Spring Break
The Daily OrangeWBB | Switch to man defense prompts turnaround for Orange
By Matt Ehalt
Posted: 11/24/08, 5:37 PM EST Section: Sports
The 3-point shots continued to rattle in, and Syracuse women's basketball head coach Quentin Hillsman knew he had to make a change. Playing in its typical zone defense, Syracuse could not stop the hot shooting of Portland State.
The Vikings made seven 3-pointers in the first half, and hit another three shots from downtown in the first nine minutes of the second half during Saturday's contest. Hillsman called a timeout to change his team's defense from zone to man-to-man.
The change worked.
Syracuse's stingy man-to-man defense over the last 16-plus minutes of the game helped propel the Orange to an 82-77 overtime win over Portland State in its home opener Saturday afternoon inside the Carrier Dome. After allowing 59 points in the first 29 minutes of action, Syracuse only allowed 18 points the rest of the way
"I said at the 11- minute mark that we're going to play man-to-man the rest of the game," Hillsman said. "And if we guard them we're going to win the game, and if we can't guard them, we're going to lose. So I just challenged and said 'Hey, you're going to guard your man, you're not going to foul her.' In the second half, that's obviously what we did."
In a first half eerily reminiscent of that against Siena, in which the opposing team came out firing and made most of its shots, Portland State shot 47.1 percent from the floor in the first half and made 7-of-17 3-point shots. The 45 points the Viking scored is the most Syracuse has allowed in a half so far on the young season.
Using crisp, clean passing, the Vikings moved the ball around the perimeter of the Orange's zone defense to find open looks and connect. Three Portland State players hit 3-pointers in the first half, and two of the players hit three from long range.
"They were very good and we knew they would be good, but they really shot the ball extremely well the first half," Hillsman said. "We just had to make sure that we'd continue to plug away, and play hard and be aggressive. They came out and made shots and that made the game tough."
The Vikings made seven 3-pointers in the first half, and hit another three shots from downtown in the first nine minutes of the second half during Saturday's contest. Hillsman called a timeout to change his team's defense from zone to man-to-man.
The change worked.
Syracuse's stingy man-to-man defense over the last 16-plus minutes of the game helped propel the Orange to an 82-77 overtime win over Portland State in its home opener Saturday afternoon inside the Carrier Dome. After allowing 59 points in the first 29 minutes of action, Syracuse only allowed 18 points the rest of the way
"I said at the 11- minute mark that we're going to play man-to-man the rest of the game," Hillsman said. "And if we guard them we're going to win the game, and if we can't guard them, we're going to lose. So I just challenged and said 'Hey, you're going to guard your man, you're not going to foul her.' In the second half, that's obviously what we did."
In a first half eerily reminiscent of that against Siena, in which the opposing team came out firing and made most of its shots, Portland State shot 47.1 percent from the floor in the first half and made 7-of-17 3-point shots. The 45 points the Viking scored is the most Syracuse has allowed in a half so far on the young season.
Using crisp, clean passing, the Vikings moved the ball around the perimeter of the Orange's zone defense to find open looks and connect. Three Portland State players hit 3-pointers in the first half, and two of the players hit three from long range.
"They were very good and we knew they would be good, but they really shot the ball extremely well the first half," Hillsman said. "We just had to make sure that we'd continue to plug away, and play hard and be aggressive. They came out and made shots and that made the game tough."
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