After Monday night’s thrashing of overmatched Cornell, Quentin Hillsman stepped to the podium for his press conference and went through the positives he took out of the big win.

There was the improvement from SU’s first game, a 72-69 win over Northeastern. The execution down the stretch. Good transition offense and fewer mistakes, among other things.

But after that list, the first names Hillsman said were two starting members of the Orange frontcourt: Kayla Alexander and Iasia Hemingway.

They were the first two Hillsman complimented after the victory over the Big Red, and they have been the driving forces behind SU’s first two wins this year. Alexander, a sophomore center, and Hemingway, a junior transfer from Georgia Tech, have keyed the Orange (2-0) to massive rebounding and free-throw shooting advantages through two games. Their styles of play are different, but both of them give Syracuse the ability to score in the paint.

‘Coach always tells us to play at the rim,’ Hemingway said. ‘We do what we have to do. When he says play at the rim, we do it. We attack the rim, we get to the free-throw line.’

Through the first two games, Alexander has led the team with 15.5 points per game while Hemingway is second with 13.5. Neither has taken a 3-point shot, as both players thrive underneath the basket.

Alexander’s 6-foot-4 frame creates mismatches for opposing defenses. Against Cornell, she lived in the paint, awaiting dump-down feeds from her guards on the perimeter. From there, she has the ability to score in a variety of ways: draining a soft hook or easy layup, drawing a foul and getting to the line or collecting her own miss for an easy putback.

Fellow sophomore Carmen Tyson-Thomas said Alexander’s presence in the middle makes it a necessity for SU to get the ball to her on the blocks.

‘That is always our game plan,’ she said, ‘to give the ball inside low because Kayla always has mismatches. Kayla’s always there. She’s hitting the glass more this year so she happens to be there. And if she’s in position like she’s supposed to, we’re going to get her the ball.’

But Hemingway hasn’t scored her points by setting up down low. She has been crashing the boards after Orange shots to snag the offensive rebound. And much of the time, when she pulls in the loose ball, she either puts it back or gets to the free-throw line. Against Cornell, it seemed that whenever the junior pulled in a rebound, someone always managed to end up on the Carrier Dome floor, whether it was a Big Red player or Hemingway herself.

Alexander said she enjoys having the Georgia Tech transfer at her side.

‘I love playing with Iasia,’ the sophomore said. ‘She is a beast on the court. Pretty much when she’s in there, just let her get the rebound or else you’re going to get an elbow or something.’

Behind the performance of the frontcourt duo, the Orange has some sizeable edges in two key parts of the game. It has outrebounded Northeastern and Cornell by a combined 117 to 57 and gotten to the free-throw line 41 more times than its opponents. Alexander and Hemingway have 23 free-throw shots between themselves, equaling the combined total for the team’s two opponents.

The talent — or lack thereof — of Syracuse’s two opponents has helped Hemingway and Alexander’s success. Northeastern was picked to finish last in the Colonial Athletic Association, and Cornell was ranked second to last in the Ivy League’s preseason rankings. Hemingway has not flashed the ability to create scoring opportunities for herself, and Alexander thrived last year in SU’s nonconference schedule before her play significantly dropped off in Big East play.

But in Hillsman’s mind, inside scoring is a major part of the Orange’s offense. And two games into Syracuse’s season, Alexander and Hemingway have been the biggest providers of those points in the paint.

‘We want to score at the basket,’ Hillsman said. ‘And it’s so huge to really throw the ball to the high post and go high-low, get the ball to the rim. Obviously, when you can get high percentage shots like that, we’re going to be successful. That’s a very big part of our offense.’

zjbrown@syr.edu

 

Published on November 16, 2010 at 12:00 pm