As Syracuse women's basketball prepares for its first ACC Tournament game on Thursday, several Orange players and their head coach have picked up well-deserved honors for their terrific 2025-26 regular season.
First and foremost, a huge congrats to junior guard Sophie Burrows, who is the program's first-ever recipient of the Atlantic Coast Conference's Kay Yow scholar-athlete of the year honor in women's basketball. This annual award is the league's highest individual recognition, blending athletic excellence with academic achievement.
We received our first ever Kay Yow Scholar Athlete of the Year in the name of Sophie Burrows! We Fight On Together! 👏🏽✊🏽🤗🍊 https://t.co/Fgub9lmptY
— Felisha Legette-Jack (@CuseCoachJack) March 3, 2026
The 6-foot-2 Burrows, who hails from Australia, is a psychology major, holds a 3.93 cumulative GPA and is a two-time member of the All-ACC Academic team. On the court, she is averaging 11.1 points, 5.6 rebounds, 2.3 assists and 2.1 steals per game, which is No. 5 in the ACC.
Syracuse women's basketball should be dancing later this month.
The Orange (22-7 overall, 12-6 in ACC) is the No. 7 seed in the ACC Tournament and will face either No. 10 seed California or No. 15 seed Wake Forest this Thursday, March 5, beginning at 5:00 pm EST, with television coverage on the ACC Network. Head coach Felisha Legette-Jack did a wonderful job in the 2025-26 regular season, and she placed third in the ACC's coach of the year voting.
Syracuse women's basketball center Uche Izoje from Nigeria had one of the best freshman regular seasons in program history. The 6-foot-3 Izoje leads the 'Cuse in points, rebounds and blocks per game. She averages 15.0 points, 9.3 rebounds, 2.6 blocks and 1.5 assists per contest while making 55.3 percent from the field.
Izoje's blocks per game are No. 1 in the ACC, while her boards per encounter are No. 4. As I correctly predicted (for once), she was deservedly named ACC rookie of the year. Additionally, Izoje resides on the All-ACC first team, the All-Defensive squad and the All-Freshman team. Unbelievable!
Last but not least, senior guard Laila Phelia made the All-ACC second team. The 6-foot Phelia, from Cincinnati, is averaging 13.8 points, 3.0 rebounds, 1.4 assists and 2.0 steals per game while connecting on 37.9 percent from 3-point land and 86.3 percent from the free-throw line.
The 'Cuse has had a special 2025-26 season to date, and Orange Nation wishes the team luck in the ACC Tournament this week and then in the upcoming Big Dance!