The Syracuse basketball squad got another important conference win vs Pitt on Saturday. Here’s how the Orange were able to get it done.
The records may have been the same prior to this game, but the real difference in this one was experience. Or lack thereof for the Pitt Panthers.
This team is so young. The Panthers haven’t won a road game in two years and only have won two road contests in three years. This team was obviously bothered by the mystique of the Carrier Dome and that is not uncommon for young teams coming in.
We all know on Syracuse’s side that they returned all five starters from last season for the first time since 1999, but it has meant more than we could’ve imagined so far this season.
But if you look at this Pitt team, it’s littered with freshmen and it is almost a completely different team then last season. That inexperience for the Panthers was obvious when they were playing against this vaunted 2-3 zone on Saturday.
This young team kept coughing the ball up and giving the Orange great opportunities, but you have to give this Panthers team credit their transition defense prevented Syracuse from running and gunning.
Syracuse shot really well from beyond the arc to start the game and that’s something that carried them in their massive win vs No. 1 Duke earlier this week.
That powered them to an 11-0 run to take lead 18-11 halfway through the first half.
Quick side note, Buddy Boeheim has such a pure stroke. The mechanics are well tuned and much of that credit has to go to his Hall of Fame father Jim. While he’s a tad raw with the rest of his game, his shooting stroke is a welcomed addition to this Syracuse bench.
In just a few minutes of action he was immediately able to drop two quick hits from downtown. On this team, in this season, that’s all he has to do.
Basketball is ultimately a game of runs and Syracuse got another big one, 8-0 run to take the 24-15 lead with four minutes remaining in the first half. Although the good times wouldn’t last.
A big momentum shift in game came when Paschal Chukwu wrestled away a rebound and made a silly pass that was intercepted and cashed in for three. That set the Panthers on a crazy run that closed the Syracuse lead to just three heading into halftime, 28-25.
Second half
After a slow start to the second half, finally things started heating up for the Orange with some deep connections from Elijah Hughes (really invisible in the first half) and Frank Howard.
The team was 8-of-18 from deep (44.4 percent) to extend the lead to 34-27 with under 15 minutes remaining.
Then Syracuse started doing work in the mid-range and punctuated their 12-0 run with a Chukwu slam to lead 40-27 with 12:18 remaining. After that point Syracuse was really never really challenged again seriously.
Wanted to share a friendly PSA that Tyus Battle is a BAD man.
When @tyusbattle1 hits that fastbreak for @Cuse_MBB... 👀🍊 pic.twitter.com/zfZszpZXrZ
— Paul Andrew Esden Jr (@BoyGreen25) January 19, 2019
A collective team effort from Syracuse in this game. Coming off of that Duke game, there was an expectation that perhaps the Orange would be emotionally drained. But Syracuse was able to battle past the emotions and the crappy weather to get another important conference win.
Some of the other nuggets from this one include: Tyus Battle posted his ninth 20+ point game of the season finishing with 22 points, career high from Buddy Boeheim (13 points), Syracuse overall was 12-of-26 from 3 point land (46.2 percent) with 5 different players connecting from behind the arc, no Jalen Carey in this one (averaged over 16 minutes a game heading into this game). Syracuse wins this one 74-63, up next they’ll play the Miami Hurricanes in the Carrier Dome on Thursday at 8:00 p.m.