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When Syracuse dropped a 70-67 nailbiter to Virginia on Feb. 2, 2025, only six players played more than three minutes. All five starters logged over 34 minutes and Madeline Potts saw 16 minutes off the bench, as the Orange only used eight players.

When asked three days later about the reasoning behind her shallow rotation, SU head coach Felisha Legette-Jack said it was “silliness” that led to her decision. She said it wasn’t the Orange’s identity or her coaching philosophy. She noted players grew fatigued, contributing to Syracuse blowing a 14-point third-quarter advantage.

“I raise my hand on that, and we aren’t going to do that moving forward,” Legette-Jack said on Feb. 5 of her bench usage. “I got comfortable, and I should not have.”

Syracuse went deep into its bench with every player on its roster playing more than seven minutes Sunday. But besides Georgia Woolley and Sophie Burrows’ 14 and 13 points, respectively, no other player scored more than six, leading to Syracuse’s (10-17, 4-12 Atlantic Coast) lopsided 80-49 loss to No. 11 Duke (21-7, 12-4 Atlantic Coast). This contributed to SU scoring its second-fewest points in a game this season.

And it wasn’t players getting garbage-time minutes for the Orange with the game decided. Eleven players saw action in the first half, as SU searched for a spark. Then, Dominique Camp and Journey Thompson entered early in the third quarter. Legette-Jack kept pressing buttons, searching for answers, but found none.

Woolley and Burrows combined to shoot 9-for-29 for 27 points, while the rest of the Orange shot 9-for-33 for 22 points. The heavy load carried by the Australian duo couldn’t even keep the game close to respectable.

The blowout loss positions the Orange tied for 14th in the ACC standings with Pitt, which currently sits in 16th place with the same record as them. But Legette-Jack said SU’s freshmen learned a lesson against steep opposition.

“It’s trial by error, and they’re finding out what the ACC feels like in the last few games,” she said postgame. “They were trying to make it happen for us.”

Syracuse shifted its starting lineup for the first time since defeating Clemson on Jan. 26. Olivia Schmitt earned her third start of the season and her first since versus Creighton on Nov. 26 at the Emerald Coast Classic. But Schmitt, coming off a career-high 26 minutes at Cal last weekend and notching a nine-point scoring-high versus No. 9 North Carolina Thursday, was held quiet Sunday. In 16 minutes, she totaled only three points on a fourth-quarter triple. It was her fourth straight game hitting a 3 after knocking down two in her previous 17 games on an 8% clip.

“I thought Liv went out there and pushed the ball a little bit,” Legette-Jack said of Schmitt’s performance.

Schmitt was replaced late in the first quarter by Lexi McNabb at point guard. McNabb entered Sunday’s contest having played in only 10 of Syracuse’s 26 games this campaign. She couldn’t jumpstart the offense at point guard in her nine minutes of action either.

As Duke pulled away in the second quarter, outscoring the Orange 21-6 for their lowest-scoring quarter of the season, SU made 13 substitutions, trying to stop the bleeding. Instead, it kept coughing up possession. Syracuse scored two points after the 6:59 mark and committed seven turnovers over that same span, allowing the Blue Devils to outscore it 13-2 and extend their lead to 41-19 at the break.

The Orange, which have struggled to find an established point guard after Dyaisha Fair’s graduation, cycled through four players at the position Sunday — Schmitt, McNabb, Camp and Angelica Velez. The group combined for three points and four turnovers Sunday, unable to dictate SU’s offense.

Woolley and Burrows continued to carry a heavy load in the third quarter, each nailing two 3-pointers. But the rest of the team’s contributions were again minimal with four points.

Once Duke had a near-30-point lead heading into the fourth quarter, SU finally received help from the rest of its team. But it didn’t matter since the game was sealed. Schmitt reeled in a 3 — the only Syracuse triple not made by Burrows or Woolley.

Keira Scott pitched in four fourth-quarter points, while Shy Hawkins added three points to push her total to five points.

“You can’t say enough about how Shy goes out there,” Legette-Jack said. “I think her future is going to be bright once she understands how to pinch on drives.”

Woolley and Burrows weren’t faultless. They shot 31%. But the rest of Syracuse mustered a 29% clip. SU’s second-leading scorer Kyra Wood had four points — the fewest since she had two at Boston College. Starting center Izabel Varejão put up zero. Both were on the wrong end of a 42-14 paint-point advantage. The Orange’s bench was outscored 39-15.

For all the adjustments Legette-Jack made, no one could get going against Duke, which boasts the second-best scoring defense in the ACC.

Though Legette-Jack went deep in her bench, nothing worked. And now, SU is in serious risk of missing the ACC Tournament, especially if its secondary players don’t pick up their production.

Published on February 23, 2025 at 6:22 pm

Contact Nicholas: njalumka@syr.edu | @nalumkal