WBB | After long absence, Orange finally return home

By: Matthew Ehalt

Posted: 11/21/08

It's been a long time since Erica Morrow played a game in front of the fans at the Carrier Dome. The last time the sophomore shooting guard and the rest of the SU women's basketball team played a home game was March 3, 2008.

Since then, the Orange saw neutral courts to end the 2007-08 season and has played three straight road games to open its 2008-09 campaign. But the drought of home games will come to an end this weekend.

Syracuse (2-1) hosts Portland State (1-0) Saturday at 1 p.m. in the Carrier Dome. It's the Orange's first chance to rebound from its 78-71 loss to No. 17 Ohio State on Wednesday.

"I'm just looking forward to playing in the Dome and playing in front of all our fans," Morrow said. "They haven't seen us play in a while. Everyone else has gotten a preview of us coming back, but our own fans haven't, so (I look forward to) just come back and play in front of our fans and stop traveling."

The Orange went 13-2 at home last season, with victories over Louisville (Sweet 16 participants), Marquette (WNIT champion) and No. 13 West Virginia. The only home losses came to No. 1 Connecticut and No. 16 Notre Dame.

Ironically, the Orange's success at home is a reason why the team will play its first home game of the season four games in. While the team was 13-2 at home, it went 9-7 in games away from the Carrier Dome.

SU head coach Quentin Hillsman wanted to prepare his team for road games, and toned down the home games in the schedule. Of the team's 13 non-conference games, only seven of them are home. Hillsman's players understand the strategy, but still want to get back to playing on their home court.

"I definitely miss playing in the Dome," junior forward Nicole Michael said. "It's tough for us playing away, that's why coach has us playing away now. That's a good thing for coach, for us to get used to it. When we come back home, this is our home, so we're just going to play our game."

The home games for the Orange will also carry more significance because of the team's daunting road schedule. The Orange lost to No. 17 Ohio State on Wednesday and also travels to No. 1 Connecticut, No. 9 Louisville and No. 15 Notre Dame.

The only ranked team the Orange has on its schedule at home right now is No. 3 Rutgers. This places extra emphasis on SU's home games. Losing at home to ranked teams is one thing. Losing to lesser opponents hurts come NCAA tournament selection time.

"It's hard to play any away game, so you want to win all your home games on your own turf," Morrow said. "You have an advantage, and want to take advantage of your advantage, so you want to win all your home games because you know it's going to be so tough on the road. We hope to win every game, but that does place a little more emphasis on beating every team on our home court."

Syracuse's home stay won't last long. The Orange will play a pair of games in the Great Alaska Shootout, starting Tuesday, meaning Syracuse will have played five of its first six games away from the Dome.

Saturday's contest also marks the home debut for several Syracuse players. Juco-transfer Juanita Ward said she cannot wait to play in the arena she has dreamed of playing in since she came to Syracuse.

As for Hillsman? The Orange's first home game barely registered on the head coach's radar.

"I have no clue who we play this weekend, I'm going to be totally honest with you," Hillsman said with a laugh. "I don't even know when the game is and I'm being totally serious. When do we play? We're looking forward to it and I'm looking forward to that. Whole-heartedly, I didn't even know."

mrehalt@syr.edu