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For the first time in Syracuse head coach Quentin Hillsman’s tenure, his team faced a Notre Dame squad without Muffet McGraw patrolling the sideline. The two-time National Champion winner took the Irish to nine Final Four appearances before retiring at the end of the 2020 season. 

On Sunday morning, Syracuse defeated Notre Dame 81-69 in a come-from-behind victory after trailing for most of the game. Tiana Mangakahia began to take over in the second half after struggling in recent games, finishing with 19 points and 11 assists and tying a career-high five 3’s. Meanwhile, Notre Dame led for most of the game by breaking down Syracuse’s zone defense and implementing a zone of its own to deter Syracuse from driving into the lane.

Here are three takeaways:

Poor first-half shooting

After beginning the game hitting three of its first four 3-pointers, Syracuse proceeded to miss its next 17 shots from behind the arc. Kiara Lewis finished 4-14 from the field, including a couple of first-half, wide-open misses. Rather than attacking Notre Dame’s zone by working the ball inside, Syracuse spent most of the first half swinging the ball along the arc before settling for a semi-contested three-pointer.

Priscilla Williams and Lewis combined to shoot just 7-28 from the field. In the second half, Syracuse began to work the ball inside, rather than settling for long-range shots. Immediately after halftime, Mangakahia threw a pass inside the paint to Digna Strautmane for an easy basket underneath the hoop. On the next possession, Syracuse worked the ball inside to Kamilla Cardoso, who boxed out her defender for the catch. Then, the freshman turned and jumped to shoot before being fouled.

But as the second half continued, Syracuse began to once again settle for long-range shots. Rather than utilizing a height advantage down low and the vision of point guard Mangakahia, Syracuse attempted to shoot over the Irish zone.

Cardoso block party

Cardoso, a 6-foot-7 freshman, began to take over in the fourth quarter after scoring eight points in the first half. In the second half, Cardoso had 10 points and finished with a career-high nine blocks. 

With just a couple of minutes remaining and Syracuse having just taken a two-point lead after trailing most of the game, Notre Dame drove into the paint and tried to shoot over Cardoso. Instead, Cardoso swatted away the shot as Syracuse began its fast-break offense. 

As Mangakahia took control of the ball and began the transition offense, Williams navigated toward the 3-point line. Mangakahia quickly passed ahead to Williams, who nailed a wide-open three to extend SU’s lead to five points. 

Besides being a force on defense in the paint, Cardoso also grabbed seven rebounds.

Mangakahia bounces back

After struggling to maintain possession, finishing with seven turnovers against Clemson and scoring just five points against Pittsburgh, Mangakahia finished with 19 points against Notre Dame. 

While she had four turnovers, Mangakahia commonly found teammates cutting toward the basket. Down 14 in the second quarter, Mangakahia directed a transition offense and cut toward the paint. As Notre Dame defenders stepped up to defend the fifth-year senior, Mangakahia hooked a pass over her head to Emily Engstler, who was standing underneath the hoop. SU’s forward easily laid in the shot to cut the Irish lead to 36-24 for one of Mangakahia’s 11 assists. 

As Syracuse struggled to score, Mangakahia routinely found teammates on passes positioning post players to score. While Notre Dame was in the middle of a 17-0 run, Mangakahia placed a pass over the top of Notre Dame defenders to Maeva Djaldi-Tabdi for an easy layup. But Djaldi-Tabdi’s shot rolled off the side of the rim. 

With Syracuse trailing throughout the second half, Mangakahia began to heat up from behind the arc. After hitting a couple of wide-open 3’s in the first half, Mangakahia became the focal point of the Orange offense, knocking down back-to-back 3’s to cut the Irish lead to just four early in the final 10 minutes.

Published on January 31, 2021 at 1:09 pm

Contact Thomas: tgshults@syr.edu | @ThomasShults_