Game Analysis - NCAA - Game 2 - UConn v. Syracuse

[cferraro04]

GENERAL COMMENTS:

Syracuse is 24-8. Their RPI ranking = 46; SoS = 71; Their NET Rating = 39; Their Defensive Rating 86.0; Their defensive ranking is #48th nationally.
UConn is 35-0. Their RPI ranking = 4; Sos = 34; Their NET Rating = 1; Their Defensive Rating 68.5; Their defensive ranking is #1 nationally.

Syracuse is a great rebounding team, averaging 42 per game while their opponent's average 34.4 per game. They average 74.4 points and 5.5 three-pointers. They are somewhat turnover-prone, averaging 20.7 per game. They also average 5.4 blocks per game.

Syracuse is big...will probably start 6'3", 6'3", 6'2", 6'0", and 5'10". UConn may use Jana El-Alfy at the Center in this game. Certainly, we will see Blanca in early and probably get a lot of minutes in this game. They have a veteran starting line-up surrounding freshman Uche Izoje. They will probably start 1 Graduate, 2 Seniors, 1 Junior, and 1 Freshman. Syracuse could have a height advantage in each position.

UConn will need to box out Syracuse from the boards, as the Rebounding differential between the two teams is +4.5 in favor of Syracuse. UConn averages 88.8 points per game while holding its opponents to 50.4 points per game. UConn only turns the ball over 12.7 times per game, but they force their opponents to turn the ball over 24.6 times per game. UConn averages a guady 15.7 steals per game. UConn averages 9.3 three-pointers and 23.6 assists per game. I expect UConn to advance into the Sweet 16 game...let's just hope we don't see a repeat of the physicality that resulted in the Mel Thomas injury years ago.

PLAYER MATCH UPS:

Sareh Williams, 6.4" - Senior Forward v. Journey Thompson, 6'3" - Senior Forward - Journey Thompson averages 3.9 points, 4.3 rebounds, .6 assists, 1.0 steals, and .3 blocks in 17.2 minutes of play each game. Serah averages 7.1 points, 4.4 rebounds, 1.5 assists, .7 steals, 1.4 blocks in 17.8 minutes per game. While I am not sure if Geno will start Jana El-Alfy in this game...I don't think Serah can be depended on to stop Uche Izoje and I am guessing Geno will stay with the same starting line-up he has used all season. ADVANTAGE - UCONN

Sarah Strong, 6'2" - Sophomore Forward v. Uche Izoje, 6'3" - Freshman Center - Uche is a freshman phenom...but Sarah is the Big East's defensive player of the year. Uche has good size, and Sarah will need to stay out of foul trouble. Uche averages 15.7 points, 9.3 rebounds, 1.4 assists, .9 steals, and a formidable 2.6 blocks per game. Sarah averages 18.4 points, 7.5 rebounds, 4.1 assists, 3.4 steals, and a respectable 1.6 blocks per game. Sarah also hits 1.6 three-pointers per game. ADVANTAGE - UCONN

Azzi Fudd, 5'11" - Graduate Guard v. Sophie Burrows 6'2" - Junior Guard - Sophie averages 11.3 points, 1.8 three-pointers, 5.9 rebounds, 2.3 assists, 2.0 steals, and .9 blocks per game. Azzi averages 17.4 points, 3.0 three-pointers, 2.6 rebounds, 2.1 assists, 2.1 steals, and .4 blocks per game. ADVANTAGE - UCONN

Ashlynn Shade, 5'10" - Junior Guard v. Laila Phelia, 6'0" - Senior Guard - Laila averages 13.8 points, 1.4 three-pointers, 2.8 rebounds, 1.4 assists, 2.0 steals per game. Ashlynn averages 7.9 points, 1.3 three-pointers, 3.5 rebounds, 2.9 assists, and 1.8 steals per game.
ADVANTAGE - EVEN

KK Arnold, 5'9" - Junior Guard v. Dominique Darius, 5'10" - Graduate Guard - Dominique averages 12.6 points, 1.0 three-pointers, 3.7 rebounds, 3.5 assists, 1.6 steals, and 3.1 turnovers per game. KK 7.5 points, .6 three-pointers, 2.2 rebounds, 4.7 assists, 2.8 steals per game.
ADVANTAGE - EVEN

