In The Paint: Duke, Notre Dame

IN THE

PAINT

SYRACUSE VS. DUKE FEB. 23, 2019

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JOHN GILLON made Syracuse history on Feb. 22, 2017 when he made a half-court buzzer-beater to upset Duke in the Blue Devils’ most recent trip to the the Carrier Dome. Gillon scored 26 points in that upset win. daily orange file photo

Banked in

By Billy Heyen

senior staff writer

T

wo years ago, then-No. 10 Duke arrived at the Carrier Dome for a Wednesday night meeting with an unranked Syracuse team. By the end of the night, Syracuse students had stormed Jim Boeheim Court, Dick Vitale had guaranteed SU would be going dancing in the NCAA Tournament and John Gillon had banked his name into Orange basketball history.

Ahead of the next meeting with No. 1 Duke (23-3, 11-2 Atlantic Coast) in the Dome on Saturday, The Daily Orange took a look back at one of the most memorable games in SU’s (18-8, 9-4) regular season history.

The build up

John Gillon remembered the parties around campus. It was unseasonably warm that day, reaching 59 degrees in February. Students were pregaming for the second-highest attended college basketball game at a campus site that year, and Syracuse’s graduate transfer point guard wanted to join them.

“I was like, ‘Wow, I need to stay out here, this looks fun,’” Gillon recalled.

Gillon’s brother, Jordan, was in town for the game. A student at Texas Southern University in Houston, Jordan missed class to fly to Syracuse. It was the only game he attended that year — he had to see the Duke game, he said. It was the

Remembering John Gillon’s gamewinning 3-pointer to beat Duke day before Jordan’s birthday.

Jordan, Gillon and Andrew White III went to Chipotle together that afternoon, and while Gillon recalls the atmosphere, Jordan remembers his brother’s demeanor.

“He was extremely calm. He wasn’t hyped about the game,” Jordan said. “...

He lives for moments like that.”

SU had already pulled off two top-10 upsets in the Carrier Dome that season against Florida State and Virginia. The Blue Devils were on a seven-game winning streak. Syracuse was on a threegame losing streak.

Students shifted from their pregame parties to line up outside the Dome hours before tip-off. By 3:30 p.m., a line of orange-clad fans stretched around Shaffer Art Building on the far end of the Quad. Those same students unleashed a thunderous “boo” as soon as Duke star Grayson Allen showed his face for the first time to warm up for Duke.

“This is the most that they’ve all come out, but we’ve been here the whole time, but now they wanna come out since Duke is coming to town,” Gillon said.

SU knew it faced “pretty much a mustwin,” then-freshman guard Tyus Battle said this season. A bracketologist had

said in the days leading up to the matchup that Syracuse was on the outside looking in, as the Orange had spent much of conference play trying to make up for five nonconference losses.

“My mindset going into games is ‘I wanna destroy whoever’s in front of me,’” Gillon said.

The game

Midway through the evening’s first half, Gillon found himself at the top of the key with future No. 3 NBA pick Jayson Tatum in front of him. As Gillon alluded to, the grad transfer — who’d been lightly recruited out of high school — made Tatum fall with a dribble move before swishing a 3.

“I know John was talking about that after the game,” Battle said of the move.

The key play to the whole game, Gillon said, came in the closing seconds of the first half. Dribbling left off a screen, Gillon saw Duke big man Amile Jefferson switched onto him “on an island.” SU’s point guard drove right, and slid under the rim to finish a reverse on the left side.

He’d struggled to get good shots earlier in the game, he said, but on that play, Gillon realized Duke’s bigs weren’t mobile or intimidating shot blockers.

He’d solved the defense: Get switches and go to work.

“I remember specifically telling some people, ‘I figured it out,’” Gillon said.

In the second half, Gillon scored 16 points before the game’s final shot.

Inside of a minute to go, Gillon pushed the floor in transition, went directly at Jefferson in the paint and finished with his right hand to tie the game at 75.

On the other end, Duke had a chance to go ahead with less than 10 seconds left.

But Gillon got in sharpshooter Luke Kennard’s face and contested the shot.

“I remember I feel, like, I kinda hit his arm when he was shooting. I was like ‘Aw man, you can’t even look at Duke without them calling a foul,’’” Gillon said. “So I was like, ‘Aw man, they’re gonna call that.’ They didn’t call it.” “... Then I knew I could get down the court in like three seconds.”

The shot

Gillon remembered a buzzer-beater he hit in fourth grade from the corner to win a ball game. His brother remembered an and-1 layup that won an AAU game during Gillon’s high school career. But those were nothing quite like what came next.

Kennard’s shot bounced to Tyler Lydon, who quickly fed it to Battle. The freshman knew that when Gillon “gets hot, he gets really hot,” so he lobbed the ball toward the veteran. In the moment, Gillon was confused as to why Battle tossed the ball see

gillon page 13

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DAN SHWORLES juggles multiple jobs for SU men’s and women’s basketball. Shworles is in charge of doing laundry and preparing basketballs. He hangs up each player’s jersey and brings their shoes to the locker room before each game. courtesy of su athletics

Well-equipped Meet Dan Shworles, Syracuse men’s and women’s basketball’s equipment manager

By Matthew Gutierrez senior staff writer

T

ip-off was more than 24 hours away, but Dan Shworles needed to find a laundromat.

