Syracuse basketball, after Duke debacle, is missing key piece in road clash

Syracuse basketball will reportedly be without junior reserve guard Symir Torrence when the Orange makes a trip to long-time rival Pittsburgh this Tuesday evening, and that’s not good at all.

Torrence, the Central New York native who transferred to the ‘Cuse (9-10, 3-5) from Marquette, has played well of late. Plus, in the team’s most recent outing, a swarming Duke defense absolutely put the clamps down on the Orange’s other two primary guards, senior Buddy Boeheim and junior Joe Girard III.

I’m not saying that the Panthers (7-12, 2-6) are anywhere close to the level of the Blue Devils. Not in the least. But Pittsburgh is a pretty solid defensive unit, and if Buddy Buckets and Girard are off like they were at Duke, the Orange is going to have a tough time defeating Pitt at the Petersen Events Center on January 25.

Earlier this month, from the Carrier Dome, Syracuse basketball was awesome in the second half of a 77-61 triumph versus the Panthers, a game in which Orange head coach Jim Boeheim praised his line-up for its stellar play after half-time.

Syracuse basketball, hopefully, can rebound against Pitt after getting trounced by Duke.

The Panthers are one of the worst teams in the Atlantic Coast Conference, yet the ‘Cuse isn’t much better, though. Pitt has fallen twice in a row, to Virginia and Clemson. Among the Panthers’ successes during the 2021-22 stanza are against Louisville, Boston College, St. John’s and Colgate, among others.

At the time of this writing, Pittsburgh was No. 204 nationally in the NET rankings and No. 196 overall via KenPom. Those are both sub-par numbers, so Syracuse basketball can ill-afford to lose this ACC affair, even if it is away from the Hill.

The Orange holds advantages over Pitt in virtually every statistical category, save for points allowed on defense. The Panthers are not a good shooting team, connecting on 41.3 percent from the field, 68.7 percent from the charity stripe and a meager 30.1 percent from beyond the arc.

Pittsburgh also commits a sizable amount of turnovers per game, at 13.6. All-time, Syracuse basketball is 74-47 versus this long-time adversary, and the ‘Cuse has a solid chance on Tuesday night to sweep its 2021-22 regular-season series with the Panthers.

To do so, the Orange has to play as it did against Pitt in the second half of their ACC meeting from earlier this month. That might not prove all that easy after the way that the ‘Cuse looked in the team’s debacle versus Duke a couple of days ago.