When asked before the season whether Syracuse would depend on the 3-point shot, Quentin Hillsman didn’t waver.

“Definitely,” the head coach said, adding that SU has “no other choice.”

But Wednesday night in the Carrier Dome during No. 20 Syracuse’s (5-3) 75-64 victory over Michigan State (6-2), the hosts needed only four 3-pointers to score 75 points and defeat a former Top 25 team. In its worst 3-point display of the season, SU eclipsed the 75-point threshold for just the second time in its last five games. Courtesy of its highest points in the paint (48) and fast break (19) tallies since its blowout win over Siena, the Orange got its first win over a Power-5 school this year.

Brittney Sykes led off SU’s scoring with a hard dribble, pull-up jumper from outside the right block. Twice in the first half, Briana Day backed down a bigger MSU defender, faked right and finished an up-and-under lay-in with her left hand. Alexis Peterson, the conference’s leading scorer, went only 1-of-5 from deep but weaved through MSU’s man-to-man to get layups inside and finish with a game-high 27 points.

Syracuse carved up the Spartans’ two-forward, one-center lineup of Jenna Allen, Nia Hollie and Taya Reimer — 6-foot-3, 6-foot and 6-foot-4, respectively. An SU team usually reliant on 3s pushed the floor to get easy baskets in transition and find space underneath MSU’s bigs.

“Making a lot of rim runs, putting pressure on them,” Peterson said. “I think that allowed us to play inside-out.”

In the opening minutes of the second quarter, Day jabbed hard right, creating space for a mid-range jumper. She missed, and MSU pulled within single digits in the second half. But Day found comfort with similar face-ups and back downs, running the floor, scoring 12 points and grabbing seven boards.

“That Day kid, that was disappointing,” MSU head coach Suzy Merchant said. “I think we’re better defenders in there, but to her credit I thought she did a good job going over us. She got a lot in transition, making our bigs struggle.”

With her back to the basket, Julia Chandler looked to score but saw an open Peterson at the top of the key. Peterson, who earlier in the day was named to the Naismith Player of the Year watch list, drove left through an open lane for an easy basket.

No Syracuse player hit more than one 3 on the night. Chandler air-balled her first two and missed the next pair before knocking down her lone 3 on the next try. Gabby Cooper’s long-range struggles continued, as the freshman went 1-of-6. Jade Phillips made one while Abby Grant missed all three of her attempts.

Syracuse got outrebounded, too. Still, it worked in transition notching 29 points on 29 forced turnovers. Despite going 1-for-8 from deep, Syracuse outscored MSU 20-8 in the second frame. Overall, SU went just 4-for-25 from 3.

“We’re not hitting our 3s right now,” Syracuse head coach Quentin Hillsman said. “But you know, there’s going to be one of those games where we hit 17 of 25 and it’s going to be a great day in this Dome.”

In the closing minutes, Sykes darted up court on a fast break. Cooper’s pass came high. As Sykes’s eyes widened, she reached over her shoulder near the baseline, corralled the ball and took a dribble before laying it up. She finished with 15 points.

On the next possession, Sykes gave a hesitation move then hit Peterson in stride for a layup, all but sealing Syracuse’s bounce-back victory.

“If you watch our quarter-court defense, it wasn’t great but it was good enough,” Merchant said. “The problem was we gave it back to them too many times. There were probably 12 points were we couldn’t even defend it.

“That’s the difference in the game.”

Published on November 30, 2016 at 10:58 pm

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