Syracuse Basketball: Key takeaways as bench propels Orange to win over Pittsburgh

The Syracuse basketball bench was absolutely, positively fabulous on Saturday afternoon in Central New York, leading the Orange to an 81-73 victory over long-time rival Pittsburgh at the JMA Wireless Dome.

The ‘Cuse, which recently finished up its non-conference slate at 9-2, hosted the Panthers on Saturday to begin the Orange’s full-on Atlantic Coast Conference docket for the remainder of the 2023-24 regular season.

While Syracuse basketball found itself trailing the Panthers by eight points heading into the halftime, the ‘Cuse used several big runs after the intermission to come away with the eight-point success.

The Orange has a lot of momentum right now, as the ‘Cuse has won five straight and is 7-1 over its past eight contests.

Here are my top observations as Syracuse basketball defeated Pittsburgh.

•The Orange (10-3, 1-1 in the ACC), in notching its first conference triumph of 2023-24, dropped the Panthers to 9-4 overall and 0-2 in ACC action. The ‘Cuse also snapped a three-game setback streak to Pitt, and Syracuse basketball now leads their all-time series, 75-50.

•Without question, the Orange won this ACC affair because of three bench players in sophomore guard/wing Quadir Copeland, sophomore big man Maliq Brown and junior forward Benny Williams.

•Copeland had a game-high 22 points. He was 13-of-15 from the charity stripe. Copeland also produced nine rebounds, four assists and three steals.

•Brown and Williams each registered 15 points. Brown also had eight boards, one assist, one block and two steals. Williams, meanwhile, collected seven rebounds, two assists and one block.

•The Orange’s starting backcourt combined for 21 points, as sophomore point guard Judah Mintz had 12 points and sophomore guard J.J. Starling finished with nine points.

•In statistical categories, Syracuse basketball held leads over Pittsburgh in total rebounds, bench points (52 to 17!), fast-break points, blocks, assists, turnovers forced, steals, point off turnovers and paint points.

•The only main category where the Panthers held an edge was 14-7 in second-chance points.

•The ‘Cuse was woeful from beyond the arc, however, as a team, the Orange shot about 47 percent from the field as a whole and connected on 24-of-30 from the free-throw line.

•Pittsburgh, meanwhile, was a solid 40 percent from long range, but the Panthers were an awful 11-of-24 from the charity stripe.

•Next up, Syracuse basketball will travel to top-20 Duke on Tuesday, Jan. 2, with the tip-off scheduled for 9 pm and television coverage on either ESPN or ESPN2.