into the game with the ACC’s tallest player in 6-foot-6 center Elizabeth Kitley, the Orange crumbled in its biggest defeat of the season.

On Sunday, the Orange traveled to Raleigh to face their third top-five opponent of the season in NC State, a team that leads the Hokies in nearly every single category. The Wolfpack were the fifth-best team from beyond the arc and ranked 21st in rebounding heading into Sunday’s game and took over a smaller and weaker Syracuse side.

Led by Elissa Cunane’s 14 points and the team’s 54.5% shooting from the field, No. 4 NC State (25-3, 16-1 Atlantic Coast) surged to its sixth consecutive win, dominating Syracuse (11-15, 4-12 ACC) 95-53.

Here are three observations from Syracuse’s third straight loss:

Cunane outplays Syracuse inside

On Thursday against Virginia Tech, Kitley gave Syracuse its toughest challenge inside. Kitley is three inches taller than the Orange’s tallest player, getting to the basket with ease to knock home 24 points — all in the paint — while grabbing 11 rebounds for her 12th double-double of the season.

Cunane, NC State’s 6-foot-5 center and projected top five WNBA draft pick, proved to be equally as tough to guard inside. She comfortably handled double-teams from Alaysia Styles and Christianna Carr to score 14 points. Cunane scored all of her points on layups for 12 of the Wolfpack’s 62 points in the paint. She is just two inches taller than Styles but was able to draw two and-1 plays off Styles’ fouls, outmuscling her for layups.

She finished the game one rebound shy of a double-double.

No secondary option

The reason Syracuse was down 22 points at halftime after a lopsided first 20 minutes against the Hokies was primarily due to Teisha Hyman. Hyman finished the game with 12 points, seven in the first half. And as Hyman’s production began to slide, so did the Orange’s as a collective.

But Hyman didn’t score at all until the 2nd minute of the second quarter, as Syracuse trailed 28-9 at the end of the first quarter, with all nine points coming from Najé Murray. In the second quarter, Murray was held scoreless, as were Christianna and Styles — who didn’t score in the first half.

Hyman’s layup to generate her scoring on Sunday began an 11-0 run where she scored five points along with Chrislyn Carr’s six. That run featured two 3-pointers which pulled Syracuse within 12 points of the Wolfpack midway into the second quarter and forced the Wolfpack into a timeout. At that point, NC State put its starters back in and scored 16 points to close out the quarter, while the Orange managed just six, which came from both Hyman and Chrislyn.

Then, SU only made one field goal in the first three minutes of the third quarter, and NC State went on a 9-3 run to extend its lead past 25 points. During that span, Hyman attempted half of Syracuse’s six shot attempts. Syracuse only scored 10 points the rest of that quarter, as it trailed by nearly 40 points heading into the final frame.

Defense can’t contain the Wolfpack

Typically, Syracuse’s 2-3 zone relies on forcing its opponents outside the arc to shoot from deep. After its loss to Virginia Tech, acting head coach Vonn Read acknowledged the challenges of playing the zone against a bigger team inside, with the Orange’s biggest challenge being their inability to get “matched up.”

Syracuse equally struggled against NC State’s “four-out one-in” offense, with each possession oriented around working the ball to that one player inside — Cunane. But when Cunane wasn’t on the court early in the second quarter, the Orange were able to manage the Wolfpack inside the way it wanted to, and used that defensive freedom to spark their 11-0 run.

Then Cunane came back in the game and the Wolfpack responded with a 9-0 run and Syracuse was once again outmatched in the paint. NC State’s first eight points during that span were layups, taking advantage of the Orange’s five consecutive misses to score in transition.

Kayla Jones scored the first two layups, with Cunane banking in the next two. On one, Raina Perez faked two passes to her left and right, forcing Christianna to shift over, creating an open lane for a bounce pass inside for Cunane. Cunane easily turned around Styles and dropped the ball in to put NC State up 43-22.

NC State’s layups were primarily driven by its ability to generate offense off the fast break, leading to 24 points. Midway through the first quarter, Cunane secured a one-handed defensive rebound and sent Jakia Brown-Turner in transition, who found Jones for a layup. Then, in the second quarter, Jones helped generate the Wolfpack’s late second quarter run. Jones read a backwards pass from Murray and intercepted it, finding Perez all alone on Syracuse’s end to put NC State up 16 points.

Published on February 20, 2022 at 4:29 pm

Contact Alex: ahcirino@syr.edu