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Fear. For Syracuse, playing fearful and playing fearless makes a huge difference.

Last season, SU head coach Felisha Legette-Jack said her team played fearlessly. The Orange trailed by 19 to Clemson, they were down 18 to then-No. 15 Florida State, they were behind by eight entering the fourth quarter versus Pitt and they were down nine with 5:38 to go against then-No. 15 Louisville. SU came back to down its opponent on all those occasions. It led Syracuse to a third-place finish in the Atlantic Coast Conference and a No. 6 seed in the NCAA Tournament.

“We’re down 18 in the fourth quarter? Bring it on,” Legette-Jack said. “Down 17 in the fourth quarter? Bring it on. (The players) had no fear.”

This season, Legette-Jack said her team has played fearfully. The result has been a steep regression, as they are at risk of not reaching the ACC Tournament as one of the top 15 teams in the standings.

According to Legette-Jack, that fear was apparent in Syracuse’s (10-16, 4-11 Atlantic Coast) 68-58 loss to No. 9 North Carolina (24-4, 12-3 Atlantic Coast). The Tar Heels built a 10-point halftime lead and kept their distance with the Orange down the stretch. The loss puts SU 14th in the conference standings, one game out of missing the ACC Tournament.

“We put them in the park, and you play five-on-five, our starters will be better,” Legette-Jack said. “But (our players) decided to play with fear.”

“If you’re going to be afraid… you’re always going to finish second,” the head coach added.

Legette-Jack stressed she and SU’s coaching staff have told her team to “fear no one.” Though Syracuse, up against UNC’s ACC-best defense, turned the ball over 11 times in the first half, allowing North Carolina to score 12 points off turnovers.

“We couldn’t get that out of our system until halftime,” Legette-Jack said of her team’s fearful play.

After the Tar Heels led 15-12 after one quarter, courtesy of a Trayanna Crisp 3 in the final seconds, UNC outscored the Orange 20-13 in the second quarter.

“I think a lot of times this season, we weren’t able to put together a full 40 minutes,” freshman guard Olivia Schmitt, who scored a career-high nine points, said. “But to keep that energy consistent throughout the game is what’s really important and what’s crucial for us to get these wins.”

Georgia Woolley, who scored a team-high 17 points but committed five turnovers, ceded possession at the 6:47 mark of the second quarter when Lexi Donarski trapped her in the corner. On the break, Crisp drained a corner 3 from the left wing to extend North Carolina’s lead to 21-16.

Late in the second quarter, UNC’s Maria Gakdeng, who stepped up since UNC’s second-leading scorer and leading rebounder and assist-getter Alyssa Ustby missed Thursday’s game, scored 11 straight Tar Heel points. Gakdeng’s 21 points paced their 40-20 paint point domination over Syracuse.

One of the few signs of SU playing fearless in the first half was Woolley, its only player to make a 3, at 3-of-4 on 13 first-half points. Other than that, no one could connect from deep. Legette-Jack called out her entire team postgame.

“I thought our bigs didn’t help as they could,” Legette-Jack said. “We got more production from our rookies last game… But in the first quarter, we knew what we’re going to do, and we missed an assignment, and they get the momentum going into the second quarter with a 3-point make. We can’t have those mishaps. But this is what’s happening with a young team, and we’re going to continue to find different ways and not be right 100% of the time. And unfortunately, it’s costing us. It’s costing us wins.”

Syracuse equaled North Carolina’s scoring in the second half, spurred by others getting going from 3. Sophie Burrows scored her first point of the game on a corner 3 to trim the deficit to 12 at the 7:42 mark. On its next possession, Schmitt connected from long range. Woolley stepped back to pull the Orange within 10 on her fourth triple. Then, Schmitt uncorked from a few feet beyond the arc at the 4:32 mark, and her shot was pure. Schmitt tried her luck from even farther out less than a minute later. Count it to push SU within eight.

Schmitt entered the game shooting 14.8% from 3, but just like Legette-Jack stressed to her players, she had no fear unleashing from far out.

“Georgia in the first half really carried us from 3-point range, so I just fed off her energy,” Schmitt said postgame. “All my 3s were kind of wind open, so I knew I had to knock them down.”

On the ensuing Tar Heel possession, Schmitt notched a steal and fed it up to Woolley. The senior dished it to Burrows, who drilled a trey to cut Syracuse’s deficit to five with just over three minutes left in the third quarter.

Another sign of improvement following the break was in SU’s defense. It forced 15 second-half UNC turnovers. The Tar Heels entered the game with the 21st-fewest turnovers per game at 12.6, per HerHoopStats.

North Carolina was undeterred, regaining a 10-point cushion heading to the fourth. After going 6-for-8 from 3 in the third quarter, SU only attempted one in the fourth quarter.

With UNC still ahead by 10 with just over six minutes to go in the fourth quarter, Legette-Jack turned around and pumped up the fans sitting behind her bench. But Syracuse couldn’t cut into North Carolina’s advantage, handing it another loss and keeping it barely hanging on to a ticket to Greensboro.

Legette-Jack praised SU for playing “freer” in the second half but implored her players to “believe in our prowess a little more.” To achieve that, it all comes down to playing fearless.

“I just got to remove the word fear from our equation,” Legette-Jack said.

Published on February 20, 2025 at 8:06 pm

Contact Nicholas: njalumka@syr.edu | @nalumkal