It was sometime at about 7 a.m. on March 15, 2018, hours after Syracuse beat Arizona State in the NCAA Tournament. The team’s charter plane landed in Detroit, and players headed to bed before practice later that day. Awaiting Shworles, though, were dirty jerseys, warmups, compression shorts and towels to wash.

At 3 a.m., SU filed into a Detroit Marriott. Shworles slept for about three hours, then loaded a hotel courtesy van with bags of dirty clothes, drove a few blocks and filled up the washer machines. Players had to wear fresh practice attire and jerseys over the next two days.

As an assistant equipment manager at Syracuse, Shworles juggles dozens of jobs at once. He works with a number of SU teams, including men’s basketball, and directs the equipment room in the Carmelo K. Anthony Basketball Center. He’s been at SU for nearly half of head coach Jim Boeheim’s head-coaching tenure, and has been a hidden piece of Syracuse’s everyday process.

“He’s done a great job for us,” Boeheim said last Monday. “He works hard and he’s really devoted to trying to get everything right every day.”

Shworles knows he can’t forget anything: Players need their shoes and jerseys to play games. He scrubs stained jerseys. He packs up everybody’s towels, water bottles and shoes. He transports their bags. He begins every day at 8 a.m. and, on SU men’s basketball game nights, doesn’t get home until around 1 a.m. or 2 a.m. Some days, he’s busy for 15 to 20 hours straight.

Shworles started with Syracuse in fall 2001. He knows equipment managers aren’t the most glamorous members of a team’s cast, but they spend the most amount of time around the facility, players and coaches said. While his role precludes some tasks — the managers set up practice and rebound for players — he’s responsible for the bulk of game-day setup and equipment.

“He’s always running around somewhere with stuff in his hands,” joked Andrew Clary, the SU men’s basketball team security guard.

Before games, Shworles has a slew of chores. At 3:57 p.m. on Tuesday, see shworles page 13

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A LOOK BACK Relive the top-five moments in the history of Syracuse-Duke basketball

Feb. 22, 2017 — John Gillon banks in gamewinner to pull off upset over No. 10 Duke

By Charlie DiSturco senior staff writer

W

ith ESPN College Gameday arriving at the Carrier Dome on Saturday, Syracuse (18-8, 9-4 Atlantic Coast) will look to once again take down top-ranked Duke (23-3, 11-2), this time at home. In Saturday’s matchup, though, Cam Reddish and Tre Jones will be a full go for the Blue Devils.

SU-Duke matchups have always proven to be entertaining. Here are the five most iconic moments between the two since the Orange joined the ACC back in 2013.

Feb. 1, 2014 — No. 2 Syracuse outlasts No. 17 Duke in first-ever ACC matchup, in overtime

In their first-ever matchup since Syracuse joined the ACC, the game lived up to the hype. Duke’s Rasheed Sulaimon pulled up right in front of Trevor Cooney behind the 3-point line and nailed a game-tying buzzer beater. The No. 17 Blue Devils forced overtime against the undefeated No. 2 Orange who were in the midst of a 20-game winning streak. But in that extra period, Rakeem Christmas blocked Rodney Hood’s dunk attempt with SU up one, Quinn Cook’s jumper missed from the right wing and Syracuse took home the win.

Said then-Syracuse assistant coach Mike Hopkins on the win: “This is one of the greatest regular-season games, if not the greatest, I’ve ever been a part of.”

Feb. 22, 2014 — Jim Boeheim nearly rips off jacket on “bullsh*t” charge call by referee With No. 1 Syracuse trailing by a pair to No. 5 Duke, C.J. Fair caught the ball on the left corner and burst by Tyler Thornton and down the baseline. Fair rose with Rodney Hood and laid the ball off the glass with just over 12 seconds left, only for it to be called back by the referee as a charge. Boeheim, visibly angry, ran down

This is one of the greatest regularseason games, if not the greatest, I’ve ever been a part of.

Mike Hopkins

2014 su assistant coach

the court, nearly ripping off his jacket before throwing it back on. He screamed “bullsh*t” at the referee multiple times and picked up a technical foul before being ejected from the game.

“I just thought that was the worst call of the year.

That’s all,” said Boeheim in 2014. “I just hate to see a game decided on that call.”

Duke would win the game, 66-60. Boeheim’s jacket would later be sold at an auction for $14,000 with all proceeds going to the Jim and Juli Boeheim Foundation.

Jan. 18, 2016 — Tyler Roberson has career night in Syracuse’s upset over No. 20 Duke

The infamous one-handed alley-oop slam from Tyler Roberson emphasized the night unranked Syracuse stunned No. 20 Duke, 64-62. Roberson recorded 20 rebounds, including 12 offensive boards en route to the win.

Duke had an opportunity to win, trailing by one on the final possession, but Grayson Allen’s shot with seven seconds left missed. Roberson, the hero of the night, tapped the ball out to Malachi Richardson to secure the eventual upset.

