Kayla Alexander’s goal hasn’t wavered once this entire season.

She wants to lead Syracuse to the tournament, after failing to do so the past three seasons.

“NCAA,” Alexander said with a straight face, “not NIT.”

Now, with the light at the end of the tunnel getting closer and closer – and an unblemished mark at home – the Orange is on the inside, looking out. No. 22 Syracuse (22-4, 10-3 Big East) faces a massive roadblock Tuesday night, though, as it travels to No. 2 Notre Dame (25-1, 13-0) with hopes of staging an upset. Beating the Fighting Irish would likely ice a tournament berth for SU, while a loss would give the Orange its first two-game losing streak of the season.

“Notre Dame is obviously a great team,” Alexander said. “They’re ranked, what, No. 2 in the country? So we’re going to have to be on our game.”

While Notre Dame’s balance – and talent from top to bottom – differentiates it from other teams, the Irish also has something every other team in the NCAA lacks: Skylar Diggins.

Diggins is averaging 16.2 points, 5.9 assists and 3.3 rebounds, slicing up helpless opponents and dominating the Big East. The 5-foot-9 guard’s assist total is good for first in the conference, with her best performance coming in a 14-assist masterpiece in a win over Saint Francis (Pa.) on Dec. 31. Notre Dame scored 128 points that game, far and away its highest total of the season.

In the Irish’s 84-56 win over DePaul on Sunday, Diggins had the second triple-double of her illustrious career and the fourth in Irish history. She dropped 17 points while dealing out 10 assists and snatching 10 rebounds.

The Irish’s offense puts up a staggering 80.8 points per game, just two points behind Big East leader Connecticut. Notre Dame has outscored its opponents by an average of 25 points, including a 45-point massacre of Providence and 28-point beatdown of DePaul – a team Syracuse beat by a mere four points. Notre Dame held a 23-point halftime lead in that game.

“Obviously Notre Dame is Notre Dame,” SU head coach Quentin Hillsman said. “It’s a tough place to play and they pack the place out. It will be good for our kids.”

In one area SU holds a slight edge, though, is team defense. The Orange gives up 55.5 points per game, while Notre Dame surrenders 55.8. Syracuse also averages 13.4 steals per game – best in the Big East and two more than Notre Dame.

In its win over Rutgers on Tuesday night, SU came up with 14 steals, swarming the Scarlet Knights and creating turnovers that led to easy buckets.

Defensive dominance and fitness have been at the forefront of SU’s success all season. Now the Orange is up against an explosive offense, one on par with that of UConn – a team that dropped 87 against Syracuse on Jan. 19.

“This is the time of year, it’s about our endurance,” Hillsman said. “It’s about what we do in the weight room. … It’s my job just not to screw it up.”

After sniffing a spot in The Associated Press Top 25 poll most of the season but failing to crack the barrier, Syracuse finally earned a spot in week 14. It hasn’t fallen out of the poll since that point, winning six of its last seven games and currently sitting at No. 22.

Despite getting recognized for her team’s strong play thus far, Rachel Coffey said she isn’t caught up in the ranking. Her mentality is to continue to go one game at a time, with the ultimate goal of reaching the tournament on the horizon.

“We know we’re ranked,” Coffey said, “but we just want to play each game.”

The achievement Alexander has craved for three years is there for the taking. Now, it would take a collapse for Syracuse to not earn its spot in the tournament. A win over Notre Dame would essentially clinch a spot for SU.

“I feel like we’re on the right track right now toward our goal and what we want to accomplish,” Alexander said. “We want to take it one game at a time.”

Published on February 26, 2013 at 1:21 am

Contact Trevor: tbhass@syr.edu | @TrevorHass