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In Syracuse’s 68-58 loss to No. 9 North Carolina Thursday, the Orange matched the Tar Heels’ points in the second half. They forced 15 second-half turnovers. They sank 6-of-9 triples after the break. But, for SU head coach Felisha Legette-Jack, “fear” held it back in the first.

“We put them in the park, and you play five-on-five, our starters will be better,” Legette-Jack said. “But (our players) decided to play with fear.”

Postgame Thursday, the head coach added her team needed to solidify its first-half performance and admitted it didn’t have much time to do so since it was “going from the pot to the fire” with No. 11 Duke.

Syracuse’s first-half performance stooped to a new low versus the Blue Devils. SU had its lowest-scoring half of the season, scoring only 19 points. Duke built a 22-point advantage that it held onto. SU is still at serious risk of missing the Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament, sitting tied for 14th with the same record as 16th-place Pittsburgh, the first team that misses the tournament.

Here are some observations from Syracuse’s (10-17, 4-12 ACC) 80-49 loss to No. 11 Duke (21-7, 12-4 ACC) Sunday:

Schmitt starts, McNabb’s extended action

SU shuffled its lineup for the first time since its 67-55 win at Clemson on Jan. 26, when Madeline Potts started in place of Georgia Woolley and scored a career-high 13 points in 35 minutes.

Sunday, Olivia Schmitt got her third start of the season and the first since Nov. 26, when the Orange were destroyed 86-59 by Creighton at the Emerald Coast Classic. Schmitt recently played a career-best 26 minutes at Cal on Feb. 16, when she dished out four assists. Against the Tar Heels Thursday, the freshman went 3-for-5 from 3 for a career-high nine points.

Schmitt poked a ball loose on the Blue Devils’ first possession, sparking SU’s offense to an early lead. Lexi McNabb replaced Schmitt in the first quarter and ran the point. It was only the 11th game McNabb had played in this season.

McNabb started out of the break but committed a turnover and missed a jumper. Neither was largely impactful, with Schmitt notching three points on a fourth-quarter triple while McNabb was ineffective in eight minutes.

Duke’s defense causes SU trouble

Syracuse faced the best defense in the ACC Thursday versus UNC. But after committing 11 turnovers in the first half versus the Tar Heels, SU righted the ship with only six turnovers in the second half.

SU encountered another stifling defense in Duke, which entered the matchup as the second-best defense in the ACC and averaged 7.2 steals per game. The Blue Devils caused Syracuse problems early with six first-quarter turnovers. Izabel Varejão couldn’t get a shot off in time, forcing a violation. Midway through the first quarter, SU committed a five-second violation when it couldn’t inbound the ball in time.

Duke consistently employed a full-court press to limit the Orange and give them trouble with every inbound. Easy shot attempts were hard to come by, as Kyra Wood was rejected in the final minute of the first quarter.

SU only scored six points in the second quarter — its fewest points in any quarter this season — while committing seven turnovers and entering the half with 19 points, tied for its lowest total in a half this season. The Orange scored two points after the 6:59 mark of the quarter. All seven of those giveaways came after that moment. Duke capitalized on Syracuse’s 23 total turnovers, scoring 26 points off the giveaways.

Blue Devils boss the paint

Syracuse was destroyed in the paint 40-20 by North Carolina, headlined by Maria Gakdeng tying her season high with 21 points. Duke also exploited the Orange in the paint Sunday. It made hay driving to the hoop, showcasing its impressive footwork and finishing for easy 2s.

The Blue Devils continued to dump the ball or drive inside, only making three first-half 3s while scoring 20 paint points to the Orange’s eight. They also leaned on their 19th-most offensive rebounds per game in Division I, per HerHoopStats. Duke played at a breakneck pace under seven minutes in the second quarter, getting two offensive boards and finding Taina Mair for its second triple of the game.

SU is a poor defensive rebounding team, and it showed with Duke grabbing 21 offensive rebounds to Syracuse’s 20 defensive boards. The Blue Devils ventured outside rarely and only sank five 3s.

However, the paint dominance continued, as Duke closed the third quarter by going inside on a Reigan Richardson and-one. Richardson completed another three-point play to eclipse a 30-point lead. The paint dominance persisted throughout, as the Blue Devils outscored the Orange 42-14 down low.

Unbalanced Syracuse scoring

Sunday, Legette-Jack played nearly every player on her roster in the first half, but none could make a significant impact. Eleven Syracuse players — everyone rostered except Dominique Camp and Journey Thompson — saw the court in the first half but few got going. Woolley led the way with eight points at the break, while Sophie Burrows had five. Three other players had two points on a woeful 27.6% shooting.

Duke also had 20 bench points at halftime to the Orange’s four at the break. SU kept shuffling its lineup, but nothing seemed to work. Thompson became the 12th player to enter the contest early in the third quarter. Camp, the final player off Syracuse’s bench, saw her first playing time four minutes into the third.

Woolley got going in the second half, nailing two consecutive corner 3s, and Burrows nailed two in the third quarter, too. But no one else aided the Australians. Meanwhile, Duke had five players in double digits.

Woolley led SU with 14 points, and Burrows contributed 13 points. But no other player put up more than six points, consummating in Syracuse’s second-lowest scoring game of the season.

Published on February 23, 2025 at 4:22 pm

Contact Nicholas: njalumka@syr.edu | @nalumkal