By Derek DeBurger
No. 15 Louisville will end its run of four straight ranked opponents with a rematch of the one who started it all: the No. 23 Syracuse Orange.
By the end of the first matchup, Louisville cruised to a 12-point victory despite being unable to contain Dyaisha Fair from scoring in droves. Since then, Fair has stepped up her offensive output to an even greater level. She’s averaging 27.5 points over her last two games and moved into fifth all-time on the women’s basketball scoring list.
Jeff Walz and company weren’t able to stop Fair last time, but if they find more success on Sunday it’s likely that Georgia Woolley could step up to lead the Orange offense. Woolley is the second leading scorer and assister for Syracuse with 13.1 and 3.2 per game respectively. Woolley is a tall guard who could accelerate in running an offense, so the game plan can’t be as simple as forcing the ball out of Fair’s hands.
In the two games following the Feb. 1 matchup, Syracuse has needed to come back late to secure victories. The Orange were tied midway through the fourth quarter against Boston College until a late run gave them a 12-point victory, and needed what would become game-winning free throws from Fair against Georgia Tech with 30 seconds left to sneak a win at home.
Like the Feb. 1 matchup, the winner of Sunday’s game will be put in a great position in the ACC race for first place. A Louisville win would keep them on pace with Virginia Tech and remain in second place in the ACC; if Syracuse comes out on top, they’d surpass the Cards to hold second place.
Sunday’s game will be at Syracuse, so naturally it’ll prove much tougher for the Cards to get a victory. You always want to defend your home court and steal wins on the road when you can, and I believe this one can be stolen.
I’m—barely—expecting the Cards to come away with the win, and improve to 21-4 on the season and 10-2 in the ACC.
