INDIANAPOLIS – Mike Neighbors was right when he said he had no chance of winning the suit battle against Quentin Hillsman.
The Washington coach’s plain grey suit and purple tie was simply no match for the Syracuse coach and his royal blue three-piece getup. But fashion wasn’t the only thing Hillsman and Syracuse had on the Huskies. Their game was better too.
Syracuse beat Washington 80-59 in Sunday’s second Final Four matchup and will play for the program’s first-ever national championship on Tuesday (8:30 p.m. ET, ESPN). They’ll try to prevent UConn from winning its fourth consecutive title and 11th overall.
The matchup will renew an old rivalry from both schools’ days in the Big East, and it will feature UConn star Breanna Stewart against her hometown team.
Brittney Sykes and Alexis Peterson combined to lead the Orange with 33 points and Briana Day had 14 rebounds, but it was their team defense on Kelsey Plum that was most impressive. Plum became the first Husky selected to the WBCA All-America team this week and had been averaging 26.3 points, 5.0 rebounds and 7.3 assists leading up to the Final Four. She ended up scoring 17 points, but much of that came in the fourth quarter when the game was already out of reach. She added one rebound and three assists, well below her average.
Syracuse (30-7) also held wide advantages in points in the paint (24-10), rebounds (44-27), and bench points (23-3). It also scored 20 points off of 18 Washington turnovers.
The Huskies (26-11) gained a little momentum late in the third quarter with a small 6-0 run to cut the lead to 11 with 5:32 remaining, but Syracuse responded with a 12-0 run to widen the margin.
The brightest spot for Washington was Talia Walton, who scored 29 points on an incredible 8-of-9 three-point shooting, which is a Final Four record. Syracuse was also feeling comfortable going long, making 12 on 32 attempts.
