Frustrated after Thursday's sloppy victory over Alabama State, Syracuse head coach Quentin Hillsman felt the need to send a message.
Despite the victory, and a subsequent 3-0 start, Hillsman decided his team needed a wake-up call. So in preparation for Sunday's matchup with Binghamton, the Syracuse coach decided to turn practices into track meets, running wind sprints and laps during the two days between games.
The message was received loud and clear.
After only shooting 30 percent from the field against Alabama State, the Orange put on an offensive clinic Sunday, beating the Bearcats 87-74 behind Nicole Michael's career-high 36 points. Syracuse dropped 51 first half points on Binghamton thanks to an efficient 51.5 percent shooting from the field, which included a scorching 45.2 percent from beyond the arc. Hillsman's squad also drilled a season-high 14 three-pointers for game, nine of which game in the first half.
"Coach was very upset after the Alabama State game," Michael said following Sunday's game. "He felt we didn't play that well, so he killed us. I'm not going to lie, he killed us. I was very sore and I was just playing through it."
Despite being sore, Hillsman's message evidently stuck. Michael had 26 points in the first half alone, making her first six shots from downtown. While the defense focused on her, seven other SU players got on the scoreboard, providing the Orange with a balanced attack that kept the Bearcat defense from constantly double-teaming Michael.
As a result of the hot shooting, the Orange collected a season-high 28 assists on the day, with junior guards Tasha Harris and Erica Morrow each collecting nine apiece. The pair of guards continually found the open player in the offense, not just Michael.
"We knew we didn't play the way we wanted to play," freshman guard/forward Carmen Tyson-Thomas said. "So in practice we turned it up and that had an effect on the way we played today because we knew we wanted to play much better than what we did before."
Once SU had the outside game going, the inside opened up for Vionca Murray, Juanita Ward and Kayla Alexander, who chipped in 24 points combined, on 11-for-15 shooting from the field. The trio shot just 4-for-15 against Alabama State Thursday.
Multiple players, including Lynnae Lampkins and Tyler Ash, saw limited action because of what Hillsman described as "soreness" following the physical practices that took place. But the coach was more than pleased with the offensive output of the team collectively.
"To score 87 points is really good," Hillsman said about his team's offensive turnaround. "Our goal is to score 75 points at least and we scored 87, so I was very pleased with our offense. Erica (Morrow) and Nicole (Michael) stepped up and when your two best players step up and have this kind of game, you have to be very happy with your offense and production."
Morrow also added 14 points - eight in the second half - supplying the Orange with an offensive spark when Michael came to the bench for a breather. With only ten of Michael's 36 coming in the second half, it was especially important for Morrow to stay offensive-minded in the later stages of the game.
After the game, Morrow suggested that the letdown from the Alabama State game, combined with her coaches' determination to make a point played a role in the offensive aggressiveness and physicality that the Orange came out with Sunday.
"Like Coach (Hillsman) said, he wasn't too happy and we weren't happy with ourselves with how we performed last game," Morrow said. "We got in there and just went hard, played real physical. We just got up and down the floor a lot. We don't have a lot of light days here at Syracuse."
aljohn@syr.edu
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