With five seconds left and Syracuse tied with No. 10 Duke, graduate transfer John Gillon caught a pass from Tyus Battle and pushed transition. He pulled up right in front of the big ‘S’ at midcourt in the Carrier Dome. With three defenders surrounding the 6-foot point guard, Gillon shot the ball.

Assistant coach Gerry McNamara knew it was going long screaming out “Bank!” The clock expired as the shot ricocheted off the backboard and in. SU fans stormed the court as the Orange players crowded Gillon by the scorer’s table. Gillon scored 19 of his 26 points in the second half as SU overcame a double-digit deficit and picked up its third top-10 win of the season, 78-75, over the Blue Devils.

Said Gillon on the game-winner: “I’m going to try and be a stone-cold killer every game.”

Jan. 14, 2019 — Syracuse pulls off monumental overtime upset over No. 1 Duke Coming off a 14-point loss to Georgia Tech inside the Carrier Dome, and on the back of a nonconference slate in which Syracuse dropped four games — a number it has never made the NCAA Tournament with — the Orange traveled south to take on No. 1 Duke. The Blue Devils started off on a 14-2 run but Tre Jones went down with an early injury, never to return.

That sparked a SU run on the back of Tyus Battle and Elijah Hughes, who scored 20 and 18 points, respectively, in the first half. Hughes added a three-quarter-court shot in the waning seconds of the first half to pull SU within one. Duke’s shooting struggles would ultimately give the Orange a much-needed, monumental upset.

Paschal Chukwu added 10 points, 18 rebounds and three blocks in the win, as well.

“This,” Chukwu said, “is an unbelievable feeling.” cdistur@syr.edu | @charliedisturco

OSHAE BRISSETT scored 14 points, added eight rebounds and a block in Syracuse’s monumental 95-91 overtime upset of No. 1 Duke in January. The Orange notched their third Top 25 win on Wednesday night, prior to the rematch. alexandra moreo senior staff photographer

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Q-ball

Look inside the creation of Syracuse’s fast-paced offensive system Story by Nick Alvarez and Michael McCleary the daily orange

Illustration by Sarah Allam illustration editor

S

yracuse head coach Quentin Hillsman bowled his neck and stared straight ahead. It was Jan. 23, and the Orange had just lost to an unranked Miami team at home. SU hit more shots, corralled more boards but struggled from beyond the 3-point line, shooting 5-of-32 from behind the arc.

The postgame questions were familiar.

Could Hillsman break his team out of a shooting slump? Would he make a change? Should he? He’s answered them, repeatedly. He’s tried fixing SU’s offense a lot of different ways. Putting players in different spots, running more shooting drills, forcing players to stay after practice and shoot 100 3s.

But Hillsman can’t correct everything. A coach that could correct it would make a lot of money, he joked. Hillsman isn’t that kind of coach. Each question mark brings a different variation of the same explanation: The Orange, led by Hillsman, will work its way out of this one. So, when Hillsman was asked who

You can’t flip-flop back and forth.

You’re going to do what you’re going to do. You’re going to play how you’re going to play.

Quentin Hillsman su head coach

he expects to step up after back-to-back losses, he licked his lips, winked and thumped his chest. “Me,” he said before walking away.

That’s the only thing Hillsman has. Faith.

He can only have faith in the foundation of his program, because year-after-year, his players have proven he should. Hillsman and the SU coaching staff have learned over the years that their system works. They’re not going to start doubting it now. Shooting slumps end, and that’s where SU’s reign begins. It’s what sunk SU to its worst shooting stretch in recent memory, and what’s risen it to an almost unguardable team when its shots fall. If the No. 18 Orange (19-6, 8-4 Atlantic Coast) are to pull off an upset over No. 6 Notre Dame in front of a potentially record-breaking Carrier Dome crowd, it’ll be the result of a system that was put in place five years ago and has slowly become the identity of the program.

A system that originated as spreadsheets on associate head coach Vonn Read’s computer. A system that’s changed the fundamental way Syracuse recruits and develops its players.

A system that preaches stats as a barometer of team success. The questions haven’t stopped for Hillsman, but Syracuse will keep shooting.

It’s the only way it knows how to operate — the only way it knows how to win.

“I think that if you start developing your plan B more than you’re really running your plan A, then you have a problem,” Hillsman said. “So what we’re doing is the thing that we’ve been doing: Shooting the ball, being aggressive, running in transition. And those of you who’ve been here know: We’re going to keep shooting ... And then, if they’re falling the right three or four games, it’s going to be an issue.” ƀƀƀ When Emily Engstler came to Syracuse, many within the coaching staff expected her to be a “program-changing” player. Following the Orange’s season-opener against North Dakota, Engstler looked like the nation’s No. 9 prospect, the highest ranked recruit that the Orange has ever gotten.

Threes, layups, blocks, passes from the high post, dribble moves to create space on the elbows. Hillsman saw it all, but most importantly, Engstler could score. In her first game, it came often. She tied for the Orange’s scoring lead with 13 points and proved to Hillsman she had the potential to play “big minutes.”

