Syracuse women’s basketball: Tiana Mangakahia confirms she’ll go pro after this season

During Wednesday’s Syracuse Orange women’s basketball media availability, guard Tiana Mangakahia confirmed that she will not return to Syracuse next season and will focus on her professional basketball career.

“I want to go pro. I feel like I’m ready.”

Mangakahia’s final game in the Carrier Dome will be this Sunday against No. 2 North Carolina State. Tip-off is set for 12 p.m. EST on ACC Network.

In three seasons with Syracuse, the Australian native has averaged 16 points and 8.8 assists per game. Mangakahia has racked up multiple accolades in her college career, including Associated Press All-America Honorable Mention, WBCA All-America Honorable Mention, Three-time Nancy Lieberman Point Guard Award Finalist, Citizen Naismith Trophy Watch List, Wooden Award Watch List, Two-time All-ACC First Team, and All-ACC Tournament Team to name a few. She also is the fastest player in program history to score 1,000 career points.

Her biggest accomplishment of all? Defeating breast cancer. Mangakahia missed the 2019-20 season after being diagnosed with Stage 2 Grade 3 Invasive Ductal Carcinoma. She returned to the court this season and is currently leading the nation in assists per game (7.7).

Winsidr currently projects Mangakahia as a late first round/early second round pick in the WNBA Draft.