Observations from SU’s win over Canisius: Phelia’s scoring, paint presence
Laila Phelia scored a team-high 22 points, including 11 in the first quarter, as Syracuse handily defeated Canisius Tuesday. Eli Schwartz | Staff Photographer
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Since 1979, Syracuse has played Canisius 13 times. SU’s won eleven of them. All of those wins — except a 64-56 triumph in 1991 and a 87-79 win in 1979 — have been double-digit victories. The Golden Griffins haven’t posed much of a threat to Syracuse.
That wasn’t going to change this year. Under second-year head coach Tiffany Swoffard, Canisius has struggled to remain competitive against Division I opponents. The Golden Griffins have played two games this year — against then-No. 13 Michigan and Eastern Michigan — and have lost both of them, failing to score over 40 points in either contest.
Syracuse, on the other hand, opened its season with two double-digit wins. With Canisius averaging a paltry 39.5 points per game heading into its matchup with SU, it’s no surprise that trend continued Tuesday, as the Orange secured a 96-72 victory over the Golden Griffins.
Here are some key observations from Syracuse’s (3-0, Atlantic Coast) win over Canisius (0-3, Metro Atlantic):
Pheeling good
What would Syracuse do without Laila Phelia?
As soon as the Orange landed the Texas graduate transfer from the portal, it was clear that she would play a significant role in SU’s offense. The departure of Georgia Woolley left Syracuse without a true dominant scorer, and with Phelia having two All-Big Ten seasons under her belt from Michigan, she was bound to have a chance to fill that role.
She sure looked the part Tuesday. After Dominique Darius opened the game by missing a layup, Franka Wittenberg got the Golden Griffins on the board first. It was the first lead Canisius had held all season.
Phelia ensured it wouldn’t last. With the game tied at 2-2, she received a pass from Sophie Burrows, drove to the middle and hit a mid-range jumper to put SU up. It was a sequence that repeated itself throughout the game.
Get the ball, drive to the center, launch a mid-range. It was almost formulaic for Phelia. She hit three similar shots — notching an and-1 on one of them — to end the first quarter with a team-leading 11 points. Phelia ended with 22 points, but the game was effectively decided after the first 10 minutes, largely thanks to Phelia’s efforts.
Defense is the new offense?
It’s no secret that defense was a significant point of emphasis for Syracuse this past offseason. Head coach Felisha Legette-Jack said so at SU’s Media Day. So far, her rebuilding efforts have seemed to work, as the Orange opened their season by limiting Stony Brook and UAlbany to 50 or fewer points.
But by fixing SU’s defense, Legette-Jack has simultaneously reignited its offense. On Tuesday, the Orange tormented the Golden Griffins defensively, snagging 28 takeaways throughout the game. Those turnovers yielded plenty of productive opportunities on the other end of the ball.
Early in the first quarter, after Darius tied the game at 2-2 for Syracuse, Uche Izoje intercepted Kelsey Bess’ pass to regain possession. Her takeaway led to Phelia’s mid-range shot, giving SU the lead. The ensuing possession, Darius picked Wittenberg’s pocket and took the ball the other way to the rim to make it 6-2.
Midway through the second quarter, Darius did it again. This time, she victimized Yasmine Djibril, snagging her third steal of the game and taking it to the hoop to boost her tally to 11 points. She finished with four steals and a career-high 21 points, cementing herself as one of SU’s premier two-way threats.
The Orange finished the first half with 53 points, their highest-scoring half in Legette-Jack’s tenure. But it was SU’s defensive aggression that truly fueled its offensive eruption.
Fade the 3-ball
The 3-pointer has become an ever-present part of modern basketball. NBA stars — like Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson, the Golden State Warriors’ infamous “Splash Brothers” — have made it an inescapable part of the sport.
This season, though, life would be infinitely easier for Syracuse if that weren’t the case. Its early 3-point woes have been well documented, as the Orange combined for just three makes on 22 tries beyond the arc against UAlbany and Stony Brook. The shot just isn’t falling for SU, even against weaker opposition.
So, the Orange opened their contest against Canisius with an alternative solution: avoiding it altogether. On Tuesday, Syracuse didn’t attempt a single 3 throughout the entirety of the first quarter, and it only attempted four in the first half.
That strategy persisted throughout the rest of the game. Burrows — who shot a sharp 39.6% from beyond the arc last season — opened the third quarter by missing her second 3-point attempt of the game. SU missed its next three attempts, and its drought wouldn’t break until Burrows made her first 3 of the season midway through the fourth quarter.
Syracuse has gotten away with its glaring 3-point inefficiencies thus far. But to compete against ACC competition, the Orange need to shoot better than 33.3% on nine tries beyond the arc.
Paint presence
Points have to come from somewhere. Especially when you score a season-high 96 of them. So, if the Orange were going to completely avoid the 3-pointer against Canisius, they were going to have to get comfortable finding ways to score elsewhere.
Fortunately for SU, Izoje doesn’t need to shoot 3s to put the ball in the net. She entered Tuesday averaging 12.5 points per game, tied with Darius for the team lead. Almost all of those points have come in the paint.
Izoje was quiet in the first quarter, scoring just two points. But Journey Thompson and the rest of the Orange picked up her slack, as SU outscored the Golden Griffins 20-4 in the paint during the game’s opening period.
She began to wake up soon after, though. Midway through the second quarter, Izoje used her physical presence to work her way into the paint for a score. And she opened the third quarter by backing down Ileana Feliz in the post, banking in a layup, drawing a foul and forcing Feliz out of the game. Izoje finished with 17 points, and the Orange outscored Canisius 56-30 in the paint.
Canisius didn’t have a big who could effectively limit Izoje in the post. On Tuesday, Syracuse took full advantage.
