Tiana Mangakahia Reminds Everyone Just How Good She Is
Tiana Mangakahia's return to Syracuse basketball is one of the better stories in all of sports. Mangakahia missed all of the 2019-20 season due to battling breast cancer. She beat the disease and has returned to the court to play the game she loved.
Coming into this season, Mangakahia was averaging 17 points and nine assists per game. This year, she is scoring 12 points and dishing out seven assists per game. Do not let the drop in numbers fool you, she is still every bit the dominant force that made her one of the sport's best during her two previous years with the Orange.
Syracuse is as deep and talented as perhaps any squad in program history, and certainly during Mangakahia's tenure. That means more scoring options, which will naturally reduce her raw scoring numbers. She is also playing only about 28 minutes per game, also a product of a deeper roster among other factors, compared to nearly 33 minutes during her first two seasons.
Despite the reduction in minutes and more scoring options, Mangakahia is on pace to set a career high in three point shooting percentage at 38.5% thus far. And, in Tuesday's win over North Carolina, she reminded Orange fans and the nation just how dominant she can be. That she is still Tiana Mangakahia.
Mangakahia finished with 19 points, 13 assists and only three turnovers. She was the difference in the game and took over in the fourth quarter. The Orange entered the final frame down six. In the fourth alone, Mangakahia had seven assists (her per game average), scored nine points including two three pointers that helped put Syracuse back in the lead.
"Going into the fourth, I was stressed," Mangakahia admitted after the game. "I just knew I had to come out and try to help my team. We can all do so much and we have so much depth, just to get everybody involved. I love when a lot of us have a lot of points. When everyone contributes."
The scary thing for the rest of the ACC is that Mangakahia believes she isn't 'back' quite yet.
"I don't feel like I'm where I used to be," she said. "I still feel like there's so much more improvement. Today (the win over UNC) was a good game for me, but in past games I really need to control my turnovers. Today I was glad that I could do that. That's one area I'm working on."
In two games back after being on pause, Syracuse is averaging 93.5 points per game with an average margin of victory of 23.5. Mangakahia herself has also stepped up her game averaging 14.5 points and 11.5 assists per game.
They will need that kind of performance in their next game, when they face #1 Louisville on the road Thursday night.
