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Syracuse point guard Dyaisha Fair was named to the watch list for the 2023 Nancy Lieberman Award, given to the top point guard in NCAA women’s basketball. Fair is one of 20 candidates across Division I and one of five Atlantic Coast Conference players to be named to the watch list. Last season, Fair finished in the top 10 for the award.

Fair joined Syracuse after three seasons at Buffalo, following head coach Felisha Legette-Jack to the program. She’s one of four former Bulls players to come to Syracuse after the university hired Legette-Jack in March.

In her freshman year at Buffalo, Fair made 30 appearances with 26 starts for Buffalo, averaging 22 points, 5.9 rebounds and 3.5 assists per game. The 22 points per game was fourth-best in the nation. She earned Mid-American Conference’s Freshman of the Year and earned MAC East Player of the Week four times. Fair was the fastest person in Buffalo program history to reach 1,000 career points.

Last season, during her junior year, Fair once again finished fourth in the country in points per game, averaging 23.4 and shooting 40.4% from the field. After helping the Bulls to a MAC conference title — where she earned the MAC Tournament’s most valuable player honors — and to their fourth NCAA Tournament appearance, The Associated Press named Fair an All-American honorable mention and she was on the Dawn Staley Award and Becky Hammon Mid-Major Player of the Year watch lists. 

On April 26, 2022, Fair announced her decision to transfer to Syracuse, joining Legette-Jack a month after she was named head coach. Fair first met Legette-Jack at the coach’s Elite Camp the summer prior to her senior year of high school. After watching Fair play over the weekend, Legette-Jack stopped her and offered her a full scholarship to Buffalo.

“The big thing (about transferring) was my former coach, of course,” Fair told the Daily Orange on April 27. “Just keeping that bond where it is and just trying to continue what we’re doing on the biggest stage.”

Published on October 17, 2022 at 2:47 pm

Contact Cole: colebambini@gmail.com | @ColeBambini