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When Syracuse secured what was then the most dominant victory of head coach Felisha Legette-Jack’s tenure over Wagner on Nov. 16, it appeared as if that record would stand for at least the next several months — if not the remainder of the season.

Yet 33 days later, that 49-point win was dwarfed by SU’s 106-40 thrashing against Mercyhurst. The Orange entered the JMA Wireless Dome riding hot on Sunday, coming off a six-game win streak and their aforementioned blowout over the Lakers.

Nine days have elapsed since that win. Duke entered Sunday having defeated Syracuse in their last five matchups. With the Orange coming off their extended break, it was easy to foresee a world in which that layoff was enough to cool down Legette-Jack’s squad.

And it was. In SU’s Atlantic Coast Conference home opener, it allowed the Blue Devils to extend their winning streak in the series to six, squandering a seven-point first quarter lead in its first conference defeat.

Here’s some observations from Syracuse’s (11-2, 1-1 ACC) 71-51 loss against Duke (7-6, 2-0 ACC):

Sophie’s early steals

Syracuse has been adept at generating turnovers all season. Entering Sunday, the Orange forced its opponents to cough up the ball an average of 22 times per game, the 26th best mark in the country.

Dominique Darius, who Olivia Schmitt dubbed SU’s “defensive captain” after its dominant defensive display against Wagner, has spearheaded those efforts with 2.3 steals per game. Beyond her, though, Sophie Burrows has been as active on the defensive end as any Syracuse player this season.

Burrows — who was expected to step up as the Orange’s offensive cornerstone — instead became a defensive anchor, entering Sunday slightly behind Darius with 1.8 steals per game. Early on, she used those skills to power Syracuse’s offense.

Guarding Taina Mair, Burrows plucked the ball away and found Darius sprinting down the court, who made the uncontested layup and gave SU its first bucket. On Duke’s next offensive possession, she blocked Mair’s jumper and stole the ensuing inbounds pass from Toby Fournier. Driving to the paint, she found Shy Hawkins for a contested layup to give the Orange the 4-2 lead.

Burrows struggled to find her shot — going 1-for-10 from the field — but she made her impact with five steals and three blocks.

Discouraging drought

With two minutes and change left in the first quarter, Legette-Jack’s squad was in full control of the game. Darius had just sunk two free throws to stretch the Orange’s lead to a game-high 14-7. They were getting to the rim at ease, while every Blue Devils’ offensive possession looked labored and difficult.

That advantage evaporated before the start of the second quarter. Syracuse proceeded to go scoreless for the next six minutes, allowing Duke to score 14 points in that span. Their fortunes flipped in just a few minutes, akin to a “Freaky Friday”-esque body switch.

Mair began the stretch by getting to the rim, drawing contact against Aurora Almón and making two free throws to cut the deficit to five. Then, she got right back to action with an and-1 layup, drawing the foul on Angelica Velez to make it 12-14.

Meanwhile, the Orange simply couldn’t get the ball in the bucket. After Ashlon Jackson’s layup tied the game at 14 to end the first, Burrows opened the second frame by missing two jumpers — one of which was blocked by Fournier.

Then Laila Phelia missed a jumper. Darius made up for it with a steal, but Phelia coughed the ball right back up. SU couldn’t get anything going. By the time Darius broke through with a midrange jumper, it was 21-16 Duke, and the Blue Devils’ advantage swelled to 33-22 at the half.

Fouls, fouls, fouls

It’s hard to come up with many things Legette-Jack hates more than fouls. Even in SU’s aforementioned win over Wagner, she made it a point to mention postgame that she felt her team fouled far too much against the Seahawks.

That problem hasn’t gone away. If anything, it was a primary reason why Duke flipped the game’s momentum on its head before the half.

Almón’s aforementioned foul got Duke’s scoring run started, and Velez’s allowed Mair to cut the deficit with her three-point play. Throughout the second quarter, Syracuse picked up seven fouls to Duke’s three — giving the Blue Devils eight free throw opportunities compared to its two.

Even when positive things happened for Syracuse, it just couldn’t seem to get out of its own way. When Darius nailed the Orange’s first 3-pointer to make it a 23-19 game, her flexing celebration got her rung up for a technical foul, giving Duke two free throws and the ball.

Overall, SU finished with 21 fouls and gave Duke 24 free throws, both of which are surely unacceptable marks for Legette-Jack.

Get on the glass!

Syracuse isn’t a particularly great free-throw shooting team. The Orange don’t make shots inside the arc at an exceptionally high rate. And no one would confuse this iteration of SU’s squad for a group of 3-point marksmen.

It begs the question: What does this team actually do well offensively?

The answer is rebound — specifically on the offensive end — at an incredibly high level. Entering Sunday, SU ranked fourth among Division I teams with a total of 230 offensive boards. Through twelve games, the team ranked third with 19.2 offensive rebounds per game and 14th with 44.8 total rebounds per game.

But against Syracuse, Duke completely shut down the paint. Uche Izoje, who entered Sunday averaging 8.3 boards per game, only had four against the Blue Devils. Arianna Robertson did the dirty work for Duke, dominating the glass with 12.

SU can afford to be inefficient from the field when it can create second-chance opportunities on the glass. But if you get outrebounded 48-40 and give up 17 offensive boards, it becomes utterly impossible to win basketball games.

Published on December 28, 2025 at 6:02 pm
Contact Mauricio: mjpalmar@syr.edu | @mpalmarDO