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DULUTH, Ga. — Syracuse’s postgame locker room is no place for fun on Friday night. It’s silent. No music. No talking. Certainly no smiles.

The arc of lockers that line SU’s dressing room may as well have been the audience of a funeral. Some players whisper to one another. Sophie Burrows grabs an ice pack. Laila Phelia scrolls her phone.

Towards the middle of that arc, Syracuse’s starting point guard is hidden under a navy blue tracksuit. Hood up. Head down. Locked in the glow of her phone. She’s normally one of the loudest voices in this locker room. But on Friday, there was no reason for her to raise her voice.

Dominique Darius knew Syracuse’s (23-8, 12-6 Atlantic Coast) ACC Tournament run wasn’t supposed to end how it did Friday night, with an 87-61 pummeling at the hands of Louisville (26-6, 15-3 ACC). But after injuring her left hand in Thursday’s first round win over Cal, that became the unescapable reality. Darius was ruled out for the tournament Friday afternoon. And, as it turns out, that ended up being just one game.

In her absence, the Orange struggled to get going offensively. They scored their least points in a game since Jan. 8, had just three players in double figures, shot 34.3% from the field and missed 21 3-pointers. Syracuse just looked like a different team without Darius on the floor.

“Without (Darius), it was difficult to get the movement we needed,” head coach Felisha Legette-Jack said postgame.

Nobody wants to say it, but the question’s on everyone’s mind in the locker room. Reporters whisper about Darius’ availability to her teammates. No matter how hard she might try to block out the noise, she surely hears the questions swirling. But her guess is as good as anyone else’s. There’s no telling when — or if — she’ll suit up for Syracuse again.

That cynical reality — one where Darius has played her final game for SU — certainly isn’t one Syracuse wants to confront, but it’s a real possibility at this point in time. The positive is time is on Darius’ side, as the Orange’s NCAA Tournament opener won’t be played for at least two weeks. But, at her postgame press conference, Legette-Jack didn’t have an abundance of confidence in Darius’ return.

“When we get back, we’re gonna assess (Darius),” Legette-Jack began. “But I just … I don’t know.”

If Syracuse does have to go on without Darius — who’s been SU’s primary ball handler and third-leading scorer with 12.6 points per game — some changes are going to need to be made, because the Orange didn’t do a great job replacing her Friday.

Sophomore Olivia Schmitt got the start at point guard, her first of the season. She played 21 minutes and scored three points on 1-of-6 shooting. Freshman Camdyn Nelson saw some early run as well, but ended up playing just seven minutes. The same went for Angelica Velez, another option at point guard, who played four minutes in garbage time.

Madeline Potts talks with Laila Phelia on the court during Syracuse’s matchup with Louisville. In Dominique Darius’ absence, Potts scored just two points while Phelia added six. Courtesy of The Atlantic Coast Conference

This was precisely one of the biggest concerns about this Syracuse roster at the beginning of the season. Before Darius — who was more of a wing in four years at UCLA and USC — definitively took the reins at point guard, SU lacked a true, premier ball handler. And the depth at that possession hasn’t exactly been a strength this year.

In fact, Syracuse actually looked best without a real point guard on the court. In the second quarter, after the Orange already trailed by 15, Legette-Jack opted for Maddy Potts at the one. Legette-Jack said Potts played the position in high school, and a bigger lineup allowed Phelia to stay at shooting guard and match Louisville’s bigger five.

With Potts on the floor in the second, the Orange outscored Louisville 13-10, giving a flicker of hope. But on most possessions, Syracuse’s offense was forced into a game of “give the ball to Phelia or Uche Izoje and pray.”

Postgame, Phelia said she knew Darius’ injury meant she was going to bear more of the load offensively. That showed early, as Phelia took six field goals in the first quarter, scoring four points. From there, she completely cooled down, finishing 3-for-14 with six points — her worst field goal percentage with at least 10 attempts since January.

Phelia said Louisville’s ball pressure stunted the Orange offense all evening.

“For us, it was just maintaining that composure,” Phelia said. “Being able to just relax on the offensive end and go back to like the basics passing and cutting. We just (need to) understand that we can’t let that pressure speed us up.”

Normally, Syracuse has someone to help with that. But she was out of commission on the bench Friday night. SU’s other ball handlers are having to learn that composure on the fly.

Postgame, Schmitt — who’s likely the long-term replacement for Darius if she’s out — said she needed to be a better communicator and more of an offensive threat. Potts said she just needs to continue making an impact, no matter what position that may be in.

Louisville head coach Jeff Walz said Darius’ absence undoubtedly made it an easier matchup. After all, when the squads met in February, Darius almost single-handedly kept the Orange afloat with 16 points on perfect efficiency in the second quarter alone. Not having her Friday allowed the Cardinals to pressure the ball, speed up the SU offense and focus on limiting Phelia, Izoje and Burrows, Walz said.

“(Darius) controls that offense, and she can score the ball,” Walz said. “It’s (difficult) when, all of a sudden, you’re playing in the quarterfinals at the ACC Tournament, and you’ve got to try and make an adjustment.”

Indeed, it was for Syracuse Friday night. And it showed on the scoreboard.

The silver lining is that Orange can live with an ACC Tournament loss. As a projected No. 8 seed in the NCAA Tournament, this isn’t the end of the road. Only now, there’s a major question mark hovering above one of SU’s most important players.

So, as she sat in silence Friday night, one can only imagine the thoughts swirling through Darius’ head. Perhaps doubt. Perhaps resilience. Perhaps just disappointment. She’s come too far at this point in her career — through five years on the bench on the West Coast before starring for Syracuse — to have it end like this.

But if there’s one thing to know about Dominique Darius, it’s that she’s going to fight for it. The Orange can only hope she’ll come out on the winning end.

Published on March 6, 2026 at 10:20 pm
Contact Harris: harrispemberton@gmail.com | @HarrisPemb6