The notes from her dad are coming, and they’re not going to be good.

After every game, win or lose, Kiara Lewis watches the full 40 minutes again two to three times and breaks down what she can do better with her dad, Gary. Following SU’s Jan. 5 overtime win over Notre Dame, his takeaways for Lewis included how to improve her reads coming off ball-screens.

Lewis hasn’t yet discussed her performance against Miami, last Sunday’s game in which she committed a career-high nine turnovers, a mark she said is “never acceptable.”

This is the first season of Lewis’ collegiate career that she’s been the lead guard. Without Tiana Mangakahia, Lewis — an Ohio State transfer — has the ball roughly 90% of the time, she hyperbolically estimates, and initiates almost all of Syracuse’s (8-7, 2-2 Atlantic Coast) possessions. The transition has been successful, yet not seamless, as Lewis is averaging a team-best 17.6 points per game but also 3.9 turnovers, second-most in the ACC.

In losses to No. 5 Louisville, Michigan and Miami, Lewis averaged 7.3 turnovers. In SU’s win over No. 13 Florida State, Lewis coughed the ball up just once, reminding the Orange they will only go as far as Lewis takes them.

“In the reality of things, we’re all human,” sophomore forward Emily Engstler said. “What she does for this team, and the fact that she does have the ball in her hands all the time, of course there’s going to be turnovers.”

The way Syracuse’s spread pick-and-roll offense works, Lewis essentially decides every half-court possession. According to HerHoopsStats, Lewis’s 26.9% usage rate — which denotes the percentage of possessions that end with a Lewis shot, free throw or turnover — is 12th-highest in the ACC.

She’s the Orange’s only option to ignite the offense. Engstler is an adept passer, but doesn’t have the necessary ball-handling skills to initiate a high ball-screen. Engstler and Lewis have combined for 58% of Syracuse’s assists but also 45% of its turnovers.

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Senior guard Gabrielle Cooper is much more suited for an off-ball role, where she spaces the floor and occasionally attacks closeouts — as can Digna Strautmane. Freshman guards Teisha Hyman and Taleah Washington have both shown off-the-bounce potential but are still years away from quarterbacking an offense.

That leaves Lewis, who knows she’s the most experienced playmaker on the team, and that with greater ball-handling responsibilities comes greater room for error. Her scoring ability keeps SU in games, but when the team around her isn’t playing well, she’ll try to force interior shots or passes. Many of her turnovers come when she’s driving to the basket and gets caught in between several defenders. Sometimes, she makes lazy cross-court passes or loses the handle against pressure defense, but those instances are more rare.

Still, Lewis wouldn’t have it any other way.

“I’m not complaining about it,” Lewis said. “When it comes down to winning, I think a senior or a redshirt junior like I am should have the ball in her hands.”

Reinforcements on the way

This week, four of Syracuse’s incoming class of recruits were nominated for the 2020 McDonald’s All-American game. Hundreds of players from around the United States get nominated, and 12-player rosters will be announced later this month.

Kamilla Cardoso, Khamya McNeal, Priscilla Williams and Faith Blackstone each earned the nod. Cardoso and Williams, fifth and 11th, respectively, on HoopGurlz espnW’s top-100, were also named to the Jersey Mike’s Naismith Girls High School Midseason Team.

Overall, the recruiting class is ranked fourth in the nation, and Hillsman said at Jan. 15’s media availability that it’s among the strongest classes he’s ever had.

He added that a common thread between the recruits is their versatility, and his long-term goal is to add more depth and positional flexibility.

“We have a very exciting class,” Hillsman said, “And moving forward we’ve got to continue to stack those classes together. When you can stack two, three really good classes together, that’s when you have a chance to get back to the Final Four and win a championship.”

An easier road ahead

Syracuse made it through the gauntlet of seven ranked opponents in 10 games, going 4-6 in that span.

For the rest of the regular season, SU only has two more matchups against current AP Top 25 opponents, with a home game against No. 5 Louisville and an away contest at No. 9 North Carolina State.

Still, to make it to the NCAA tournament, Syracuse needs to improve its current pace. Charlie Creme’s latest espnW bracketology projected SU to be one of the first four teams out.

When a reporter told Hillsman at media availability on Jan. 15 that Cooper said SU might need to win all 10 of its remaining games, SU’s head coach offered a fact-check.

“We actually have 15 games left, so her math’s not real good,” Hillsman quipped. “But I just think as we move forward, we gotta take care of the ball, make shots late, continue to close games, because there’s going to be a lot of close games on the schedule. We’ve just got to be able to win those close games.”

Two overtime home wins got Syracuse on track, but late-game execution had been shoddy before that. In three of SU’s five losses to ranked teams the Orange held a lead in the final minute.

After Jan. 16’s home matchup against a Georgia Tech team that’s won five of its last six games, Syracuse gets the bottom five teams in the standings — Duke, Virginia, Notre Dame, Clemson and Pitt — each once and Pitt a second time. Seven of the Orange’s remaining 14 regular season games are in the Carrier Dome, where SU’s 6-1.

“Playing in this conference on the road, it’s tough to win on the road,” Hillsman said. “Obviously you can see that with what happens here. When teams come here, we win games.”

Published on January 15, 2020 at 10:47 pm

Contact Danny: dremerma@syr.edu | @DannyEmerman