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On Syracuse’s second possession of the game, freshman Kamilla Cardoso received a pass in the paint with her back facing the hoop. She posted up, creating some separation from the North Carolina defender. Cardoso got fouled before she could release the shot, and she went to the line where she missed both free throws.

After that, she rarely saw the ball until the end of the game, and she didn’t register her first shot until 19 minutes into the game.

Against North Carolina (6-2, 1-2 Atlantic Coast) on Thursday night, Syracuse (4-1, 1-1 ACC) struggled to get its centers involved. Syracuse had a clear size advantage over UNC, something SU’s utilized through its first four games. But Thursday, the Orange’s size didn’t matter.

Offensively, Cardoso, Maeva Djaldi-Tabdi and Amaya Finklea-Guity were virtually nonexistent. Cardoso finished with 11 points and 13 rebounds, but nearly half of her double-double came in the game’s closing minutes, once UNC had all-but secured its 92-68 upset victory over No. 18 Syracuse.

“She’s tall, that sort of goes without saying,” UNC head coach Courtney Banghart said of Cardoso postgame. “We wanted to … stay underneath her and root her out, which I thought we did a really good job of.”

Syracuse’s poor shot selection was largely the reason its centers had a quiet night. The Orange scored only 26 points in the paint, failing to match UNC’s 38, and attempted 36 3-pointers. On numerous occasions, SU fired from beyond the arc on one or two passes into its possession before looking inside to potentially connect with a Cardoso, Djaldi-Tabdi or Finklea-Guity.

Head coach Quentin Hillsman’s said repeatedly that one of Syracuse’s keys to reducing turnovers is taking open shots and avoiding “overpassing.” But on Thursday, Syracuse’s shots felt forced. Again and again, the Orange’s guards and forwards pulled up for a 3. And again and again, those shots rattled off the rim.

From beyond the arc, Digna Strautmane finished 1-for-6, Kiara Lewis went 2-of-7, and Priscilla Williams and Taleah Washington both went 0-of-4. The Orange shot a combined 25% from 3, spending possessions on deep shots instead of using size — through their centers — to score in the paint.

“We really did a good job in our gaps,” Banghart said of her team. “(Syracuse) had five assists in the game, and obviously that’s something we take pride in.”

Defensively, Syracuse’s centers were spotty, too. Five minutes into the first quarter, Finklea-Guity was camped out on the right side of the arc as Deja Kelly drove toward the basket. Finklea-Guity recognized the drive too late, and Kelly exposed a gaping hole by dribbling right through the middle of Syracuse’s paint, unimpeded.

When Lewis pulled up from at least five feet outside the arc minutes later, Finklea-Guity was boxed out by three UNC defenders competing for the rebound. She wasn’t in position to jump for the loose ball, and UNC drove down to the other end and once again beat her to a second-chance rebound for two points. Finklea-Guity played 10 minutes and had zero points.

With 20 seconds left on the shot clock on one of the final possessions of the first quarter, Djaldi-Tabdi found herself one-on-one in the paint, with an advantageous inside position on her defender. Williams received the pass and fired a contested 3 over her defender, which rattled off the rim. Djaldi-Tabdi played 16 minutes and didn’t score.

Against Miami, Syracuse jumped out to an early 9-0 lead by taking advantage of Cardoso’s 6-foot-7 frame. She scored six of those points in the paint, converting on three layups, and she forced a turnover in the middle of SU’s zone to help create the other three points.

Thursday, though, it took Syracuse until two minutes into the second quarter to score its first points of the quarter, through Emily Engstler. An SU center didn’t score in the paint until the final minute of the half.

Hillsman said Tuesday that Cardoso will play “as many minutes as she can handle.” Heading into Thursday’s matchup against UNC, the highest-ranked recruit in Syracuse’s program history averaged 15.5 minutes per game through four games. Against Miami, the freshman played 13 minutes and scored 14 points.

Hurricanes head coach Katie Meier said Cardoso was someone she had to create “an entire game plan,” around, and though she didn’t play a lot of minutes, she was “so impressive in the minutes that she’s in.” Hillsman emphasized that, despite Cardoso’s height, the Orange have a lot of depth at center, including Djaldi-Tabdi, Finklea-Guity and Strautmane.

“We’ve got to have seven or eight starters, seven to eight players who can play starter minutes,” Hillsman said Tuesday. “So it doesn’t make a difference to me who starts a game.”

Against unranked North Carolina, Cardoso started for the Orange. Hillsman said Tuesday that he liked to start with the freshman before going to Finklea-Guity, who’s veteran status typically means she closes out games that Cardoso starts. With Cardoso quiet, though, Hillsman turned to Finklea-Guity three minutes into the first quarter, and rotated between centers for the remainder of the game.

In the opening minute of the second half, Strautmane received a pass from Tiana Mangakahia on the break. A UNC defender was charging toward her, but Strautmane put up the shot anyway, which came up short.

She followed the shot with her eyes, and straight in her line of vision was Cardoso — standing in the paint with both arms in the air, calling for the ball.

Published on December 18, 2020 at 12:40 am

Contact Roshan: rferna04@syr.edu | @Roshan_f16