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Less than five minutes into the first quarter, Louisville freshman Hailey Van Lith received a pass from Dana Evans at the left wing. As soon as Van Lith caught the ball, the No. 2 recruit in the 2020 recruiting class squared her shoulders, set her feet and nailed her first three-pointer, giving the Cardinals an early 7-6 lead.

Two possessions later, Van Lith caught another pass, again from Evans, again wide open. But this time, she was in the right corner. That would be the only difference from the first shot, as Van Lith squared her body and fired again. Rather than give the Cardinals the lead as her first make had, Van Lith’s second triple extended Louisville’s lead to 12-6. 

Syracuse would struggle to stop the Cardinals from behind the arc throughout the game, as No. 1 Louisville (13-0, 6-0 Atlantic Coast) defeated No. 23 Syracuse (7-2, 4-2 ACC) 67-54. Van Lith finished with 18 points on six three-pointers, equalling the total from the rest of her team. Collectively, Louisville shot 44.4% from distance as Syracuse played a half-court press for most of the game. Once SU adjusted to prevent Louisville’s shooting, the Cardinals began to score from mid-range.

“We didn’t transition well out of our half-court traps,” Syracuse head coach Quentin Hillsman said. “We didn’t get our defense set on the backend and late in the game. We went under on a couple ball-screens on their shooters, and that really hurt us.”

As soon as Evans crossed half-court, she was immediately met by a half-court press or a trap by two Orange defenders. The Orange’s press was successful in the first half, as they led for most of the second quarter.

But as the game progressed, the top of Syracuse’s defense fatigued, as guards Tiana Mangakahia and Kiara Lewis played the whole game in SU’s first top-25 matchup. 

With two defenders assigned to stop Evans, Louisville had a four-on-three advantage if it was able to beat the trap. Once the second half began, the Cardinals took advantage of the mismatch, scoring six of its first seven shots in the second half.

Louisville broke through Syracuse’s press defense just over four minutes into the second half, and guard Mykasa Robinson found a wide-open Van Lith. Just as she had done multiple times in the first half, Van Lith attempted a wide open three, sinking the shot and pushing Louisville’s lead to 42-38. 

“She (Van Lith) stepped up and made some big shots for us,” Louisville head coach Jeff Walz said.

While breaking through Syracuse’s length in its press was key for Louisville shooting 44.4% from 3, it was also able to find open shooters by collapsing Syracuse’s zone defense. 

Hailey Van Lith beats Syracuse’s defense and takes a shot beyond the paint. Courtesy of Atlantic Coast Conference

With 5:30 to go and Syracuse desperately in need of a stop, Evans drove from the top of the key into SU’s zone. As Mangakahia and Lewis backpedaled, Kamilla Cardoso stepped up to contest. Forward Emily Engstler ran over from the left corner.

As soon as Engstler arrived to help her three teammates, Evans fired a pass past Engstler’s waving right hand to a suddenly wide-open Van Lith. For the sixth time in the game, Van Lith hit a 3.

As her shot arced toward the basket, it seemed to mark the loss for Syracuse. Once the basketball touched the nylon netting, Van Lith shuffled left and back downcourt, beating her chest after scoring a career high in conference play.

“When you can get (Syracuse) shifting from side to side, then you’ve got a chance to attack,” Walz said. “We got a little passive there for a little bit. And that’s the last thing you want to do against a team like Syracuse, to just stand and watch. You’ve got to cut, you’ve got to attack. And then you’ve got to have your feet set to shoot.”

All night, Louisville players seemed to have their feet set. The Cardinals weren’t able to drive the lane against 6-foot-7 Cardoso, so it had to lean on other methods of scoring, Walz said.

Even though Syracuse became the first team to hold Louisville to under 70 points, it wasn’t enough, as the Cardinals stretched out SU’s press defense by placing shooters in the corners. 

“(Louisville) made a ton of 3s on us, and I just thought that we didn’t do a very good job of transitioning out of our half court trap,” Hillsman said. “We pressed a lot of half court so we could be able to get those corners covered.”

Despite holding the Cardinals to a season low, a key statistic foreshadowed the loss. When Evans scores at least 20 points, Louisville is 21-0. And after scoring 21 points on Thursday — while hitting three 3s — it became clear that the attention she demanded benefitted teammates. 

As Evans’ seven assists piled up, more often than not, Louisville added three to its score. And once Syracuse diverted attention away from Evans, the Cardinals star began to score after missing her first six shots.

After beginning the game with off-balance attempts after escaping double-teams, Evans utilized midrange jumpers away from Lewis and Mangakahia at the top of the key but not close enough to the basket for Cardoso to contest.

“(Evans) made a lot of elbow jump-shots, and she made a lot of stuff in the midrange,” Hillsman said. “If you’re telling me that Dana Evans is going to shoot 11 shots inside the arc, I’d feel good about that every time we play her.”

As Evans’ points increased, it was Van Lith’s 18 points and floor-spacing ability that kept Louisville ahead for most of the game. 

But by the end, with Van Lith’s shooting forcing the Orange to adjust, Evans was able to operate with more freedom. Evans routinely knocked down midrange jumpers with Syracuse’s defense spaced out.

While Syracuse was able to slow down a Louisville offense that averages nearly 86 points per game, Hillsman’s team could only eliminate one element of the Cardinal’s offense at a time. 

“Obviously going into this game, you’re playing against a team that has really good shooters,” Hillsman said. “They’re shooting 40 some-odd percent from beyond the arc. We can’t give them open looks.”

Published on January 22, 2021 at 1:15 am

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