Observations from SU’s NCAA Tournament 1st-round win over Arizona: Sluggish start, Perkins’ spark

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STORRS, Conn. — Helming her squad to a program-record regular-season finish and garnering an Atlantic Coast Conference Coach of the Year honor dwarfs Felisha Legette-Jack’s main objective. It’s only her second season as Syracuse’s head coach. But it’s clear she yearns for prosperity in March.

Two blowout ACC Tournament defeats with just one year of separation — a 25-point loss to NC State and a recent quarterfinals exit to Florida State — has irked Legette-Jack.

“We’ve got to figure out how to play on this stage,” she said on March 8.

SU’s NCAA Tournament qualification provided Legette-Jack’s resurgent program another crack at ridding itself of postseason disappointment. Its first-round battle versus Arizona turned out to be a rollercoaster. A tough start in which Syracuse trailed by as much as nine early in the first half was matched by a 19-point third quarter to tie the game at 51-51.

Even after a brief injury scare to end the third, Dyaisha Fair emerged as the hero by the game’s conclusion. She went on a personal 9-0 run with under two minutes left, including an emphatic step-back 3. Arizona was careless on offense late and couldn’t match the offensive dominance of Fair, who finished at a game-best 32 points.

Now, for the first time under Legette-Jack, the Orange have won an NCAA Tournament contest, defeating the Wildcats in a thriller.

Here are some observations from No. 6 seed Syracuse’s (24-7, 13-5 ACC) 74-69 win over No. 11 seed Arizona (18-16, 8-10 Pac-12) in the first round of the 2024 NCAA Tournament:

Another slow start

For the week leading up to the NCAA Tournament, Legette-Jack emphasized the Orange need to come out of the gate with tenacity. She said prior to Saturday’s bout that she’s ran her team ragged throughout practice, trying to instill a “Pavlov’s dog” mentality into her team to start fast and finish faster.

“Every day, you win and you learn,” Legette-Jack said on March 23. “And we certainly learned that we have to start better.”

SU may have learned, but it didn’t execute at the beginning versus Arizona. It found itself down 13-5 by the 6:32 mark of the first quarter, eliciting an incensed Legette-Jack to storm off the bench and call timeout.

Arizona displayed a fast-paced offense reliant on penetrating the lane and feeding its bigs. The Orange were dominated in the paint early by the Wildcats’ Breya Cunningham, who began the contest 3-for-5 from the field for six points. Guard Skylar Jones also added a game-best 10 first-quarter points, nailing mid-range looks and finding success on drives.

Rapid ball movement from the Wildcats and the Orange’s struggles in their half-court set caused their deficit to balloon up to nine points in the first half. There was no fast start in sight.

Turnovers galore

Arizona has a ferocious defense, led by ball-hawking guards in Helena Pueyo and Esmery Martinez. Before the contest, the Wildcats had averaged the fifth-most steals per game in the country at 11.6, with Pueyo racking up a whopping 3.2 a game.

By the end of the first half, Arizona had already baited Syracuse into 13 turnovers, even more than its per-game average.

The Orange were thrown out of rhythm due to the Wildcats’s tenacious playstyle. Full-court presses, doubles on drives and aggressive boxouts by Arizona gave them some scoring issues early. And even while Syracuse stepped up by knocking down 45.2% of its shots throughout the matchup, turnovers plagued it — finishing with 17 of them.

Midway into the second, Fair intercepted an errant pass from Arizona’s Courtney Blakely and charged near midcourt. She spotted a wide-open Georgia Woolley but fired too long of a pass, which left the desired recipient chasing it out of bounds. On the other end, Jada Williams drained a 3 to put the Wildcats up 31-22 at the time.

Just past the 1:30 mark of the second, Woolley was guarded by Blakely at the top of the key. Woolley made a move inside, yet lost her footing and Blakely scooped up the loose ball. She went two-on-one against Fair on the ensuing fast break, which ended in an easy layup for an eight-point Arizona lead.

Perkins provides a spark

Kennedi Perkins has helped propel the Orange to multiple double-digit comebacks, acting as the traditional point guard to allow Fair to roam freely off the ball. Namely, regular-season wins over Louisville and Florida State showed Perkins’s prowess as a spark plug off the bench.

Yet, Legette-Jack hasn’t played her much since SU’s Jan. 18 victory over FSU. Perkins had logged more than 10 minutes just twice in Syracuse’s previous 12 games. Though Legette-Jack said Friday that Perkins has “earned” some more playing time.

Perkins first touched the court with 2:49 left in the second quarter. As soon as she entered, Perkins found Kyra Wood underneath for 2 and picked up a loose ball on the other end to spur two fast break points from Alyssa Latham.

She didn’t do much to end the opening half. Still, Legette-Jack kept her in the lineup to begin the third quarter. Perkins made an immediate impact, giving Fair the space to free up on the 3-point line where she hit a catch-and-shoot 3 from the right wing. Then, Perkins fed Woolley at the same spot for another 3-pointer — which brought Syracuse within one point of Arizona.

Perkins even took it herself, scooting through the Wildcats’s vaunted defense to bank in a layup to keep SU close midway through the third. And in the fourth, Perkins came up big with a bucket while Fair was on the bench to keep Arizona at bay. Perkins had eight points, three assists and a team-best +13 plus/minus by the final buzzer.

Photo finish

Legette-Jack called last season’s Syracuse squad a “terrible” fourth-quarter team. Her group has been the polar opposite in 2023-24, though, often starting games poorly but coming up with convincing finishes. Saturday’s Round of 64 matchup gave the Orange a clean slate, as they entered the fourth tied at 51-51 with the Wildcats.

Ten minutes was all SU had to deliver its first NCAA Tournament win in three years. And it came through in crunch time.

Both sides traded bucket after bucket to commence the fourth, though a 3 from Jones was the difference to put Arizona up 60-59 by the quarter’s halfway point. Then, the Wildcats scored the next four points with a driving layup by Jones and a basket underneath by Cunningham, which came after Cunningham stuffed Alaina Rice on the other end. Their advantage went up to 66-61 after Williams hit two free throws, but Fair answered on a pull-up mid-range make.

With less than two minutes left, Woolley got on the ground and scraped her way to garner an offensive rebound off a Fair miss. Possession worked back to Fair, who drained a mid-range pull-up to bring the Orange within one. Latham knocked the ball out of Williams’s hands on the next possession, and Fair went down and drilled a 3 for a 68-66 Syracuse advantage.

A charge was called on Jones to end Arizona’s attempted response at a late equalizer. It paved the way for Fair to drain a tough, contested mid-range jumper in response. All Fair had to do was known down a few more free throws to seal a program-changing win.