Syracuse guard Dominique Darius will not return for 7th collegiate season
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Syracuse guard Dominique Darius won’t return for another year at Syracuse, head coach Felisha Legette-Jack told Syracuse.com Wednesday. Darius previously sought a waiver to return to SU for her seventh collegiate season. Darius averaged career highs in points (12.6), rebounds (3.7) and assists (3.5) per game last season for the Orange after spending her first four seasons at UCLA and USC.
Before moving to Syracuse in 2025, Darius started just eight games and averaged 3.3 points per contest across four years on the West Coast. It prompted her to redshirt her final year at USC in the 2024-25 campaign, allowing her to transfer to SU for the 2025-26 season.
Backed by Legette-Jack’s trust, Darius became a team captain and SU’s starting point guard. She started all 29 of the Orange’s regular-season games, breaking out as one of their best offensive players. She tallied five games with 20 or more points and recorded two double-doubles on the year.
Entering the postseason, Darius was poised to continue her torrid stretch as the Orange contended in the Atlantic Coast Conference and NCAA Tournaments. But Darius suffered a left hand injury in Syracuse’s ACC Tournament first-round win over Cal, which sidelined her for the remainder of the postseason.
Darius was forced to watch as the Orange were eliminated in the NCAA Tournament Round of 32 by UConn, seemingly ending her collegiate career on the sideline. But Legette-Jack first teased Darius’ return in late February, saying SU was working with the NCAA for a potential waiver. It would’ve granted Darius an additional year because she was ineligible for the majority of the 2022-23 season due to a midyear transfer from UCLA to USC.
But that evidently didn’t happen. Now, the Orange look to pieces like Tyi Skinner to take the reins at point guard as they shoot for their second consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance.