BENCH:

Syracuse will bring 17 points, 12.6 rebounds, 3.7 steals, and 1.9 three-pointers off the bench.
UConn will bring 35.6 points, 16.1 rebounds, 3.2 three-pointers, and 6.2 steals off the bench.
ADVANTAGE - UCONN

COACHING:

UConn's coaches will have this team ready. The UConn coaching staff is comfortable in the postseason, having been there every year. UConn was made for this time of the year. ADVANTAGE - UCONN

SCORE:

UCONN - 91
SYRACUSE - 64
MOV - 27

 

[jcoton56]

The Cuse is missing their regular point guard. Expect the Huskies to make life miserable for the replacement.

 

[Topsail]

Felisha is a good coach, I expect this game will be closer than you would think. When she was at Buffalo , I remember that we had to fight hard for a 12 pt win in the NCAA tourney against them.

 

[Ralph]

Darius is supposed to be out with a broken hand from the ACC tourney, so KK goes up against Schmidt. She is 5 -5, but got hot from 3 in opening round. Hopefully KK will drive her nuts.

 

[Horsebrnhil]

Darius is supposed to be out with a broken hand from the ACC tourney, so KK goes up against Schmidt. She is 5 -5, but got hot from 3 in opening round. Hopefully KK will drive her nuts.

THAT is where issue will be. Schmidt will be eaten alive by KK. She is not a pure point guard, and by taking care of her, the Cuse offense will sputter. No, she will not be able to hit those 3's she did against Iowa St. UCONN will throw KK, Ziebel, Ashlynn, even Sarah at her. Uchie did impress me with her game. Good midrange, rebounding, and inside game. Reminds me of Blanca in a way. Emotional factor will be there. Azzi's last home game along with Sarah Williams. It will be.....or should be a better match up, than if they were to have played Iowa St. All in all UCONN 82, Cuse 69

 

[oldude]

Watching Syracuse beat Iowa St yesterday was interesting. For the most part Syracuse was the more athletic team. While the Orange had no answer for Crooks, they could run their offense and pressure the rest of the Cyclone players fairly effectively. That will all change tomorrow.

Izoje had a really nice offensive game yesterday. Crooks was a step slow in guarding her and she hit shot after shot from midrange. Tomorrow she’ll go against some combination of Serah or Sarah, both of whom will be up in her grill, making for a long tough day trying to get off her shot.

 

[Bone Dog]

Thanks again, Sensei. It’s a relief to see your analysis. You leave me with a question, though: is Phelia really 6’0”? I’ve seen a figure like that before. But she’s never struck me as quite that tall.

As for the matchups, I think Pheila, who is a resourceful utility player, will mainly be defended by Azzi, who will shut her down. Also, without Darius, they’re a bit smaller than they’ve been, especially at PG as others have mentioned.

The more interesting question for me concerns Burrows. I remember her from two years ago when she and Georgia Woolley kept Syracuse kept them in that round of 32 game against us until Dyaisha Fair could get going in the 4th quarter. They were both hot from the perimeter and posed matchup problems for our lineup with their height.

Who will mainly be defending Burrows this time? My guess is it will be some combination of Azzi, Ash, Blanca and Allie. All of them will bring more energy to the task than Iowa St. was able to.

As others here, I was also very impressed by Uche’s game. She is long and mobile and scores smoothly. Against Iowa St. and Audi she was virtually unguarded in the midrange much of the time. On defense, she could do nothing to stop Audi who scored 37. On offense, part of what Uche depends on is that Burrows and Phelia will take defensive attention away from her. She is money with an open midrange jumper. I suspect our rotating defense will mostly deny her those open looks. Then we’ll see how she compensates for that an what else she can do.

I’m very confident Sarah Serah Jana and Blanca will dominate their frontcourt and pose near insurmountable problems for them. Sarah and Blanca in particular are impossible matchups. Also, I suspect Serah will have a big day on offense and defense.

On the whole, I think Syracuse is the tougher opponent for us, not just because they won yesterday, but also and mainly because Coach Jack is a formidable teacher and knows how to prep a team to face UConn. She may not have seen this version of our defense, but I expect she’ll have figured out something to prepare her team for it.

