Dyaisha Fair named midseason finalist for Nancy Lieberman Award

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Syracuse guard Dyaisha Fair has been named a top-10 finalist for the 2023 Nancy Lieberman Award, an honor given to the nation’s best point guard. In October, she was named to the preseason watchlist that contained 20 candidates before being narrowed down to ten in the midseason watchlist on Monday.

Fair leads the Orange with 19.8 points per game, which ranks 21st nationally and second in the Atlantic Coast Conference. On the season, she’s converting from the field at a 38.8% clip and just over 36% from deep, the latter of which ranks third in the conference.

Fair has scored in double-digits in every single game this season, including a season-high 36 points against Virginia last Thursday. Against the Cavaliers, she scored 17 of those points in the fourth quarter and tied a program record with eight 3-pointers. She was five points away from breaking her career-high of 40 points, which she set at Buffalo.

Fair announced her decision to transfer to Syracuse on April 26, 2022 after three seasons at Buffalo, following head coach Felisha Legette-Jack to the program. While at Buffalo, Fair earned Mid-American Conference’s Freshman of the Year and earned MAC East Player of the Week four times. She was also the fastest person in Buffalo program history to reach 1,000 career points.

Last season as a junior, Fair 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 with most valuable player honors, she helped the Bulls 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 watchlists.

“The big thing (about transferring) was my former coach, of course,” Fair told the Daily Orange on April 27, 2022. “Just keeping that bond where it is and just trying to continue what we’re doing on the biggest stage.”

Fair is currently projected to be drafted eighth overall to the Seattle Storm in the 2023 WNBA draft, per lines.com.