Syracuse has more turnovers than field goals in 67-52 loss to FSU

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When Kamilla Cardoso reached up and grabbed a defensive rebound over two Seminoles, the freshman center steadied, waiting momentarily to make sure nobody would pick her pocket from behind. Then she fired deep, unleashing a two-handed cross-court pass over the heads of multiple FSU players and to Kiara Lewis along the right side of the 3-point arc. 

Wide open, Lewis steadied, too, set her feet and missed. She hit the front rim, Syracuse’s 11th missed 3-pointer of the night.

At halftime on Thursday, Syracuse was 1-of-11 from beyond the arc, a mere 9% compared to the Seminoles 57% first-half clip. The Orange finished 4-of-23, and had more turnovers (18) than made field goals (17). Postgame, head coach Quentin Hillsman acknowledged that it’s not the first time Syracuse’s struggled shooting on the road.

“We got to score the ball,” he said. “We can’t shoot these percentages, shoot 30% and 17% from behind the arc, and win games. We can’t play that way.”

Syracuse’s three players with 1,000 career points — Tiana Mangakahia, Digna Strautmane and Lewis — were limited to 24 combined points in the Orange’s loss, 15 less than their combined average. SU trailed by only nine points entering the fourth quarter, not as daunting as the other double-digit deficits they’ve recovered from this season, but there was little Syracuse (11-5, 8-5 Atlantic Coast) could do to recover from its poor shooting and it lost 67-52 to Florida State (7-5, 6-5).

“We don’t have any excuses for coming out and playing like this,” Hillsman said. “They didn’t run anything we hadn’t seen. We knew what was coming, we just didn’t do a good job of sitting on their sets and guarding the player.”

When the Orange played Florida State last season, it ended with the “napkin play,” a game-winning alley-oop from Emily Engstler in the final 0.8 seconds of overtime. The buzzer-beater — drawn up on an Outback Steakhouse napkin three years prior — lifted Syracuse to an upset win over then-No. 8 Florida State. 

The clutch effort saved Syracuse from falling below .500 for what would’ve been the first time since 2006. It handed an undefeated FSU team its first loss of the year.

This year, though, Syracuse couldn’t extend the matchup down to the wire. The Orange sat in fourth in the conference’s standings, well above .500, but trailed by 14 points at halftime. They shot 17-of-56, grabbing 10 offensive rebounds. Despite the additions of Cardoso, who has the second-best field goal percentage in the ACC, as well as the NCAA’s assist leader, Mangakahia, Syracuse looked uncomfortable all night. 

It trailed by as many as 18 and couldn’t cut FSU’s late lead to less than eight. It got a fourth-quarter steal with an opportunity to lessen FSU’s lead, but it “mishandled” the ball out of bounds, Hillsman said. Despite Cardoso’s height, Syracuse was outscored in the paint 30-22. Mangakahia coughed the ball up eight times, too.

Tiana Mangakahia, Digna Strautmane and Kiara Lewis were limited to 24 combined points in the Orange’s loss. Courtesy of FSU Athletics

This year, Syracuse didn’t get near another last-second napkin play. 

Early on, it looked like Syracuse might avoid yet another sluggish start, something that’s plagued the Orange frequently this year. Cardoso stood tall and blocked a shot in the paint against Valencia Myers, then set a perfect screen for Mangakahia on the following play. The fifth-year point guard returned the pass for Cardoso, who missed a layup, but the two connected on a deep pass for a layup the following play. Maeva Djaldi-Tabdi knocked down a wide-open 3-pointer created by inside movement from Mangakahia and Engstler.

FSU head coach Brooke Wyckoff called a timeout, and the Seminoles regrouped. What followed was a near 10-minute scoreless drought for the Orange.

“We started the game off pretty bad,” said Florida State guard Bianca Jackson, who led all scorers with 18 points. “In that timeout, we got an earful telling us what we needed to correct — and we did it.”

FSU capped off an 11-0 run when Jackson anticipated Mangakahia’s pass toward Strautmane. Jackson jumped into the lane, plucked the ball out of mid-air and ran the length of the court for an easy layup. 

To open the second half, SU’s turnover issues continued. With a player in front of Cardoso and one behind her — Hillsman emphasized that FSU “crowded” Cardoso — Priscilla Williams threw a low pass toward the freshman center. Florida State intercepted it, and Williams was back on the bench moments later. 

When Syracuse regained possession, Engstler missed another easy layup after driving in the lane. Cardoso did the same moments later, and the Orange grabbed neither of those offensive rebounds. Then, Mangakahia drove baseline and dished an underhand toss to Cardoso, who got fouled while she shot. She yelled, frustrated that, despite the foul, she’d missed yet another close-range effort.

Taking care of the paint was FSU’s first priority defensively, Wyckoff said postgame. It’s difficult to cover both the paint and beyond the arc because of the distance to get out to a deep shooter, she added, but the Seminoles were able to do both on Thursday night. 

“They’re great 3-point shooters,” Wyckoff said of Syracuse from deep this season. “Luckily for us, it didn’t fall too much for them tonight.”

Djaldi-Tabdi hit a third quarter 3-pointer to cut FSU’s lead to 10 points momentarily, but the Seminoles responded immediately with one of their own. The center finished with two of SU’s four 3-pointers — she previously averaged less than two 3-point attempts per game.

Midway through the final frame, Engstler received a pass with her toes on the line midway and knew she was going to unleash a 3-pointer. With a Florida State defender barreling toward the junior guard, Engstler raised her arms in a shooting motion, then pulled the ball down in a smooth pump-fake motion. The FSU player went flying, and Engstler was left wide-open. The Seminole was well out-of-bounds, and no one else was nearby to close down Engstler.

Still, like the 18 missed deep shots on Thursday night for Syracuse, Engstler’s 3-pointer was off the mark. 

“We just never got going, it was never in sync,” Hillsman said.