Quentin Hillsman had spent the second-quarter media timeout warning the referees about a push-off. Strolling to midcourt while Syracuse huddled around its bench, Hillsman mimicked Dana Evans’ extended arm motion, when Kiara Lewis took contact but was called for a foul.

Hillsman’s eyes widened as he continued to move his elbow, circling back toward the bench. Syracuse had already forced 10 turnovers at that point, and he saw the opportunity for more. So when Teisha Hyman fell backward one quarter later after Evans’ elbow drove into her at the Louisville bench, Syracuse’s bench rose as an official blew the whistle. Hillsman clapped his hands at another Cardinal miscue.

“It’s so important that we understand who the other team’s best shooters are,” Hillsman said. For Louisville, that was Evans — who placed the ball on the ground and stormed down the court.

Syracuse’s defense, the worst in the ACC after a Jan. 16 loss to Georgia Tech, bailed out the Orange and their still-iffy offense against the Cardinals. In the sequence following Evans’ offensive foul, Lewis sprinted from behind in transition and blocked the point guard’s layup. Disruptions by SU’s defense turned into steals, steals into transition points, and transition points into an established press that created even more disruptions.

Twenty-two turnovers by Louisville built on the 23 by Boston College and 24 by Virginia to give the Orange 69 in three games — their highest combined trio this season. Those rising numbers allowed a 19.5 fouls-per-game average to drop to 14 against the Cardinals. Louisville’s 75 points per game was sliced into its lowest single-game output this season. And the result, Syracuse’s 59-51 upset over No. 5 Louisville, flashed what the Orange’s changed defense can do.

“It wasn’t about anything they did offensively, it was more about defensively what they did,” Louisville head coach Jeff Walz said.

Four games, four weeks, even four months before Syracuse stifled Louisville into a 35.2 shooting percentage, the defense was what erased life a streaky offense injected. But in the last few weeks, the Orange slowly began to erase their season-long reputation. 

It started with holding Virginia to 57 points, but that was overshadowed by a loss where the Orange tallied just 41 points themselves. It accelerated when they turned Boston College over more than 20 times and left with a road win. And it reached a new high against the Cardinals.

Three turnovers on four possessions greeted Louisville to open the game, including two that sailed aimlessly past intended targets. In the first quarter’s early minutes, those Cardinal miscommunications paralleled the SU press hinting at the potential. Syracuse flipped to primarily man press from a zone, one it deployed against Louisville on Dec. 29. Lewis and Elemy Colome trapped Louisville guards near mid-court, trying to force Evans and other guards toward Gabrielle Cooper at the other side.

“We held (Evans) under 15 points,” Lewis said. “And that’s what helped us out in the first game and we did that again this game.”

That combined with Louisville missing guard Elizabeth Balogun — playing for Nigeria in the Olympic qualifiers overseas — to limit Louisville’s options from the perimeter. So the Cardinals tried the interior pass near the elbows that worked last time with Jazmine Jones, but the 2-3 zone collapsed and suffocated.

During the opening 10 games of ACC play, that was Syracuse’s problem: the zone was too easy to navigate. Guards Cooper and Lewis got caught on ball screens and help defense was late to slide. Syracuse sat at 317th in the country with 427 fouls entering Sunday’s game, mostly resulting from penetration off the wing.

“Maybe we can just hedge a little bit and get back to our player,” Amaya Finklea-Guity offered as a solution two weeks ago. Maybe just better on-ball defense, Lewis said.

In the third quarter, as Syracuse’s offense hit another drought, those fixes ensured SU’s lead still sat at six by the time Maeva Djaldi-Tabdi’s layup with 5:07 left fell through. Lewis continually poked the ball away from Evans. After one deflection when the ball bounced to Mykasa Robinson, Hyman, Cooper and Djaldi-Tabdi surrounded the sophomore and forced a travel.

With each offensive foul and turnover, Walz patrolled the sideline with his arms crossed. He yelled at refs until he picked up a technical foul. He subbed in players for a spark until the final clock hit zeros. Clad in his purple shirt, gray pants and black shoes, Walz tried everything to crack this changed defense.

That’s why when Louisville cycled the ball around with under seven minutes left in the fourth quarter, “de-fense” chants rang through the Carrier Dome followed by two claps. Some fans rose, anticipating another Louisville turnover and transition opportunity.

During defensive collapses in past weeks, and even in the opening quarter against the Cardinals, most fans sat silent during defensive possessions. There weren’t chants. Syracuse’s season-long defensive performance didn’t warrant them. 

But when Robinson’s lob pass into the paint missed Jones and landed in the hands of Djaldi-Tabdi, she swung the ball above her head and gazed for Lewis up the court. Even when Syracuse’s ensuing fast-break didn’t end with a basket, another bucket to build its lead even further, the chants started again. 

Published on February 9, 2020 at 7:22 pm

Contact Andrew: [email protected] | @CraneAndrew