Bria Day’s influence on Syracuse can’t be found in a box score. It can’t be found in an individual circumstance or a particular type of play.

The Orange’s backup center is still playing some of the best basketball of her career by getting to the right spots on the floor.

“Any given night, she could have to be thrown in and when she does, you have a chance to be good,” SU head coach Quentin Hillsman said. “I think it’s big to have her in that situation (if starter Briana Day gets in foul trouble).”

After improving her fitness in the offseason and awareness in-season, Bria Day is providing a lift, albeit a slight one, for SU (14-6, 4-3 Atlantic Coast) off the bench that she hadn’t in the past. The Orange is coming off two straight double-digit losses, but Bria Day has relieved Briana Day, her twin sister and the ACC’s ninth best rebounder, when the latter picks up too many fouls. The two centers and the rest of Syracuse host Boston College (13-6, 1-5) on Wednesday at 7 p.m.

Simply by running faster down the court, Bria Day has been a more effective offensive player than in the past. She’s running toward to the basket, forcing opposing defenses — oftentimes the first person dropping back is their point guard — to consider picking her up.

“That means who’s going to get our point guard? Who’s going to get the wings?” Hillsman said. “She creates numbers automatically just by running straight to the rim.”

Opening up the floor is even more important for Syracuse, a team that has taken an ACC-leading 637 3-pointers, nearly 200 more than the team with the second most.

In the final four games of last season, three of which were in the postseason, Briana Day played below her average of 26.8 minutes and Bria Day was forced to step in. But in that stretch, Bria Day didn’t pick up the slack enough and the Orange went 2-2.

“Just being in better shape than last year and being able to run,” Bria Day said of her improvements. “We are always supposed to run anyway so it’s just doing it during the game.”

One of the biggest focuses Briana Day had coming into this season was staying out of foul trouble. Several times in her sophomore season her mental lapses cost Syracuse and she was forced to take a seat on the bench. The Orange didn’t have as much depth at the center position to handle those situations.

This year, though, Bria Day can provide the necessary reinforcements that she couldn’t previously.

While she’s more cognizant of where she needs to be on the floor, her minutes per game have only increased from 10.2 to 11.4. Her positioning isn’t something that pops out, but it still makes a difference to Hillsman.

“We have two very good post players,” Hillsman said.

“Now, there’s no drop off when (Briana Day) comes out of the game.”

Published on January 26, 2016 at 10:09 pm

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