Wednesday, January 6, 2010

Guest Contributor Ray Floriani: At Syracuse vs Seton Hall Women's Basketball

by Ray Floriani

SOUTH ORANGE, NJ - The recurring shooting woes and turnovers continued to plague the Seton Hall women as they were defeated 79-38 by Syracuse on Tuesday at Walsh Gym.

In a 67 possession (Syracuse 66 Seton Hall 67) game, the Efficiency and Factors:


Off
FTA

EffeFG%FGAOReb%TO%
Syracuse12059304824
Seton Hall5726103931

With 8 minutes to go in the first half the game was competitive with Seton Hall trailing 21-15. The remainder of the half, Seton Hall scored one field goal and eventually took a 42-21 deficit into the break. For all intents and purposes the game was over.

Seton Hall actually had a 20-14 offensive rebounding edge but Syracuse enjoyed a 45-35 overall advantage and enjoyed a better offensive rebounding percentage.

Syracuse had a rather high turnover rate with their 16 turnovers but when your opponent wastes nearly one third of their possessions on the dreaded TO (21 total) it is not as urgent.

Syracuse’s size, especially with 6-2 Juanita Ward and 6-4 Kayla Alexander, contributed to the frequent trips to the line and high effective field goal percentage. Orange enjoyed a 38-8 edge in scoring in the paint.

Something familiar about the Orange. They played a 2-3 zone and it was very much like the one employed for decades by Jim Boeheim. They contest the perimeter and with their length inside deflect passes and generally make it a tough defense for the offense to solve. The Hall’s top scorer junior guard Ebonie Williams scored 2 points ( 1 of 8 shooting) and was continually frustrated all night. The 2-3 was not a one night defense designed to contest the Hall’s perimeter game. It is something coach Quentin Hillman, in his fourth season at the helm, has used as a cornerstone in building a very competitive women’s program at Syracuse.

Nicole Emery was the lone double figure scorer for the Hall with 19 points. Juanita Ward and Kayla Alexander shared Syracuse scoring honors with 18 each.

Syracuse improved to 13-1, 1-1 in the Big East with the only blemish an overtime loss to Georgetown on Saturday. Seton Hall falls to 8-7, 0-2 in conference.

Ryan Bacon sighting:
One day after his fine performance against Marist the St.Peter’s junior forward attended a junior varsity basketball game I officiated before heading to Seton Hall. High Tech defeated Memorial in the game at West New York. Bacon, a very soft spoken and humble person, attended the game with two women, one of whom had a younger brother playing for High Tech. “Give number 34 a few calls,” the player’s sister said as we met at halftime. “Can’t do that unless he earns them,” I said, “but if we mess up you can let us know.” They laughed at that. For the record the only thing we heard from the ladies was ‘nice job guys’ as we exited the gym.

“My first year at Syracuse I was watching the men practice and I looked up and saw that (national championship ) banner and thought about all those wins coach Boeheim has. It was then I decided to use the 2-3 zone he employs. Coach Boeheim has been great helping me with it. He has watched our practices, made suggestions and we both discuss it regularly.” - Syracuse coach Quentin Hillman
Walsh Gym, South Orange

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