 

[Charliebball]

Could be a tough game if UConn is not hitting their threes again........if they shoot fairly well and can keep the offensive rebounding of Syracuse in check, then it should lead to a solid victory.....if UConn shoots like they did yesterday, can't control their own glass, and gets into some foul trouble, then it could be close.....

 

[NycUcWbbFan]

Syracuse Orange | Torvik | SRCBB

• 1/11/2026: SYR 79, UVA 60 - FINAL
• 2/15/2026: CLE 64, SYR 68 - FINAL
• 2/26/2026: SYR 62, UND 72 - FINAL
• 3/6/2026: SU 61, UL 87 - FINAL
• 3/21/2026: Syracuse vs Iowa St.

 

[Next 12]

I am not knowledgeable about opposing players as all the above, as i go by feelings. I do not know the exact number,but I believe Uconn has a large wins in a row against Syracuse currently. My FAITH in Geno and my FAITH in the team is how I make my posts. I don't believe Syracuse has played against the defense that Uconn possesses and seldom does the top scorer match their Statistics. This game will be WIN NO. 144.To lose in the Sweet 16 is not on the Horizon.GO HUSKIES!!!!!!!

 

[NYFan]

I follow Syracuse women's basketball relatively closely (let's just say I have a house divided... lol). I have always thought this team had some potential that was never realized. I see their biggest weaknesses as follows:

• While sometimes they seem to have a good offense and ball movement, often they get stagnant and go ice cold shooting. Then they get discombobulated, which leads to:
• They don't always take the best shot. Correct that... they don't always take a good shot.
• They don't employ good time management. Numerous times, late in the game with a small lead, they don't get the shot clock down under 5 or 10, or if they get a rebound in that situation, they just "throw the ball up" towards the basket instead of kicking it back out to burn more time. To me, that's a combination of the players and coaching.

Izjoe is great, but she's an athletic freshman who has moves around the basket and a good mid-range, but is still learning, and can't always stay out of foul trouble.
Phelia is very good, with a strong side-step to the basket and mid-range, but sometimes tries to do too much by herself.
Burrows always gives it her all, but her shooting has been off this year. She is a threat to get hot, but she will probably rush her shots with UConn's defense, so I don't expect that to happen.
Thompson is excellent on the boards, but doesn't generate a lot of offense.
Schmitt is the secret weapon... as a freshman, she started the year behind both Darius and Velez on the depth chart, but quickly moved past Velez. The fact that everyone thought Syracuse was in trouble because Darius was unavailable but they still beat Iowa State should say something. I was surprised she didn't start the game yesterday (Maddie Potts did, but I didn't think she was a true point guard), but she got hot with 3's in the 2nd quarter and came out to start the 3rd quarter. I'm sure KK/K-9 will pick her pocket, force some turnovers, and generally make her uncomfortable, but I'll think she'll do better than average compared opposing point guards that KK/K-9 face...

In the end, UConn is way too strong for Syracuse, but I'm hoping both teams play as well as they are cabable of...

 

[JoePgh]

Watching the game in person last night, I thought that Syracuse made a surprising number of contested mid-range jump shots. Looking at the box score, Syracuse was 19-for-43 (44%) on 2-point shots, in addition to 9-for-25 (36%) on 3's. That's good shooting, considering that they had very few paint points (10). But I don't think anyone would say that Iowa State had a top-notch defense.

I agree with those who say that UConn's swarming defense will pose a problem for Syracuse. I would expect to see much lower shooting percentages for the Orange in Monday night's game.

 

[FanSince17]

Did anybody else go to Mohegan for the two day event with 4 teams- UConn, Michigan, Utah, and Syracuse?
I watched Syracuse twice. They beat Utah by 12 and lost to Michigan by 26. Nothing about them was impressive except for their overall size and athleticism, being a team from the ACC/power conference.
Any thoughts from people that saw them early in the year...

 

[msf22b]

What I like about Uche is her quick, elevated, true fadeaway jump-shot in the mid-range…somewhat like Paige’s…a lethal weapon that will serve her well.

If the can get her the ball in position, she will be a handful.

I wish that Blanca would develop that shot…would make her unstoppable.