No. 25 Syracuse’s star guards struggle in defeat to North Carolina

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Syracuse was eventually going to pay for its heavy-reliance on its stars. Specifically, its guard tandem of Dyaisha Fair and Georgia Woolley — the typical catalysts of SU’s offense.

Fair and Woolley are the two staples who consistently came through, in one way or another, across Syracuse’s first 12 games. Whether it was Fair’s clutch 3-point shooting to defeat then-No. 13 Notre Dame or Woolley scoring a season-high 23 points to defeat Cornell, the Orange could always count on their backcourt duo.

Yet Thursday against North Carolina, when all else failed, Fair and Woolley were nowhere to be found, either. The two combined to shoot 8-of-32 for just 20 points, with Fair accounting for 17 of those, and went an abysmal 3-of-12 from 3-point range. For an SU side which often was playing from behind and forced into taking contested 3s, finishing 6-of-30, its two star guards — Fair and Woolley — were at the forefront of those struggles.

“That’s not who we are,” SU head coach Felisha Legette-Jack said on her team settling from 3-point range. “We’re not doing that again.”

Five days after starting Atlantic Coast Conference play with an upset win over Notre Dame, No. 25 Syracuse (11-2, 1-1 ACC) responded with a thud, falling on the road to North Carolina (10-4, 2-0 ACC) 75-51. In its second consecutive spot where SU needed big performances out of its stars, Fair and Woolley shared off-nights from the floor and couldn’t answer UNC’s efficient offense (50% team shooting). The two were forced into errant shots and threw up long range looks as this time, they couldn’t propel the Orange to a comeback victory.

Though the pressure hasn’t been this high for Fair and Woolley in 2023-24. Syracuse’s lack of depth proved costly Thursday, as its overreliance on Fair and Woolley was bound to doom it in the end.

Fair, the point guard, provides the Orange with a veteran presence who hits 3s more often than anyone in the ACC (3.22 makes per game entering Thursday). While Woolley, the 2 guard, provides SU a solid second scoring option, averaging more than 14 points a game.

They’ve been a lethal combination for Syracuse thus far. But not against North Carolina. Not on a night in which the Orange recieved just seven collective points from their bench. Not when their third and fourth scoring options — Alyssa Latham and Alaina Rice — shot a combined 6-of-22 for 16 points. SU was put in a position where it needed its stars to overcome the rest of its deficiencies, and Fair and Woolley failed to do so.

North Carolina guards Deja Kelly and Lexi Donarski primarily matched up on Fair and Woolley. Kelly and Donarski played aggressive defense on the two all night, switching to prevent them from driving and forcing them into errant 3s. Fair converted a couple of 3s late in the first half and had three long range makes through 20 minutes. But in the second half, Fair and Woolley couldn’t make a single 3, going 0-for-9, swarmed by UNC’s guards throughout the frame.

Fair ended the loss with her second-lowest 3-point shooting percentage of the season (25%), while Woolley had her worst outing from long range thus far in the campaign (0-of-6).

“You’ve gotta get to the lip of the rim, that’s who we are. We had openings and we kind of just threw the ball in the air and prayed it went in,” Legette-Jack said.

Syracuse’s head coach said postgame that she had plays designed for the Orange to work the ball inside and get short-range buckets. She wasn’t pleased with her team throwing up a litany of 3-balls but it was all it could do at times with how its depth, particularly in the frontcourt, struggled.

Latham and Kyra Wood couldn’t do much down low, matched up against UNC’s Alyssa Ustby and Maria Gakdeng. The Tar Heels’ forwards forced Latham into an inefficient night, as the freshman shot 4-of-13 and couldn’t regularly score in the paint. While Wood did shoot 4-of-5, she only pulled in four rebounds, as Ustby often skied over her to prevent SU from getting second-chance points — and letting UNC expand its big lead.

Syracuse’s bench didn’t contribute a whole lot, either. Saniaa Wilson has been its lone backup big since Dec. 4, as center Izabel Varejão hasn’t played from then on. Wilson only mustered two points in 26 minutes off the bench and wound up fouling out. Sophie Burrows and Kennedi Perkins were the only others to get significant playing time as backups, but they totaled just five points on a combined 2-for-7 shooting.

So, the bench struggled, the frontcourt was inefficient and Orange couldn’t get second chance points. The weight was entirely on Fair and Woolley’s shoulders. And the Tar Heels proved that can’t happen much more if Syracuse wants to find consistent success in conference play.

The third quarter — where “everything” went wrong for SU, according to Legette-Jack — highlighted the game UNC forced Syracuse into playing. After being down 40-34, North Carolina embarked on an 11-0 run over a three-minute stretch. Fair and Woolley went 0-for-5 in the span, including 0-for-3 from beyond the arc. The Orange couldn’t rely on their outside options, who hadn’t shown they were going to step up.

As SU spent the rest of the game in desperation mode, Fair and Woolley couldn’t make a single 3-pointer down the stretch to give any sort of glimpse of hope. Once a Woolley pass was intercepted by Ustby and taken coast-to-coast for a layup, making it 72-44 UNC midway through the fourth, Syracuse had nothing left to offer as Fair and Woolley were promptly subbed out with time still remaining.

Albeit, it’s just one off-showing. Fair and Woolley are still two integral parts of why the Orange earned their first top 25 ranking under Legette-Jack. Now, Syracuse must find consistency in its depth, or else Fair and Woolley will have too much pressure on them — and be susceptible to more rough outings.

“These kids are good,” Legette-Jack said. “They had a bad damn day, they don’t have a bad life.”