Syracuse overcomes Laila Phelia’s absence and Stanford’s physicality in resilient 69-58 victory

The Syracuse Orange entered Saturday’s matchup against Stanford riding high from an overtime thriller against Cal just two days earlier. But just before the tip, it was confirmed that star guard Laila Phelia would miss the game with an injury.

Graduate guard Dominique Darius felt Phelia’s absence during warmups, admitting she “wished [Phelia] was out there with the team.”

But head coach Felisha Leggette-Jack challenged her team to go out and win for their sister. And that’s exactly what they did, dispatching the Cardinal 69-58 in a physical, grinding affair at the JMA Wireless Dome.

“Resilience,” Leggette-Jack said afterward. “It’s our word of the year.”

Fresh off hitting the game-winner against Cal on Thursday, Darius picked up right where she left off. She drained her first two shots of the afternoon, both threes, as part of a dominant first quarter which saw her score 10 of Syracuse’s 21 points. The Orange jumped out to a 7-4 lead and never trailed again.

When asked about her hot start, Darius described the Cal game-winner and the form she’s found since as an “awakening” of sorts. That awakening carried her to 14 points by halftime and 26 by the final buzzer, shouldering the offensive load with Phelia sidelined.

But the path to victory was anything but smooth.

Despite trailing for nearly the entire game, Stanford made Syracuse earn every possession. The matchup turned chippy early in the second quarter, with both teams hacking away on defense. The Cardinal were relentless on the offensive glass, pulling down a staggering 21 offensive rebounds compared to just 19 defensive boards. 

“They are really physical,” Leggette-Jack told her team at halftime. “But I said, stop looking at the official, no one is coming to save you. So when they knock you down, next person up, next person up. And we just decided we’re gonna pretend we’re at Thornden Park, and when they tackle us we’re just gonna get back up and play.”

The Orange took that message to heart.

Syracuse tightened up defensively in the third quarter, seemingly making a concerted effort to contest every Stanford shot, an effort that forced Stanford’s percentages from the field beneath 25% in the third and 30% in the fourth. 

While Darius provided the offensive firepower, it was the unsung contributions that exemplified Syracuse’s resilience.

Freshman center Uche Izoje battled in the paint all afternoon, finishing with 12 points on 5 of 13 shooting and pulling down 10 rebounds. Her strong play down low and ability to finish through contact kept the Orange afloat during multiple Stanford runs. 

While senior forward Journey Thompson’s stat line of six points on 1-of-4 shooting in 29 minutes does not jump off the page, her impact tells a very different story. Thompson posted a team-high +16 differential, a number that speaks to making winning plays, even if they don’t show up in the box score.

“She’s always in the right place,” Leggette-Jack said of Thompson.

Thompson embraces that role wholeheartedly.

“I’ve always been someone who is willing to do whatever it takes to make the team succeed,” she said. “And something we did early on [in the year] was talk about our goals, and my goal has been, as Coach calls it, ‘to do the blue collar stuff.’”

On a day when Syracuse got dominated on the glass and played without their best player, it was precisely that blue-collar mentality that carried them through.

As Leggette-Jack put it: Resilience is their word of the year. And “we’re living it.”

The Orange improved to 16-3 overall and 6-2 in ACC play, keeping pace near the top of the conference standings. Syracuse will travel to Chapel Hill to face North Carolina on Sunday, Jan. 25.