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and running like they were today, it makes everybody feel good,” he said. “It makes everybody comfortable and makes everybody calm down and gives them a lot of confidence.” What Moore and Hayes were able to do was shred Hillsman’s 2-3 zone in two different ways. Moore scored the bulk of her 23 points inside of 15 feet. She beat the zone with midrange jump shots from nearly every possible location. The baseline. The left elbow. The right elbow. She lurked along the end line, almost hiding behind the Syracuse zone. But within an instant, she would flash out toward the top of the key, catch, turn and bury a jumper. It didn’t matter if Syracuse was contesting her or not. She hit 11-of-13 field goals on the night. “He has the best player,” Hillsman said of Auriemma. “When you look at good basketball teams, they all have that one player that can go get their own shot. And she’s going to get her own shot against any defense.” Meanwhile, Hayes thrived as a result of the attention SU paid to Moore. She poured in 18 points via a 4-of-7 performance from 3-point range. In the game’s opening minutes — when the bulk of Syracuse’s focus was on Moore — she hit a pair of 3-pointers to give UConn an early 8-2 lead. Then midway through the second half, she
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the polls, too. In the latest AP poll, eight Big East teams dot the top 20. Pittsburgh is the highest-ranked Big East team, as the Panthers are tied for fourth with Duke. Villanova is the lowest at No. 19. Between those are Notre Dame (No. 8), Louisville (No. 11), Syracuse (No. 12), St. John’s (No. 15), Connecticut (No. 16) and Georgetown (No. 17). SU has no preference on double-bye Brandon Triche was on the court last year when Syracuse was supposed to be the benefactor of a double-bye in the Big East tournament. But what happened was anything but beneficial. SU lost its first game off the double-bye, falling 91-84 to Georgetown in the quarterfinals. It also lost one of its key players, senior forward Arinze Onuaku, in the process. “Last year we got it, and we lost the first game,” Triche said. “So the double-bye, it’s good for you. But again, you’re going to be playing a good team, especially in the Big East. … It doesn’t really mean a lot. Because again, playing in the Big East, you can lose to any team.”
hit two more on consecutive possessions. “I think we do a good job of surrounding our best players year after year after year with people that understand what their responsibility is around those best players,” Auriemma said. “And it all kind of works.” For Auriemma, that duo worked against the Orange for the second straight season. In last year’s 87-66 win over the Orange at the Carrier Dome, Moore and Hayes combined for 60 points. Hillsman even admitted that in Moore’s fouryear career, he hasn’t done anything to challenge the National Player of the Year frontrunner, let alone stop her. In four career games against Hillsman and Syracuse, Moore has averaged 26.8 points per game and shot 58 percent from the field. “Man, we haven’t challenged her once, man,” Hillsman said. “She’s killed us. It’s not been a challenge. I was just trying to not let her get 250 points on us in four years. She’s had some monster games against us.” So it seems only fitting that Moore and Hayes were the ones to make the play that caused Hillsman to take that timeout. Hayes had just split a Syracuse double team by Phylesha Bullard and Erica Morrow when she spotted Moore on the opposite wing. She fired a pass to her right, and Moore buried a 3. After that, she danced. “I’m really happy with the way we played,” Moore said. “We played outstanding.”
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Triche’s sentiments prevail through most of the players as the team starts to prep for the Big East tournament that starts on March 8. Depending on what happens this weekend, SU will either play its first game of the tournament on March 9 or March 10. A win against DePaul would be the easy path for SU to move into the top four of the conference, a spot where it would earn the double-bye. A win would mean the Orange would need one loss from St. John’s in its final two games to surpass the Red Storm because SU holds the tiebreaker between the two teams due to its head-to-head win at Madison Square Garden. Syracuse could also earn a double-bye if it wins one game and Louisville loses its last two games — but that’s less plausible. But to Triche and the rest of SU, the glaring numbers of the double-bye stick out. Notably, since the Big East implemented double-byes two years ago, the top four teams are just 7-6 in the tournament. Three of the four top seeds lost their first game last season. “I feel like it’s great if we get a double-bye,” SU forward James Southerland said. “But we also have to stay focused. … The double-bye could help us, but I don’t want it to hurt us.” bplogiur@syr.edu
SYRACUSE AT CONNECTICUT
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BIG NUMBER
100 SYRACUSE CONNECTICUT
80
60
40
The percentage Connecticut shot from the field Monday. The Huskies came out on fire, making 14 of their first 18 shots. And for UConn, that percentage led to another big number — a 35-point win.
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STORYTELLER “Man, we haven’t challenged (Moore) once, man. She’s killed us. It’s not been a challenge. I was just trying to not let her get 250 points on us in four years. She’s had some monster games against us.”
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Quentin Hillsman
SU HEAD COACH