Against Wake Forest, Syracuse exemplified the adage, “The best offense is a good defense.”

The Orange (21-8, 10-6 Atlantic Coast) secured the No. 5 seed for the ACC tournament in a 64-54 victory against Wake Forest (14-15, 5-11) in front of 889 fans at Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Winston Salem, N.C.
And SU did so by scoring 25 points off 26 turnovers while leaning on a strong offensive output by its trusty backcourt.

“We rotated well off the back of our press,” SU head coach Quentin Hillsman said. “We got traps and they threw the ball out.”

After a Lindsy Wright layup gave Wake Forest a 6-5 lead at 17:11 of the first half, Shakeya Leary responded with a jumper 21 seconds later.

The Orange never relinquished that lead.

Directly after the under-12 media timeout, Wake Forest turned the ball over. Syracuse took it down the court and after Taylor Ford missed a jumper, Leary corralled the offensive rebound and put it back up for two points.

The next two Wake Forest possessions were mirror images of the last, as two more Demon Deacon turnovers turned into five more Syracuse points by the 10-minute mark.

“I think our defense did a really good job of getting set,” Hillsman said. “We did a really good job getting out in transition, and we got some buckets.”

The Orange backcourt turned in another strong performance, as Brianna Butler and Brittney Sykes combined for 29 points.

Butler scored a team-high 17 points, including four first-half 3 pointers, and five in the game.

“We need (Butler) to score, and we need (Sykes) to score,” Hillsman said. “We’re trying to get them to score 30 to 35 points per game.”

“Combined, if they do that, we’re in good shape.”

After the Orange briefly pulled away thanks to a couple Alexis Peterson buckets in the second half, the Demon Deacons cut the lead to single digits at the 12:46 mark of the second half.

But as it did the whole game, Syracuse responded.

This time, Butler hit a 3 and Peterson turned a steal into a transition layup, both in a span of 23 seconds.

The Orange coasted with a double-digit lead until the 2:09 mark, when Chelsea Douglas and Hamby hit back-to-back shots to cut the Syracuse lead to just five.

Despite the fact that Syracuse didn’t hit a field goal for the final 8:33, it was able to secure its fourth double-digit victory in as many games, largely due to its suffocating defense.

“When they put the ball on the floor and attacked us, we really shut down passing lanes very quickly,” Hillsman said. “That’s the key, just getting our defense set and ready to guard them.”

Published on March 2, 2014 at 9:14 pm

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