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Miami’s Destiny Harden broke through Syracuse’s full-court press and surged toward the basket. Anchoring the back end of SU’s pressure was freshman center Kamilla Cardoso. Harden attempted to evade the rookie with a Euro step.

The move didn’t give Harden a better angle to the rim than she had before, and she forced an off-balance layup that Cardoso smothered with two hands without having to leave her feet. The ball quickly traveled back down the floor, culminating in a Digna Strautmane 3-pointer.

At this point in SU’s 69-58 win over Miami on Dec. 10, the Orange lead became just 14-9. But it established Syracuse’s presence in the paint, and the Orange outrebounded the Hurricanes by eight. The Orange would block four more shots as well.

Through 15 games, the Orange have compiled 106 blocks. Syracuse (11-4, 8-4 Atlantic Coast) ranks third in the country, with 7.1 blocks per game. The program record is 177 blocks in 38 games in 2015-16, the same year SU advanced past the second round for the first time ever and lost to Connecticut in the national title game.

Cardoso’s average of 3.1 blocks is eighth-best in the country, while both Strautmane and Emily Engstler record at least one rejection per game. SU’s historic rate of denial has catalyzed multiple pivotal comebacks — but it has also hidden critical flaws.

“That’s why you pick up a post player like that in the paint,” head coach Quentin Hillsman said following SU’s 81-69 win over Notre Dame. “That can block shots, change the game. Defensively, (Cardoso) really changed the game down the stretch.”

Against the Irish on Jan. 31, SU trailed by as much as 15 in the first half. Syracuse still lacked an answer on defense. Through the first three quarters of play, ND maintained a seven-point lead while shooting over 50%.

But in the fourth quarter, the blocks began to accumulate. In this game, SU recorded nine, and each belonged to Cardoso. Her six fourth-quarter blocks — combined with SU’s switch from zone to man defense — deterred Notre Dame from generating a single quality shot in a 23-4 quarter. Syracuse won 81-69 in its largest win over Notre Dame in program history.

“Any mistakes we made, Kamilla erased them,” Hillsman said.

It was a similar performance to Syracuse’s 88-76 win over North Carolina 12 days prior. The unranked Tar Heels were then-No. 18 SU’s first loss of the season, shooting 47% en route to a 92-68 blowout of the Orange. Up until the fourth quarter, UNC continued to race past SU’s pressure and shoot over 50% from the field.

Then in the fourth, three different players combined for six blocks, while the Heels scored nine points the entire quarter. Three of their final five shots were denied as Syracuse put its stamp on another emphatic fourth-quarter effort.

Hillsman put it best after SU’s narrow 85-78 win over Wake Forest on Feb. 4, when Strautmane and Cardoso combined for 10 blocks.

“When they decided they wanted to guard them, they just guarded them,” he said.

But those “mistakes” Hillsman has alluded to in the past — along with SU’s temperamental defense — have been exposed against better competition. Despite being the tallest team in the conference, the Orange allow the most rebounds (41.1) per game. Syracuse also has the third-most turnovers of any ACC team, and its scoring defense ranks ninth out of 15 teams.

When Syracuse lost the rebounding battle to Georgia Tech (11-4, 9-3) by 10, it needed more than four blocks to deter Tech center Lorela Cubaj from scoring a game-high 21 points. Instead, SU fell for the senior center’s up-fakes on multiple occasions, allowing Cubaj to rip past for a layup.

“We told our kids to stay down,” Hillsman said postgame on Feb. 2, “And a couple times, we jumped early and left our feet, and we can’t do that.”

Emily Engstler averages over one block a game. Courtesy of the ACC

When No. 1 Louisville shot a comfortable six-for-11 from 3-point range in the second half, SU’s only hope to rescue a tiring defense and slow rotations had to be more than two blocks. Instead of Cardoso emerging, it was Cardinals’ top freshman Hailey Van Lith who iced the game with six 3-pointers.

Against Clemson, even 11 blocks wasn’t enough to mask 20 turnovers on offense. Six of the rejections came in a first half in which the Orange gave up 52 points already. Granted, Syracuse was playing the final leg of four games in eight days and still managed a 25-point second-half comeback to force overtime.

Blocks have been an integral part of SU’s success, but they can’t become a fallback plan. SU closes out the regular season with four of six games against top-six teams in the ACC. Thus far, the Orange are 1-2 in such contests.

The 177-block 2016 team lost three total conference games.

“We work on that,” Hillsman said Jan. 27, following SU’s tumble from the AP Top 25 to its current position. “We want to be ranked. We want to be known as, you know, one of the top teams in the country.”

Published on February 10, 2021 at 11:46 pm

Contact Tim: tnolan@syr.edu