STARKVILLE — Quentin Hillsman says his dreams scare him.
It’s not because the Syracuse women’s basketball coach is a fan of horror movies. Hillsman’s dreams scare him because his goal every year is to win every game and to win a national championship.
While that might sound cliche, Hillsman’s mentality is to set the bar as high as possible for his players to push them to maximize their potential.
“We’re about winning national championships,” Hillsman said. “If your dreams don’t scare you and you’re not having these goals that are lofty, then you’re cheating yourself. We don’t let our kids cheat themselves by thinking a successful season is just being here or a successful season is just winning 10 games in the conference.
“What (should we) say? We’re going to lose nine games? No. We want to win them all. We talk about winning national championships and playing up to a different level.”
Hillsman’s approach has produced a program reached the national title game in 2016 and has been one of the nation’s best in the last nine seasons. In that stretch, Syracuse has won 22 or more games each season and has become a regular in the NCAA tournament.
At 2:30 p.m. Saturday (ESPN2), No. 8 Syracuse will make its sixth-straight NCAA tournament appearance when it takes on No. 9 seed Oklahoma State (20-10) in the first round of the NCAA tournament at Humphrey Coliseum.
Syracuse’s style is based on speed and pressure. The Orange have five players who have made 29 or more 3-pointers. As a team, Syracuse has attempted 930 3-pointers, which is fifth in the nation and first in the Atlantic Coast Conference. For perspective, No. 1 seed Mississippi State has attempted 630 3-pointers in three more games.
“A lot of times, it is not about our percentages, it is about our points per possession,” Hillsman said. “We recruit to a style where we have shooters and shooters who can make shots.”
In addition to trying to maximize the number of points per possession, Hillsman said the Orange play an up-tempo brand of defense in an effort to force opponents into turnovers. The style has forced 17.5 turnovers per game and has helped Syracuse score 73.6 points per game.
Hillsman, who is in his 12th season as head coach at Syracuse, said he learned “everything” he knows from former Alabama women’s basketball coach Rick Moody. Hillsman served as an assistant coach under Moody at Alabama in 2004-05. Moody then worked as an assistant coach for Hillsman at Syracuse in 2007-08.
“I learned how to run a BCS program (at Alabama),” Hillsman said. “Coach was fantastic in the way he ran his offense, his defense. I have taken so much from him.”
Hillsman said he recalls a conversation with Moody in which Moody told him he would be a head coach at this level. He said he brushed it off at the time, but he said a lot of what Syracuse does now in playing fast and playing tough defense is what Moody did at Alabama.
“I trust coach with my basketball career,” Hillsman said. “He has been fantastic. He is a great mentor, a great friend. I texted with him yesterday. He says the same thing all of the time: ‘You’re going to win.’ He gives me a lot of confidence.”
Syracuse played in the national title game in 2015-16 when it won a program-record 30 games. The Orange posted five victories against nationally ranked teams before losing to the Connecticut Huskies in the championship game.
Prior to Hillsman’s arrival, Syracuse had a .480 winning percentage and appeared in the NCAA tournament three times (zero victories) in 35 seasons. Hillsman is 263-135 (.660 winning percentage) as coach at Syracuse.
“His personality is very parallel to our game,” Syracuse sophomore guard Gabrielle Cooper said. “He has an exciting personality, and we play as exciting style of game. On the sidelines, he gets happy and goes crazy when we hit shots. It’s the same, and it boosts us when we’re playing.”
Mangakahia makes Orange go
Sophomore guard Tiana Mangakahia leads Syracuse in scoring (17.8 ppg.) and assists (9.9).
The 5-foot-6 transfer from Hutchinson Community College (Kansas) is so good at running the team in his first season with the program that she leads the nation in assists per game.
“She is a willing passer,” Hillsman said of Mangakahia. “I think that is what you have to have in a point guard in this system. When you’re playing fast and you have a ton of possessions, your point guard has to be a willing passer.”
Hillsman said Alexis Peterson, the team’s point guard last season, was “a very explosive scorer,” as evidenced by her scoring average of 23.4 ppg. Peterson scored 771 points and had 231 assists in 33 games. Mangakahia is averaging 17.8 ppg. and has 533 points. She has handed out 297 assists.
“She is a very explosive passer,” Hillsman said of Mangakahia. “She really passes the ball well and finds her teammates and finds them where they can catch it and shoot it.”
After starting the season with 12 players who had never played a game for the Orange prior to the start of the season, Mangakahia credited her teammates for helping her feel comfortable.
“Our strengths are definitely shooting,” Mangakahia said. “When we knock down shots, we can win games. When we played UNC, we had 20 threes that game. That’s what we need to stick to. We need to focus, push the ball, and work together in transition.”
Syracuse was 20-for-36 from 3-point range in an 86-80 victory against North Carolina on Feb. 22. Cooper was 8-for-10 from 3-point range and scored a game-high 28 points. Miranda Drummond had 24 points on 7-for-8 shooting from 3-point range. Mangakahia had 12 points and 14 assists.
Follow Dispatch sports editor Adam Minichino on Twitter @ctsportseditor
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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