But, during the matchup, Hillsman noticed the holes. Her next step would be adjusting to see offense page 14

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On her own Kiara Lewis had to emphasize her own skills to enhance development at SU

KIARA LEWIS transferred from Ohio State to Syracuse for this season and was the back-up to Tiana Mangakahia. Lewis has made 20-of-58 3-pointers and dished out 51 assists, the most of any player on SU beside Mangakahia. max freund staff photographer

After Syracuse’s win over North Dakota in Lewis’ first career game at SU, the similarities between her and current-SU starting point guard Tiana Mangakahia were clear. Syracuse head coach iara Lewis couldn’t believe it was happening again. After a Quentin Hillsman was the first to make the comparison. While four-point outing against Georgia Tech on Jan. 20, in which Lewis provided a scoring punch Mangakahia didn’t in that game, he her 0-of-4 shooting performance contributed to a 23.9 per- lauded the low turnover totals from each guard. He called the two cent day for Syracuse, she hopped on a conference call with five of players “one unit” and said for the first time they could see a lot of her relatives who tried to convince her to stay patient. time on the court together.

She was a former “all-everything” player in high school, Lewis’ The immediacy of increased touches at SU were enough to keep uncle, Bryant, said, but went to Ohio State and averaged just nine Lewis invested during the early part of the season, but Gary said minutes a game. Her off-ball role led to little opportunity the comparison proved to be difficult later. Even for within the offense, little opportunity to do what she short stretches, Lewis’ playing time and scoring does best. And now it was happening again at Syracuse. stalled. Coaches at Syracuse would point out to her Even since the seventh grade, she was a coveted colwhen she was taking a bad shot or forcing a play. She Either you know lege basketball prospect. She controlled the game. She never understood why, Gary said. At Ohio State, in a how to play or you similar role beside star point guard Kelsey Mitchell, scored from all points of the floor and pushed the pace to expedite her offensive advances.

Lewis associated playing off the ball with not being freaking don’t.

Before she chose Ohio State, Bryant remembered involved, Gary said. At Syracuse, she misinterpreted Darren Johnson Lewis told her father, Gary, that she didn’t want that many of SU’s early expectations as the same. pastor anymore. Toward the end of her high school career, So, following her worst game of the season, she she started to give the ball to her teammates and called for help. On the call were, Gary, her mother, let them take the ball up the court. In 2013, her espnW HoopGurlz Kadijat, Bryant and Darren Johnson, a friend of Gary’s and a pastor. scouting report labeled her a “lead-guard,” but by her junior season Johnson read aloud Proverbs 3: 4-5: she was declared a “combo-guard.” Perhaps this was the route she “Then you will win favor and a good name in the sight of God and was best suited to take. Perhaps she would benefit from a year as an man / Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understudy, she said. understanding.”

Two years later, many around Lewis scoffed. After a limited role in With that, Lewis reached an epiphany, she said. To sulk over one year at Ohio State, Lewis joined Syracuse and was forced to sit out something she cannot control does her no good. Gary said the obsesfor a season due to NCAA transfer rules. Now with the No. 18 Orange sion with her role took her mind off from what she does best: score.

(19-6, 8-4 Atlantic Coast), she provides a steady scoring hand as both a There’s no use comparing her to Mangakahia because she’s not second point guard and off-ball specialist for SU. Mangakahia. They play different games, and Lewis just needed to get But her adjustment to her role has taken time, something that not back to hers. many, especially Lewis, expected. To do so, she had to get back to play“Either you know how to play,” Johnson said, “or you freaking don’t.” ing the way she always has.

Lewis looked for places where she can freely score. Gary noticed that “Being able to play multiple positions, that’s something that can Mangakahia goes to the ball immediately after a rebound. Lewis just bring a different style or talent to the game,” Lewis said. needed to run up the sideline, she and Mangakahia said. Lewis scored 16

By Michael McCleary sports editor

K

see lewis page 13

12 in the paint

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BUILDING

BLOCKS

EMILY ENGSTLER has made just 13 3-points so far this season, but she’s made her presence known on the defensive end. She’s blocked 31 shots, the most of any SU player. Engstler’s defense has earned her more playing time as a freshman, too. max freund staff photographer

Emily Engstler has become a defensive force in her first season

By Nick Alvarez

asst. sports editor

T

he three blocks, edited together in a neat, 21-second clip, ended with the same celebration. The first, and most-recent, against Wake Forest featured a leap to the wing. The second — in the KFC Yum! Center against the then-No. 2 team in the country — was a chase-down block. The third, and first collegiate block by Emily Engstler, sparked uproar from the Carrier Dome crowd as she straightened her shoulders and walked back on defense.

At 11:47 a.m. on Feb. 19, Syracuse head coach Quentin Hillsman tweeted a highlight reel of Engstler’s best plays through her 25 collegiate games, most of which have come on the defensive end. Her 3.4 blocks per 40 minutes leads the team. Hillsman added a flexing-arm emoji and a word to describe Engstler’s defensive presence in recent weeks: Enforcement. “(Blocks are) fun, man,” Engstler said while smirking after a recent practice. “They make the game fun. I’d rather have a block than a 3 any day.”

Lauded for her passing and shooting, Engstler hasn’t developed into an offensive playmaker while adjusting to Division I’s pace of play. Hillsman has benched her on multiple occasions for not hustling down the court.

