By starting Journey Thompson, Syracuse neutralized its best bench threat
Entering Thursday, Journey Thompson was SU’s most efficient offensive weapon despite not starting a game. But after replacing Sophie Burrows as a starter, she was silenced in Syracuse’s 82-72 win over Florida State. Eli Schwartz | Assistant Photo Editor
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Take a stab at guessing Syracuse’s most efficient offensive player.
The answer isn’t Uche Izoje — the freshman phenom center who head coach Felisha Legette-Jack compared to elite talents such as Paige Bueckers and Notre Dame guard Hannah Hidalgo. She leads the Orange with a 62.7% field goal percentage, 12.8 points and 7.9 rebounds per game. But she doesn’t lead them in offensive rating.
It isn’t Dominique Darius, the USC transfer who leads the team with 3.1 assists per game. It’s not Laila Phelia, either, and it’s certainly not Sophie Burrows — who has gotten off to a poor shooting start despite her reputation as a 3-point markswoman.
Eliminate all the usual suspects. The Orange’s offensive rating leader entered 2026 without a single start on the season. Journey Thompson, who transferred to SU from Arizona State prior to the 2024-25 campaign, owned the team’s best offensive rating by a wide margin — with a 129.8 mark — before Syracuse (12-2, 2-1 Atlantic Coast Conference) defeated Florida State (5-10, 0-3 ACC) 82-72 on New Year’s Day.
Thompson hadn’t started once in her 12 appearances on the season, but she had firmly established herself as Syracuse’s primary bench option. Entering Thursday, she led all SU bench players with 15.3 minutes per game, 5.8 points per game and 4.3 rebounds per game; her efficient 59.7% field goal percentage ranked third among the Orange. She was Syracuse’s spark plug in the paint, meant to give defenses a different look from Izoje.
The Pennsylvania native has made such a stentorian impact down low she’d garnered comparisons to her head coach’s playing prowess from Legette-Jack’s former teammate at Syracuse, Roxi Nurse McNabb — the wife of former SU and NFL quarterback Donovan McNabb and mother of former SU player, Lexi McNabb.
Thompson’s consistent injections off the bench were rewarded when Legette-Jack opted to give her the start against FSU Thursday. Just minutes before tipoff, SU’s starting lineup was revealed without a familiar face. Burrows out, Thompson in.
“I mean, I just do what my team needs me to do,” Burrows said postgame. “If that’s coming off the bench, then that’s coming off the bench.”
The move came at a reasonable juncture. Burrows had just come off a 1-for-10 performance in Syracuse’s Dec. 28 loss to Duke, a game in which she briefly exited after knocking knees with a defender. By moving her to the bench, the Orange could give her a rest while replacing her with their most efficient offensive weapon.
Theory always sounds much prettier than reality.
Burrows played 34 minutes off the bench. She scored 12 points — a much better showing than her two-point outing against the Blue Devils — plus made her impact elsewhere, stuffing the box score with eight rebounds, five assists, two blocks and three steals.
“Does she stay coming off the bench? I don’t know,” Legette-Jack said. “But right now, it’s working. And if ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”
It might’ve worked for Burrows. But by bringing her off the bench — ostensibly breaking her slump — Legette-Jack did so at the expense of her sixth woman.
In her first start of the season, Thompson only played 12 minutes against the Seminoles. She was blanked for the first time all season, missing her only two shots on the day, and grabbed a season-low one rebound. Thompson didn’t appear at all in the final 18 minutes of the game, missing out on every opportunity to close out the Orange’s second ACC win.
Thompson could create advantages against opposing teams’ second unit paint players. There had only been four games where she shot below 50% from the field, and she had multiple games with over six points and six rebounds off the bench.
Against Florida State, those advantages just never materialized.
Izoje, Darius and Phelia controlled the ball when they shared the court with Thompson — who finished with a game-low 6.65% usage rate. On the rare occasions that Thompson did see the ball, she was heavily guarded by the Seminoles’ frontcourt of Pania Davis and Allie Kubek. There was just nothing she could do.
All things considered, Burrows’ performance is objectively more important for Syracuse’s success. Everyone knows that, including Legette-Jack.
“She’s going to have to be more of an impact player for us,” Legette-Jack said postgame. “She gotta be on the court a lot more than 25 minutes.”
But sometimes, when she decides to start the Australian, she can see it start to happen. The first shot might not go in. Then a second. Then a third, and all of a sudden, her demeanor starts to worsen. Her body language might not be as assured as it was to begin the game, and that’s when she starts to spiral. Every shot seems more difficult than the next.
Those moments are why, when Burrows starts, Legette-Jack often can’t play her as much as she’d like. By bringing her off the bench, Legette-Jack was hoping to avoid those stumbles, giving her a chance to impact the game beyond the scoresheet.
With that goal in mind, her mission was accomplished. Burrows was everywhere in SU’s win over FSU. But it’s impossible to ignore the fact that her success came at Thompson’s expense.
“I don’t think it really matters who starts,” Burrows said. “I think it’s more about who finishes.”
