WBB vs Syracuse

GAME INFORMATION

January 6th at 2PM
Syracuse Orange
Cassell Coliseum, Blacksburg, VA
IMG Sports Network
ACC Network Extra

Syracuse Player Stats:

Starters:

Tiana Mangakahia

Miranda Drummond

Gabrielle Cooper

Digna Strautmane

Amaya Finklea-Guity: probably starts to get the opening tip; but plays less then her back up.

Others:

Maeva Djaldi-Tabdi. Doesn't start; but plays 19 min/game and is 3rd leading scorer at 9.9 pts/game. Actually plays more than Finklea-Guity, the starter.

Kiara Lewis; Another non-starter who plays a lot of minutes.

Emily Engstler

Kadiatou Sissoko

Isis Young

Raven Fox, Chelayne Bailey, Marie-Paule Foppossi, Lauren Fitzmaurice, and Brandi Fowler play little and score less.

Comments:

Syracuse is a better team in the ratings(14 in both polls) than Miami and is going to have a similar height advantage over the Hokies. And they play a lot of players; 10 players play at least 10 minutes per game. 8 of those play more than 15 minutes. But their offensive philosophy may make them an easier match up for the Ladies. They prefer to shoot outside, especially from 3; rather than take advantage of their height to go inside. However, they do take advantage of the height to get second and third shots in an offensive possession. Blocking out on the defensive boards will be very important.

45% of their shots are from 3. On a fast break, they are more likely to pull up and shoot a 3 than push the ball inside for a layup. All of the starters except Finklea-Guity(who has no attempts) shoot and make a lot of 3's. Cooper and Mangakahia have quick shots and range well beyond the 3 pt line. Tech will have to stay close to those 2 on defense.

Syracuse plays a 2-3 zone defense most of the time. I think the Ladies can get shots against this zone; but if they don't shoot better than they did against Miami, this game will not go well. I hope Coach Brooks uses the Miami game to teach them patience on offense. They took too many not good shots, too early in the shot clock against the Hurricanes. They need to watch some film of the men to get an understanding of the value of the extra pass to go from an ok shot to a good or great shot. Since this game is home for the Hokies, maybe the foul calls will be evenly balanced than the Miami game.

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