Recap: Syracuse Falls to North Carolina for First Loss of Season

Exactly a week since their last game, the Orange came out flat footed on the road at Chapel Hill

Syracuse struggled from the opening tip-off, falling to the Tar Heels 92-68. Having not played since last Thursday, the Orange came out flat-footed tonight, struggling to defend the Tar Heels as well as score the basketball. Being held to just 9 points in the first quarter, the Orange trailed by 12 and were put in a hole that they could not climb out of.

At the end of the day, Coach Hillsman says his team’s poor performance had more to do with his coaching, than their struggles against a tough Tar Heels team.

“This is my responsibility. I got to do a better job of coaching our team and getting our team ready to play. When you come out and play like this and you don’t execute and you have this kind of effort that’s about me, that’s not about them,” said Hillsman.

Their shooting struggles continued throughout the game, shooting just 29.3% from the field and going 9-36 from beyond the arc. Rather than being aggressive in the paint and looking to feed Kamila Cardoso down low, the Orange continued to shoot the 3-pointer but could not find much success.

Cardoso continued to dominate in the paint, notching a double-double (11 points, 13 rebounds) in 20 minutes of action. As one of Coach Hillsman highest ranked recruits, the Orange need to look to play through Cardoso more frequently, rather than settling for shots beyond the arc.

Two of Syracuse’s top scorers in Tiana Mangakahia and Kiara Lewis were held to a combined 13 points on 4-19 shooting. With Lewis picking up three offensive fouls and Tiana not playing most of the second half due to a foot issue, their usual success was lackluster against a tough Tar Heels defense.

Foul trouble impacted any hopes for the Orange to get back into the game in the second half. Kiara Lewis and Digna Strautmane had to be careful with four fouls late in the game and Kiara Fisher ended up fouling out in the fourth.

One of the positive takeaways from this game was Syracuse’s bench player’s stepping-up. Emily Engstler led the team with a season high 18 points on 7-9 shooting and Kiara Fisher notching a career-high 11 points. Coach Hillsman had to look to his bench for production with his starters not providing much spark in the game.

“We got to fight through this. Our Freshmen, I’m going to have to play them a little bit more obviously and try to play a little bit deeper into our bench to get some combinations on the floor that’s going to run, play the way we need to play, and be aggressive.”

The Orange will look to get back in the win column when they travel to Boston College for a 2:00 PM game on Sunday. College is currently 4-2 on the season, having dropped their last two games.