Instead, the No. 9 recruit’s highs in her “roller coaster” first season have come in the form of thundering swats. Operating usually on the

wing of the Orange’s 2-3 zone, she’s totaled more blocks (31) than 3-pointers made (13). Her athleticism has translated in an unexpected way, she said. With No. 18 Syracuse’s (19-6, 8-4 Atlantic Coast) interior defense’s struggling of late — its allowed 29 points in the paint per game in the last four contests, including two losses to a pair of ranked opponents — its best rim protector might be Engstler.

“I think it’s natural,” Engstler said. “... Sometimes it doesn’t work, but I’m mostly a risk-taker when it comes to blocking shots, and I don’t mind sometimes.”

Though Hillsman has lauded the Orange’s positionless system, the coaching staff tried to establish a consistent role for Engstler. Associate head coach Vonn Read assisted in her offensive game. Assistant coach Tammi Reiss helped improve her ball-handling as a guard and Adeniyi Amadou, who coaches forwards, worked with Engstler on her postprotection. Hillsman focused on “little things” like communication and holding her hands out when receiving a pass.

Hillsman summarized Engstler’s early challenge in late October: One of Engstler’s best traits, her versatility, hindered her from carving out a niche on Syracuse’s deep roster.

“It’s a lot of different things,” Hillsman said of Engstler’s struggles.

“For me, it’s really more about how much is she gonna work? How much effort is she gonna put into becoming a better player?” see

blocks page 13

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from page 3

gillon so lightly to him. When Gillon looked up, there were only four seconds left.

Battle sprinted toward the corner and was open, which Gillon saw later on film. But there wasn’t time. There was close to a second left and three Duke defenders around him. He jumped higher than he almost ever did and took the shot.

“It came off good. I didn’t know it was gonna be long but I knew it had a chance of going in,” Gillon said. “... Normally, when I shoot shots, I know if it’s gonna go in right when I let it go.

That one, it was a terrible shot, and I was like, I got the feeling of it going in like a normal shot I would shoot that’s open.”

From the sideline, SU assistant coach Gerry McNamara yelled for it to bank. The shot “looked off” to Jordan, sitting on the side opposite to SU’s bench. When it went in, Gillon’s brother didn’t even believe it for a second. Then, madness.

Students rushed the floor for the third time in two months, as did Jordan, who said he leapt past the broadcast table to reach the floor.

Boeheim raised his arms before composing himself to go shake Mike Krzyzewski’s hand while SU’s players mobbed Gillon.

“It was a special moment in Syracuse basketball history when Gillon hit that shot,” ESPN color commentator Dick Vitale said.

“Every once in a while, one of those goes in,” Boeheim added.

The postgame

Less than a minute after the shot banked in, Gillon was interviewed courtside by ESPN’s sideline reporter. The broadcast shows Gillon reaching to high-five one of the people who’d from page 4

shworles Feb. 5, four hours before No. 22 Florida State tipped-off against SU, he walked through a set of double doors in the Carrier Dome. Inside the SU locker room, he strolled to a rack of basketballs. Using a TorrX ball pump, he checked the pressure of each basketball before warm ups. The goal: about eight pounds of pressure per square inch.

Shortly after 4 p.m., Shworles pushed the rack of basketballs onto the court. He left them at half court — where he sits during games — then returned to the locker room to check on the towels. Stripes of tape held together a stack of clean white towels. “Florida State 1st half bench,” he wrote in black sharpie across one bundle. He picked up two bundles and tossed them on his left shoulder.

An hour earlier, he walked up to the doorway, where a couple of security guards greeted him. One asked him what his plans were on Friday. “I’ll be doing laundry,” he said.

At 3:26 p.m., Shworles said his most important tasks came: He zipped open the team shoe bag and took out two pairs of shoes for each player, laying them on the bottom of each locker. Then he hung each player’s jersey — each white and unwrinkled — plus their warmup shirts.

“In the equipment world, we have a saying: it’s set everything up, then wait,” Shwor-

stormed the court, and the reporter said, “I know you’ve got a lot of people you wanna high-five.” Gillon was reaching for Jordan, who’d made his way within feet of his brother but was blocked by security.

It was all “a blur” from there, Battle remembered. He and Gillon rehashed Battle’s lobbed pass once more in the locker room, Gillon recalled. Battle asked Gillon, “Did it work?”

Gillon backed off.

Jordan waited for his brother in the underbelly of the Dome where all the families wait for the players to emerge. No one believed Jordan when he said he was Gillon’s brother. “Of course you’d say that,” he remembers hearing around him. But when Gillon came out and the brothers raised their right arms for their special handshake, they didn’t doubt Jordan any longer.

Gillon texted Rasheed Sulaimon, a former teammate of his who’d played at Duke before being dismissed. Earlier in the day, Gillon had told his friend he was going to “destroy” Duke for him. Afterward, Gillon just sent a simple message: “I told you.”

Before the ESPN broadcast went back to the studio, Karl Ravech and Vitale had one final segment. In it, Vitale was sure Syracuse had done enough to make the NCAA Tournament.

