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SAN ANTONIO — With two minutes to play, the referees gestured for a substitution timeout. UConn took out its starters, but head coach Quentin Hillsman stuck with his five veterans. Tiana Mangakahia calmly walked the ball up the floor as she’d done time and again en route to becoming the program’s all-time assist leader.

With UConn up 39, a glorified practice took the place of an NCAA Tournament game. For the Orange seniors planning to forgo their final year of eligibility, it was the end. Emily Engstler canned a triple, and UConn turned the ball over on the other end.

Mangakahia trotted over midcourt one final time. The buzzer sounded, she rolled the ball away behind her, and Hillsman pointed to the locker room. She bowed her head and started walking as the final player to leave the court.

Syracuse (15-9, 9-7 Atlantic Coast) fell to Connecticut (26-1, 18-0 Big East) on Tuesday for the 26th straight time, this one an 83-47 NCAA Tournament loss. It was the program’s worst margin of defeat since 2014. The Huskies didn’t have 11-time national champion head coach Geno Auriemma on the sidelines, as he was out for COVID-19 protocol, but they didn’t need him. UConn shot 55.1% from the field against the Orange and subdued SU 42-21 in the second half. Another season that started with SU players calling themselves a “top team” ended against the sport’s epitome of success.

“It was really disappointing in the locker room,” Mangakahia said. “Not much was said. We didn’t really talk much.”

Syracuse has never beat a No. 1 team in program history, but the Orange were determined to make this year different. Four days before SU’s season opener against Stony Brook on Nov 29, Engstler said, “This is the first year I feel 120% confident that we can finally prove everyone wrong.” Digna Strautmane followed by stating this Syracuse group could be the top team.

The Orange begrudged their original ranking of No. 23 to start the season, rose to as high as No. 18 and fell out of the Top 25 by the fifth week. As SU faded further from the rankings, players became a broken record at press conferences, saying how this team was better and would silence the “critics.”

On Monday, Mangakahia cited SU’s size and experience as reasons why the Orange were confident they’d pull off the upset. In Syracuse’s 24th game of the season, an opportunity arose to see some players, “do a lot of things that people haven’t seen yet,” Mangakahia said.

In the first quarter, Mangakahia seemed to be right. SU’s defense staggered the powerhouse Huskies in the first few minutes, echoing UConn assistant coach Chris Dailey, who said Monday that the Orange’s ability to convert from press to man or zone on the fly would be a challenge. Guard Christyn Williams carried on the first possession, and Syracuse found Kamilla Cardoso inside for a layup on the other end.

SU continued to vary its defenses to shorten the shot clock against star freshman Paige Bueckers and the Huskies, something the Orange found success doing in their first-round matchup against South Dakota State. Every Connecticut shot was contested early. SU prevented the nation’s fourth-best scoring offense from finding a rhythm.

Cardoso kept SU tied at six points, and Kiara Lewis knocked in a pair of free throws to tie again at eight. It put Strautmane in position to give SU the lead when she knocked the ball away at the high post. As it rolled toward the far sideline, she skid on her knee pads and scooped it back in play. But instead of a fellow Syracuse player, the ball found Williams with three seconds on the shot clock, and her heave banked in from 35 feet. A quick steal gave the ball back to UConn, and a Bueckers layup turned a potential Orange lead into a 13-8 deficit it would never make up.

“They did a really good job of just running lanes,” Hillsman said. “And we didn’t get back and get our defense set.”

Bueckers had been quiet but came alive after that point, finishing the half with 16 points. The Huskies finished the first half on a 10-3 run, capped by the All-American getting fouled in the corner on a 3-pointer and converting all three of her free throws with 49 seconds to play. The Orange barely made 30% of their looks in the first 20 minutes and shot 28.1% for the game.

“Obviously you got to score the basketball,” Hillsman said. “The only way you can answer runs is to make shots, and we didn’t make shots.”

Paige Bueckers started slow in the first quarter but heated up in the second, scoring 16 first-half points. Courtesy of Ben Solomon | NCAA Photos

During second-half timeouts, Hillsman would pound his clipboard with his pointer finger. He’d rock back in his chair and search for the words to inspire some semblance of a comeback as the holes in his defense multiplied and the offensive possessions lacked the focus displayed earlier. It was all in vain.

Even Syracuse’s first-half 18-14 advantage on the boards vanished. Following a Mangakahia turnover, every Orange jersey turned and watched Evina Westbrook corral a missed jumper and lay it back in uncontested. Hillsman called another timeout, then Aaliyah Edwards did the same thing on the opposite block on the next play.

Late in the third quarter, with the Huskies up 58-34, Bueckers knocked the ball off Syracuse out of bounds. The freshman pointed the other way, smiling and bobbing her head as she went. UConn’s ensuing possession ended in an and-1 attempt for Olivia Nelson-Ododa while her four teammates whooped and stomped around the Alamodome court with authority.

“It just got away kind of quick,” Mangakahia said. “Their transition points were really good. If we missed, they pushed it down our throats.”

The last time these two teams met, UConn was on a 108-game win streak, and Syracuse was “trying to be a great team,” Hillsman said. As another talented senior class exited a final time, it was once again the Huskies who reminded SU where it currently sits and who it’s still searching to become.

Published on March 23, 2021 at 11:19 pm

Contact Tim: tnolan@syr.edu