When Bria Day checked in just one minute into the game against Central Connecticut, she stepped on to the court with sophomore Julia Chandler. The minute she got in, Day was yelling and directing the Orange’s 2-3 zone from her center position.

In general, her teammates constituting Syracuse’s second unit are different from before. Teammates such as Chandler, along with Abby Grant, Jade Phillips and Desiree Elmore, are all a major part of Syracuse’s rotation and are all underclassmen. It’s a stark difference from last year’s team for Day.

The Orange had nine players averaging double-digit minutes last year. Four were bench players, including Day, to go along with the other starters. The other bench players —Cornelia Fondren, Maggie Morrison and Taylor Ford — are all gone this year. It leaves Day as the lone veteran presence for No. 20 Syracuse’s (6-3) reserves.

“When you think about Bria you think about just this constant communication,” Brittney Sykes said. “… If you don’t hear anybody, you hear Bria.”

Day missed the first two games of the season recovering from shoulder surgery and has slowly worked her way back. She, along with the rest of the Orange’s bench, is trying to find its role in this year’s team.

Head coach Quentin Hillsman prided his team last year on the fact that it had “nine starters,” referring to the five starters and four bench players in the rotation. But this year’s unit has suffered. The Orange scored just 12 bench points last Wednesday against Michigan State, and it didn’t get its first points against Central Connecticut State until most of the game had passed.

Hillsman said even though he has some sophomores in the rotation, he basically considers them freshman now because they barely got any playing time last year with SU’s stacked, experienced bench.

“Obviously you want to have balance,” Hillsman said. “At the end of the day, we’ve got to do a good job of getting these players in the game and getting those players more minutes.”

Day improved near the end of last season. Two of her biggest rebounding performances on the year — 15 against Washington and 13 against South Carolina — came in the Final Four and the Elite Eight, respectively. But she hasn’t yet played too many minutes this season as she works her way back.

Still, Hillsman called Day one of the leader of this year’s team.

“I feel like sometimes roles change every night,” Day said. “It just depends on what’s going on in the game.”

And Day has seen that in the last two games. Against a far inferior Central Connecticut team, she played only seven minutes — the least of anyone on the bench — as a lot of the younger players got looks. Against Michigan State’s tall frontcourt, she played 11 minutes, second-most among the second unit.

At one point in her brief stint against CCSU, Day stepped up to contest a layup and grabbed a rebound even though she was sandwiched between two opponents. On SU’s next offensive possession, the ball slowly trickled out of bounds. Day ran it down and threw it over her head, running into one of the advertisement displays right in front of the first row.

When Hillsman talked about what his team missed with Day out, along with the veteran bench leadership, he said they missed “straight toughness.” In just her sixth game back, Hillsman was happy to see that return.

“I’d be worried if she didn’t go,” Hillsman said. “I’m really happy she understands how we play, what we expect.”

Published on December 6, 2016 at 1:45 am

Contact Tomer: tdlanger@syr.edu | @tomer_langer