Women’s NCAA tournament - Dyaisha Fair carries Syracuse past Arizona
Ros Gold-Onwude, Isis Young & Cassandra Negley break down the scoring surge from the Orange guard, who put up the final 13 points of the game to lift Syracuse to the second round.
Video Transcript
ROS GOLD-ONWUDE: Ooh! Syracuse avoids the upset. The sixth seed pulls it out over the 11 seed, Arizona. And it's much thanks are due to Dyaisha Fair, who took matters into her own hands. A walking bucket down the stretch, she dropped a 30 piece. 32 points to be exact, including the final 13 points for Syracuse.
Now, Is, I know this is your former team. And we were in the war room watching the game down the stretch. You were standing, you were yelling. You were full of emotion yourself. What impressed you most about Dyaisha's personal run to close the game out?
ISIS YOUNG: First thing, cardiac 'Cuse will get you every time. I feel like they make it close just so I have a heart attack. But honestly, just how she pulled out the game. She scored in a multitude of ways. You mentioned it, the final 13 points for Syracuse.
But at the biggest time of the season, in which you might see your season dwindling down, that is when you need the stars to really come out and show how dominant they can be. I just thought she showed, give the ball to me. I will get a bucket, and then I'll also play defense.
She also had six steals in the game. So we talk about players who like to play two way. She's dangerous with the ball, but also defensively and guarding the ball. And I think that's important come tournament time.
CASSANDRA NEGLEY: Yeah. And so clutch, right? You talk about cardiac 'Cuse. I've been in the dome a few times, where they've been down by double digits. And it's Dyaisha Fair every single time who's hitting those deep 3s, to really bring them back and win the game. That's huge for a team like Syracuse. They could have lost that game.
ISIS YOUNG: Mm-hmm.
ROS GOLD-ONWUDE: So what do you think about Syracuse's ability to continue to be clutch, as they're gonna advance now and see the 3 seed UConn. That's a nice match-up coming up. What will you guys be looking at, Cass?
CASSANDRA NEGLEY: Yeah. I mean, I'll be looking at Dyaisha Fair, of course, right? Like, this is a player who can easily drop 30. And we've seen these kind of performances against UConn. Saniya Rivers 33, Rori Harmon 27, Hannah Hidalgo dropped 34 not that long ago.
You know, she gets some role players going with her. Georgia Woolley has been their second leading scorer. That could be a big game for Syracuse.
ISIS YOUNG: And I'll say on the other side for Syracuse defensively, obviously, you have to guard Paige Bueckers. But I'm more concerned with Aliyah Edwards inside. I think Aliyah Edwards can control the game inside if she starts off strong. So it's going to be important for Syracuse and their front court players just to be solid against Aliyah and Battle on the boards.
ROS GOLD-ONWUDE: It sounds like you both are calling out the other players of Syracuse to have to step up and play big against UConn.
ISIS YOUNG: Yeah, absolutely.
CASSANDRA NEGLEY: Absolutely.
ISIS YOUNG: It just can't be Dyaisha Fair, right?
ROS GOLD-ONWUDE: Right.
ISIS YOUNG: They triple team her, you've gotta have other players that can score. And I think the 'Cuse have good pieces around her. Georgia Woolley, Alyssa Latham, they can get it done. I'm saying they can get it done.
ROS GOLD-ONWUDE: Right!
ISIS YOUNG: They can get it done.
ROS GOLD-ONWUDE: The alum has spoken. We'll have our eyes on that UConn, Syracuse match-up.