Coach Quentin Hillsman Lit A Fire Under His Team Going into the Fourth Quarter
“If we don’t compete with guts, we are going to lose the game,” head coach Quentin Hillsman told his team going into the fourth quarter against the Tar Heels as he acknowledged it in the post-game press conference.
The speech must have hit home for point guard Tiana Mangakahia. The Orange came out firing in the final quarter, led by their star point guard who had nine points and seven assists in the fourth quarter alone. Mangakahia had a hand in nearly every scoring possession down the stretch for Syracuse as she took over the game.
She did a good job of pushing the ball down-hill and getting to the paint,” Hillsman said. She made some early decisions off the ball-screen action, I thought that was big.”
Turnovers had been an area of concern for Mangakahia coming into the game against North Carolina, however, the star point guard took care of the rock all afternoon on Tuesday when she committed just three turnovers in 39 minutes of action while dishing out 13 assists.
“She did a good job of dribbling in space and maintaining her dribble,” coach Hillsman said. The first turnover she had in the fourth quarter… that was my fault. So really she had two turnovers, (for the game) one of them was definitely on me and I could have stopped that.”
Syracuse secured a big win over the Tar Heels before they get ready to take on the best team in the nation. The Louisville Cardinals are ranked as the No. 1 team and Coach Hillsman has an idea why that is.
“They’re very explosive,” Hillsman said of the Cardinals. “They can score the basketball and Jeff (Waltz) has done an awesome job. I mean, they are No. 1 in the country. This is a really tough conference. To have an opportunity to go out there and play the No. 1 team in the country is great for us, it’s great for our confidence. We’re looking forward to competing at that level. Whoever has the most will (power) is going to win the game."