“It is lock city my friends,” Vitale said on the broadcast. “They are dancing. There is no doubt about it. Syracuse will be dancing, baby.”

Gillon thought so, too, he said recently. It was almost more disappointing, he said, to have that win but then miss out. The Orange won one game in the National Invitation Tournament before losing, ending Gillon’s college career.

“That win you would think, at that moment, was gonna be magical for them,” Vitale said.

“They didn’t finish as strong, and the commitles said.

Still in the SU locker room, he walked a small white towel and two black markers over to a table beside a white board. He laid down both markers.

“I bring two in case he (Boeheim) throws one,” Shworles said. “He’s done that before.”

In a half-hour span before the game, his phone buzzed twice. One call came from an SU track and field coach who wanted to know when the team equipment could be ready for a road trip the next morning.

Players said they associate Shworles with not only long hours, but also team apparel.

Lots of it. After a team meal at the 2016 Sweet 16 in Chicago, Shworles surprised the team with new special edition Nike shoes and socks. He also designed and handed out “Pearl” script shirts players wore in 2016 to honor the late Pearl Washington, a Syracuse star from 1983-86.

He regards no task as beneath him or too minor. Regardless of SU men’s basketball schedule, Shworles might not go home to his wife, Savannah, until after midnight. Walkon Antonio Balandi recalled a night early this season when he swiped himself into the team’s practice facility to shoot around. It was 2 a.m. Yet there was Shworles, pushing a cart of dirty laundry.

“Man,” Balandi said. “He has one of the hardest jobs in the program.” mguti100@syr.edu | @Matthewgut21

DAN SHWORLES has been the lead equipment manager for SU Athletics since 2001, preparing the locker room. matthew gutierrez senior staff writer

JOHN GILLON attempts a three-pointer in the first half of the Syracuse matchup with Duke in February 2017. daily orange file photo

tee I guess looked at that.”

The legacy

Gillon spent just one season at Syracuse, but three top-10 upsets are largely attributable to him. He put up 43 points at North Carolina State, including a buzzer beater to send the game to overtime. Horrendous games, like having “air ball” chanted at him at Georgia Tech, were followed up immediately with the buzzer beater against Duke.

That game-winner still gets brought up to Gillon “all the time.” He was stopped at the airport last week and someone mentioned it.

“I was like, I had 26 points that game, it wasn’t from page 11

lewis

points the next game and was one of the only Orange players who could find her shot.

Gary told her to she needed to take 2,000 shots. And she did. Her and Gary, who watch film three or four times a week, diagnosed problems that created openings in defenses. She started to notice when the shots she took were forced, and she looked to correct it.

As her shots started to fall, SU ran V-cut plays to free her on the elbow and curls to free her in the corners. As the games progressed, her decision-making off the ball improved and she, once again, became a consistent scoring threat as a quasi-shooting guard in SU’s two-point guard lineup.

In the week leading up to a matchup with Duke, Gary noticed that the Blue Devils have a tendency to bite on the pick and roll. With Mangakahia handling the ball up top, the bottom of the defense would be free. from page 12

blocks In the preseason, Hillsman said Engstler and Kadiatou Sissoko, another top-recruit who could stretch the floor, performed well on the defensive end. They handled smaller guards on the wing — a staple of the 2-3.

The two also denied passes inside. Senior forward Miranda Drummond noticed Engstler’s aggressiveness in early workouts before the season. Yet, Hillsman warned, until Engstler faced the “live fire” of in-game competition, it would be a wait-and-see process.

Through her first games, what he first saw didn’t trouble him, but it wasn’t to his expectations. Poor positioning inside led to fouls. Engstler sporadically hustled between possessions, an affront to the system the program is built on. And when she got benched against Maryland Eastern Shore on Dec. 5, she shook her head and walked past Hillsman before plopping down on a padded seat.

“She came in with a pretty solid skillset around the board,” Hillsman said before conference play began. “We’re trying to get her to understand the speed of the game and at this level, some of the passes and decisions you make in high school might not work.”

At Christ The King (New York) High School and St. Francis Preparatory (New York) School, Engstler said she didn’t have to run as hard as often. She was faster than most of her competition. At Syracuse, the game was faster than her. When Engstler

like that was my only shot,” said Gillon, laughing.

Battle thinks the fact that the game was at home, in front of more than 30,000 people, has something to do with the shot’s impact. Battle smiled wide when recalling how much excitement burst through the Dome in the minutes following that make. Jordan, for his part, still has that game’s ticket in his possession, with him at Texas Southern.

And Gillon, while he called the focus on that shot “excessive,” is glad it happened.

“Just to be in a school like Syracuse, to be a part of any sort of history, is definitely an honor,” Gillon said. wmheyen@syr.edu | @wheyen3

“They always leave that corner open,” Gary said to Lewis.

After a tough shooting half for SU, Lewis was open in the corner, but a Duke player who switched late tumbled into her. Lewis drained it anyway. She converted on a free throw, and the next play down the floor, hit another 3 from the same spot. Her old friend from AAU, Faith Suggs, was late in a rotation out towards Lewis. Gary laughed. Suggs’ father, Shafer Suggs, sent a text to Gary.

