Syracuse was up 26 with 12:38 left in the second half, but Quentin Hillsman was still stepping onto the court, directing his players on the press.

“Come on Corn. Come on Corn. Pressure Corn,” the SU head coach yelled from the sideline to guard Cornelia Fondren, the first line of defense in SU’s press.

Fondren shuffled her feet in front of Boston College’s ball-handler and the whistle sounded for BC’s third 10-second backcourt violation of the night.

“Syracuse does a really good job of mixing their looks and they come at you in different ways in different situations and you sort of feel like it’s the NFL a little bit,” Boston College head coach Erik Johnson said. “You’re trying to read different pressure packages. Where are the openings going to be?”

Throughout the game, Syracuse’s defense was relentless. The Orange forced 30 turnovers, grabbed 17 steals and scored 17 points off turnovers. No. 25 SU (19-8, 9-5 Atlantic Coast) jumped into passing lanes in its half-court defense, on the way to a 73-51 win over Boston College (12-14, 4-9 ACC) in the Carrier Dome on Thursday.

“To force 30 turnovers and to really get our defense set was tremendous tonight,” Hillsman said. “…We were able to really get into our pressure and that was the difference in the game.”

The press frustrated Boston College from the start. Four and a half minutes in, SU held the Eagles backcourt for the first time of the game. Boston College guard Martina Mosetti waved her arms forward, motioning to her teammates to run down the court during the press, yelling, “Come on, let’s go.”

The Orange took advantage of BC’s young starting guards — freshmen Mosetti, Ashley Kelsick and sophomore Emilee Daley, and the Eagles took five minuets to log its first field goal.

Fondren and SU guard Diamond Henderson cornered Mosetti along the sideline and Fondren ripped the ball free before taking an uncontested layup. Boston College called timeout and Hillsman skipped onto the court, smiling, pumping his fist.

“I don’t think we reacted very well in a lot of situations,” Johnson said. Some of (the turnovers) were just us making silly mistakes, but I would say the vast majority was Syracuse is very, very good at forcing you into those situations.”

The Orange shot 48 percent on the game, which gave more opportunities to press. It led to easy buckets, driving up the percentage and overwhelming the Eagles.

Even when Boston College could set up in its half-court offense, SU stifled the Eagles in the paint. The wings in Syracuse’s zone cut in front of backdoor passes and BC only managed 10 points down low.

“If we can score off those turnovers we can get easy offense and easy offense is good offense for us,” SU guard Alexis Peterson said. “Easier, earlier and often, that’s what we kind of always go by.”

Syracuse’s one weakness on defense came in the half-court set, when Boston College would cycle the ball around the perimeter and launch one of its 28 3-pointers.

Shouts of “shooter” would come from the bench before BC would cash in on an open 3.

And though the Eagles made 11 shots from beyond the arc, it couldn’t overcome the Orange’s press.

Said Johnson: “They’re able to push tempo, they’re able to take you out of your comfort zone and force you to play at a tempo that’s uncomfortable.”

Published on February 19, 2015 at 11:12 pm

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