Syracuse Had Its Chances, But Falls Flat Versus Pittsburgh

The Syracuse basketball team nearly almost coulda, shoulda, woulda, made another comeback. But ultimately fell just short losing to the Pitt Panthers.

The December version of the Syracuse basketball squad, not the February variety, unfortunately showed up on Saturday afternoon against Pittsburgh from the Pete.

The Orange battled until the end, however, a terrible rebounding performance and poor shooting did the ‘Cuse in, as SU fell to the Panthers, 80-75.

The setback snaps Syracuse’s five-game winning streak. The Orange (16-10, 8-5 in ACC play) sought its third road victory of the 2016-17 campaign, but Pittsburgh (14-11, 3-9) dominated the glass and connected on 44 percent from 3-point land.

I kind of figured the ‘Cuse might come crashing down to Earth in this conference clash, as the Orange hasn’t fared well at the Petersen Events Center in recent years.

Still, this defeat stings, because it represented a prime opportunity to secure another win outside of Central New York versus one of the more sub-par teams in the Atlantic Coast Conference standings. Especially considering the relatively rough schedule that looms for Syracuse in the near future.

The Panthers don’t defend well from downtown, yet SU only made 6-of-20. That hurt a bunch.

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Also, Pittsburgh out-rebounded Syracuse 41-25, and dished out 25 assists to the ‘Cuse’s 11.

Furthermore, I don’t know exactly how many lay-ups the Orange missed, but what I do know is that it’s a big, big number. The same goes for passes dropped, and then went out of bounds. The mental mistakes killed us.

Although the Panthers led for the majority of this affair, including by double-digits on several occasions, the ‘Cuse had its chances to prevail. It just didn’t capitalize on them. The ball didn’t bounce our way this go-round.

I read countless negative posts from Syracuse fans in chat rooms and on message boards, slamming our squad. I’m all for freedom of speech, but hold on for a second. These guys never gave up, but they couldn’t get over the hump. They had too much ground to make up as the contest continued on toward its conclusion.

Graduate transfers Andrew White III and John Gillon each chipped in 20 points, but freshmen Tyus Battle and Taurean Thompson, along with sophomore Tyler Lydon, struggled. It happens. Head coach Jim Boeheim said in his post-game conference that Battle has been sick, and that might help explain his off performance.

Senior Tyler Roberson and sophomore Frank Howard saw extended minutes, with Roberson collecting eight points and five rebounds, while Howard generated 12 points.

Boeheim noted that the offense couldn’t get in sync, although the 2-3 zone “was pretty good,” save for sophomore Cameron Johnson hitting 6-of-8 from 3-point range. “Didn’t have quite enough gas,” Boeheim said.

The Orange can’t dwell on this deflating loss for any amount of time, as SU hosts No. 4 Louisville this Monday night. The Cardinals, I’d like to mention, throttled this same Pittsburgh outfit by more than 50 points on the road in late January. Yikes.

Next: Jim Boeheim: A Look Back at 999 Syracuse Wins

Syracuse has worked its way back into the NCAA Tournament conversation, but the ‘Cuse needs to snag another strong victory to remain on the right side of the bubble.

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