“Faith knows better to leaving (Lewis) open,” Shafer said.

Gary responded with three laughing emojis.

“I know you need that identity,” Shafer responded. “We coming back to spank ass.

“She played great !! (sic) Tell her congrats.”

Since the Duke win, Lewis has felt at ease.

She’s happy at SU, Gary said, and now she understands the full potential of what she can do. It’s just what she’s always done.

“Everyone wants to have the ball,” Lewis said, “and (playing off the ball is) what’s going to separate you from the next person.” mmcclear@syr.edu | @mikejmccleary

recognized that consistent effort would keep her on the court, she reorganized her game.

Through mid-January, she used her passing to become a facilitator on offense. As her minutes ticked up, she was allowed to roam the wing and thrive defensively. Ryan Cabiles, strength and conditioning coach for both of SU’s basketball programs, helped Engstler control her body-positioning while leaping and landing for blocks. She admitted she doesn’t have an elite jumping ability.

Instead, Engstler’s anticipation and timing set her apart. It’s put her back on the court, and it could help her stay there.

After SU’s second-consecutive ranked loss on Feb. 13, Hillsman rubbed his temple at his postgame press conference. The Orange’s interior defense was gashed, again, and center Maeva Djald-Tabdi was repeatedly a step behind Wolfpack forwards.

Engstler totaled six points, two blocks and a steal but only played 11 minutes. With the stats in front of him, Hillsman pondered if Engstler, long a question mark, should’ve played more.

Her interior defense could provide an answer to Syracuse’s most-pressing issue.

“She’s sneaky deceptive and athletic,” Hillsman said in early February. “She makes some plays you think she probably couldn’t make, and she makes the right plays. So, just gotta continue to get her better, continue to get her to play our pace, and once she does that, she’ll be really good.”

— Senior Staff Writer Eric Black contributed reporting to this story. nialvare@syr.edu | @nick_a_alvarez

14 in the paint

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from page 6

offense SU’s pace. Syracuse demands it on both ends.

In the last five years, SU has utilized a margin-based offensive system — a simple plus-minus that emphasizes creating open looks earlier in the shot clock, crashing the offensive glass and forcing turnovers. Hillsman and Read have preached before, after and during games, that if they can construct a possession disparity, regardless of its field goal percentage, they’ll win.

At its best, Syracuse can shoot an opponent out of an arena — its nine made 3s a contest rank ninth in the country. And at its worst, it can shoot itself out of a game if the corresponding margins aren’t in its favor. Programs across the nation, including Notre Dame, have predicated their offenses on 3-pointers as teams try to maximize each possession, espnW HoopGurlz’s Dan Olson said. For Syracuse, the system has proven itself, culminating in a National Championship appearance in 2016, but of late, SU’s streaky shooting and lackluster margins have been the root of its failures.

“The numbers. That’s something we definitely emphasize,” Read said. “You can win games by getting more shots than your opponents and that’s what we try to do. If we’re shooting the ball well, and we get more shots than you, then we’re really gonna be in a great space.”

But the system doesn’t stop and wait for its players to catch up. As the season progressed, Engstler’s minutes decreased.

Hillsman wanted her to run, but Engstler felt she did. She nabbed three blocks, including a chase-down, in the first half against Miami, but only recorded one minute thereafter. She leaned back in her chair on the sidelines and sulked. Hillsman didn’t give her a reason, Engstler later said.

He usually never does, she said.

The reason is instead written in the recenthistory of Syracuse’s program. Hillsman said to assess Engstler — and the potential of her development — one must first examine Alexis Peterson. Peterson came to the Orange as the No. 92 recruit in her class, but averaged just three points and one assist per game in her first season with the Orange. She was far from the player she would one day become, and Syracuse was far from the national finalist it would become.

Peterson entered an SU offense that didn’t orient around its guards, former SU player Brianna Butler said. Peterson’s play suffered. But in the coming years, she thrived in her individual development. The scheme SU instituted impacted the development of every recruit it brought in, whether that be a forward or a guard. It forced players to get out of their comfort zone and take shots that they normally wouldn’t take, Hillsman said.

So Engstler only had one option: listen. She knew if she wanted to grow the same way one of SU’s great point guards did, she just needed to run.

“A lot of the problems I had in the beginning of the year was not running back fast enough,” Engstler said on Feb. 12. “Most of us don’t struggle with that, but ever since it was hurting my time and I couldn’t understand why, I realized, ‘OK, no matter what happens, run back.’

“As fast as you can.” ƀƀƀ The summer before Cornelia Fondren’s junior year, Hillsman and Read told her their offensive system would be different by the time she got back in fall 2014. In previous years, the Orange had an “insideout” game plan with some run-and-gun elements, multiple former players said.

They mostly played through a litany of bigs, notably Kayla Alexander — who graduated two years prior.

SU’s offense was centered on finding ways to get her the ball on the block. Alexander was selected eighth overall in the WNBA Draft, leaving Syracuse with a blank slate to revamp itself.

