Syracuse’s bigs thrive on the glass in season-opening win vs. Stony Brook
Syracuse's bigs, including forward Journey Thompson, helped propel SU to a comfortable 24-point win over Stony Brook on Tuesday. Angelina Grevi | Staff Photographer
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Journey Thompson strolled into Tuesday’s postgame press conference wearing Syracuse’s infamous orange hard hat. She was awarded it for being the team’s “stabilizer,” SU head coach Felisha Legette-Jack said. The hat, with a large “Bank of America” logo on the front and a block S on the back, sat next to Thompson as she spoke.
The Orange only disperse one hard hat per game, handed to the player who displays the toughness to push Syracuse over the edge. In the fourth quarter, Thompson was that player.
SU led by 12 with nearly nine minutes remaining, yet Stony Brook clawed back, causing concern. In the closing minutes of the third quarter, the Seawolves torched Syracuse’s defense with three straight 3s, dwindling their deficit to just five points, the smallest since the first quarter.
But courtesy of Thompson, the Orange regained their lead. After Dominique Darius missed a triple, Thompson pulled down the rebound. She dished it to Laila Phelia, who also missed the mark. But Sophie Burrows grabbed the board. Then Burrows missed a layup, which Thompson snatched and put on the glass for a bucket to extend Syracuse’s lead to 14. Three missed shots, three offensive rebounds.
“It has to mean more than just the game,” Legette-Jack said of SU’s rebounding efforts. “Everybody can be a great scorer or a great player, but not everybody can be a great rebounder. We just gotta go after it.”
If Syracuse wants to start giving out more than one hard hat per game, Tuesday’s matchup would’ve been the perfect time to start. It wasn’t just Thompson’s seven, but also Darius’ eight rebounds and Justus Fitzgerald’s five. The group allowed Syracuse (1-0, 0-0 Atlantic Coast) to outrebound Stony Brook (0-1, 0-0 Coastal Athletic) 52-27, boosting it to a decisive 74-50 season-opening victory.
“We’re back. We’ve always been a rebounding team wherever I’ve been,” Legette-Jack said. “And even through bad seasons, we rebounded the ball, and last year we just didn’t do that. We didn’t pursue it.”
Legette-Jack said SU’s rebounding wasn’t up to par last season. But the numbers say otherwise. In the Orange’s 12-win season — the fewest victories under Legette-Jack — rebounding was actually one of the few positives. The Orange grabbed 14.5 offensive boards per game, the nation’s 25th-best mark and totaled 38.6 a contest, ranking 74th, per HerHoopStats.
But, as Legette-Jack mentioned, it wasn’t good enough. Therefore, the fourth-year head coach hit the transfer portal and targeted some of the nation’s top recruits to bolster height and paint talent. Now, SU has 11 players standing six feet or taller, giving it a chance to compete with the ACC’s best bigs. Before that begins, though, Stony Brook served as a sufficient first test.
“I thought they were tough,” Legette-Jack said of the Seawolves. “I thought they came after that ball and put their face in there.”
With two players at least 6-foot-2 in its starting lineup, Syracuse had the clear advantage over Stony Brook, which had just one player on its entire roster at that height. The disparity was apparent from the jump.
Burrows, standing 6-foot-2, set the tone for Syracuse’s bigs from the game’s first play. As the Seawolves’ offense spread across the perimeter, Burrows and Uche Izoje, who’s 6-foot-3, pressed and switched Stony Brook guard Sandra Frau Garcia, who was forced into a contested 3 as the shot clock expired.
The Seawolves’ next time down the court saw similar results, which again started with Syracuse’s bigs. Frau Garcia broke downhill past Camdyn Nelson, but when she reached the paint, Izoje swatted her layup away.
“She’s special,” Legette-Jack said of Izoje. “Paige Bueckers special. Hannah Hidalgo special. And they’re allowed to play. And we’re gonna let this young lady play. When she’s allowed to play, you see how dominant she can become.”
Izoje wasn’t just directing on defense but also on the glass. While she recorded just three rebounds, she opened space, allowing Thompson and SU’s backcourt to swoop in and thrive.
Aside from Izoje, Nelson grabbed three first-quarter rebounds to pace the Orange. She found Izoje for the game’s first points after rebounding her block. Less than two minutes later, though, Nelson did things herself.
Phelia crossed a pass to Nelson on the opposite side of the perimeter. Nelson broke in, shooting off iron, but collected her own rebound and put it back up for her first collegiate points. It was one of the Orange’s 16 offensive boards, which translated to 15 second-chance points.
Darius also dominated the boards from the backcourt, hauling in a team-high eight rebounds, her most since Nov. 28, 2023, against Cal Poly when she played for USC.
“My whole thing is aggression. Coach Jack got on me a little bit because I was too lackadaisical with the ball, which I was,” Darius said postgame. “I want to be aggressive to create for myself but also create for my teammates, cause I know when I’m aggressive the team is better.”
As Syracuse outrebounded Stony Brook 13-6 in the first quarter and 14-9 in the second, the game was all but over. SU held a 37-21 lead at halftime, but the second half was when its rebounding made the difference.
Aside from Thompson’s sequence, Phelia rose for a board with just over five minutes left in the third, displaying the aggression Legette-Jack longs for. Burrows missed a 3 from the left wing, and as Phelia ran in from the corner, she collided with Stony Brook’s Melissa Mwanza, falling to the ground on her tailbone.
“She scared me to death,” Legette-Jack said. “She was coming down with that ball in her hand. That’s who we are.”
SU’s rebounding advantage grew, and with it, its lead. The Orange finished the second half with 25 rebounds to Stony Brook’s 12.
As Thompson raced out of the postgame press conference, she grabbed the hard hat and put it on her head. It’s a testament to who she was on Tuesday, and who Syracuse hopes to be for the remainder of its season.
