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Syracuse held a 3-point lead against No. 3 Louisville before the Cardinals erupted in the fourth quarter to emerge with a 13-point victory.

Thursday, the Orange led by as many as six points, with four players recording double-digit scoring figures. But Notre Dame went on a 14-2 run against a fatigued SU side and came out with a 21-point victory after the game was just a one-possession game midway through the final quarter.

Syracuse (8-10, 1-7 Atlantic Coast) dropped its sixth consecutive game 83-62 to No. 20 Notre Dame (15-4, 6-2), its fifth straight loss against a ranked opponent. Teisha Hyman led the Orange with 22 points and seven steals, but it was not enough to preserve numerous leads in a crucial conference matchup.

Here are three observations from Syracuse’s loss to Notre Dame:

Hyman stays hot

Hyman has been the Orange’s only player to record double-figures in each of the last seven games. She’s made at least a third of her field goal attempts in her last five games, and finished with 22 points.

But against Notre Dame, Hyman didn’t just lead Syracuse in scoring, she was on triple double watch for the second time this season, too. Heading into the final quarter, Hyman was three rebounds and two assists away from reaching that mark, numbers that increased in the second half as she helped keep the Orange’s deficit within 10 points.

Similarly, against Boston College, Hyman missed all of her shots from the field in the first half, scoring just two second-quarter free throw attempts. But in the second half, Hyman erupted to finish the game with a team-high 17 points, making seven shots from the field including two 3s.

On Thursday, Hyman was Syracuse’s only scorer who hadn’t scored halfway through the opening frame as the Orange built a 15-14 lead. Then, Hyman scored two of SU’s last three field goals, assisting Alaysia Styles’ layup off a turnover from Sam Brunelle, to send the Orange into the second quarter with a two-point lead.

Hyman finished the first half with four steals, all coming in the first quarter. She entered the game with 40 steals, averaging 2.2 per game, leading a Syracuse team that leads the ACC with 10.5 steals per game. By the end of the game, her team-high seven steals nearly put her on quadruple-double watch.

Syracuse still searching for 3s

Syracuse struggled shooting midway through the second quarter, coming up empty during an 0-for-7 stretch, and four of those shots were missed from beyond the arc.

During a 30-second span in the first quarter, it looked as if Syracuse and Notre Dame were going to replicate the back-and-forth 3-point shooting contest the Orange had against Buffalo at the Battle 4 Atlantis tournament. Two Syracuse 3s from Najé Murray and Christianna Carr and one from Olivia Miles within the game’s seventh minute kept Syracuse’s then-three-point lead afloat.

But then Syracuse went on its shooting drought in the second quarter and at halftime, the Orange had posted a 2-for-15 mark from 3-point territory. Then the Orange limited themselves to a more reserved approach, only attempting three 3s in the third quarter.

Syracuse didn’t make a second-half 3 until the third minute of the third quarter, while Notre Dame continued to use 3s to generate its momentum, which ultimately became the difference on the scoreboard. The Fighting Irish hit two consecutive 3s from Dara Mabrey and Brunelle to give it an eight-point lead at the half, and after struggling early in the third quarter, Notre Dame and Miles took advantage of a near three-minute scoreless streak from the Orange and extended its lead back to six points after it fell to just three after halftime.

Notre Dame hurts Syracuse with another double-digit run

When the two teams met for the first time this season at the Carrier Dome in mid-November, Syracuse trailed Notre Dame by eight points heading into the final quarter. But the Fighting Irish extended its lead by 18 points to win the game 82-56, going on a 21-0 run to close out the game.

Miles hit Notre Dame’s last four points of that run, assisting three field goals, too. And on Thursday, as Notre Dame accumulated a 10-0 second quarter run, Miles was responsible for putting up the Fighting Irish’s last five points during that span.

On one play, Miles drove inside the paint past Styles and hit an underhand layup to increase Notre Dame’s lead to 30-25. Then, right in front of the Syracuse bench, Miles hit a 3 from the right side of the arc to increase that lead to eight, after the Fighting Irish trailed by two points at the end of the first quarter.

Published on January 27, 2022 at 8:14 pm

Contact Alex: ahcirino@syr.edu