Read, who joined the program in 2011, brought a resume that included stints in the Southeastern Conference, WNBA and NBA. Prior to adjusting SU’s system, Read compiled an Excel sheet of about 150 teams dating back 15 years, including Rick Pitino’s time at Kentucky, and presented it to Hillsman. Read noticed that what sepa-

ALEXIS PETERSON helped lead Syracuse to the National Championship in 2016. She was later drafted 15th overall to the WNBA by the Seattle Storm. Peterson is fifth all time in 3s in SU history. evan jenkins staff photographer

rated great teams from the rest were a set of margins. Each squad had a corresponding 15-to-16 stats that Read believed led to success. Turnover ratios and offensive rebound discrepancies were tallied and analyzed, eventually leading to Syracuse’s winning formula.

“You don’t win games unless you’re doing something else,” Read said. “That’s what we were doing.”

When Fondren returned to campus, preseason practices were dedicated to learning new plays, she said. She switched to the four position — normally reserved for shooters — despite averaging 3.4 points per game as a sophomore. They ran slot action to get open shooters around the perimeter. Syracuse used its bigs in pick-and-rolls, allowing Butler and Peterson to slip free.

During practices, they were quizzed on new plays. Coaches pushed players to watch film individually and then tested them to see if they did. Certain schemes, like a pickand-four slide that featured a forward and center setting a screen for a guard before the forward flared out for a 3, became go-to baskets. Some of the original plays are still run in 2019. On a road trip, Fondren flicked on an NBA game in the team hotel and noticed a professional team executing a similar play to what SU ran prior.

To keep track of the team’s goals, two white boards were wheeled into the locker room. One featured a specific, opponentbased scheme that Hillsman would break down before games, Fondren said. The other, current and former players said, displayed Syracuse’s ideal numbers: Shoot 20 more times than the opponent, pull down 10-plus offensive rebounds and produce 10-plus turnovers while committing 10 or fewer.

In practices, Hillsman assured players the strategy would work. “‘If you run this play the right way,’” Fondren recalled Hillsman saying repeatedly, “‘I promise you, I promise you you’ll get this.’” The system produced, and over time, the players bought in.

Eventually, a new wrinkle was thrown in: the press. Hosting North Carolina State on Jan. 25, 2015, a pair of Orange guards started a full-court press. SU had tried it sporadically but never implemented it for an entire game, Fondren said. NC State coughed the ball up 13 times and Syracuse dominated the Wolfpack. The next day in practice, Fondren said, Hillsman named the guard press “two-chase,” and said they’d be utilizing it more often.

“Once we started pressing like crazy,” Fondren said, “oh, it became a different ballgame.”

A season later, the style indoctrinated in a batch of now-upperclassmen, the

ISIS YOUNG transferred from Florida to Syracuse after the 2016 season. Young averages 2.7 points per game off the bench. max freund staff photographer

margin-based offense propelled Syracuse to the National Championship game in Indianapolis. Butler set the NCA A singleseason record with 129 3s and SU led the country with a 10.8 turnover margin. The system produced, and after some time, the Orange hung a banner in the Carmelo K. Anthony Center. ƀƀƀ Isis Young sat in a Greensboro Coliseum locker trying to explain what had just happened. Young was in her first year at Syracuse, and as a pure shooter who could press, she embodied the type of player the system valued. Yet, as teammates slouched around her, she tried to rationalize an embarrassing 85-70 loss to Virginia Tech last March. How the system had failed.

“We did what we were trained to do as a team: To knock down shots and make open 3s,” Young said. “There’s always a chance when you’re a 3-point shooting team. “… But the style in which we lost, we live or die by, and today we died.”

One year later, Read watched from the sidelines as Gabrielle Cooper, Miranda Drummond and Tiana Mangakahia fine-tuned the offense he helped formulate before a matchup against NC State on Feb. 13. Since its Final Four run, SU hasn’t made it past the second round of the ACC or NCAA Tournaments.

This year, the Orange rank No. 52 in assist-to-turnover ratio and have more

games below 40 percent shooting than they do games above 55 percent. The shots don’t always fall and Read said they don’t have to at a high rate for Syracuse to have success.

But SU has games that challenge his theory.

It’s winless both times it shot below 35 percent in a game, and hasn’t lost a game where it made over half its attempts.

Following the Orange’s 84-71 loss to Miami, in which SU shot a paltry 28-of-77, Hillsman sneered and confidently looked ahead to the tournament. Syracuse went 3-2 in its following five games matching poor shooting performances with close wins and blowout losses. Against NC State last week, SU connected on 12 3s, created 18 turnovers and still lost. Instead, the Wolfpack’s slow, methodical pace prevailed.

After the game, Hillsman’s prescribed remedy was simple: Make more shots.

Still, Hillsman is tired of the questions.

It’s not going to change his mind. He knows what the stats say. He’s heard everything from “consistency” to “slumps.” He doesn’t care. He has faith in the system.

He positioned himself in front of the NCAA national finalist banner that hung on the far wall behind him, and grinned.

“You can’t flip-flop back and forth,” Hillsman said. “You’re going to do what you’re going to do. You’re going to play how you’re going to play.” nialvare@syr.edu | @nick_a_alvarez mmcclear@syr.edu | @mikejmccleary

in the paint 15

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