Syracuse Basketball: Orange flashback - Tyler Ennis stuns Pitt with half-court heave

Back in the 2013-14 season, the first year that Syracuse basketball was in the Atlantic Coast Conference after leaving the Big East Conference, the Orange were undefeated with a 23-0 record and were ranked number one in the nation, as they traveled to take on the rival Pittsburgh Panthers, who had a 20-4 record and were ranked 25th at the time, and who also had joined the ACC as well.

This Syracuse Orange team had a lot of fire power, in young guard Tyler Ennis, guard Trevor Cooney, forward CJ Fair, forward Jerami Grant, and the big man center Rakeem Christmas. They were going up against a Panthers team that had the likes of forward Talib Zanna and guard Lamar Patterson.

This game was coming down to the wire, with the Panther leading the Orange, 56-55, with only 4.4 seconds on the clock, no timeouts for the Orange and they had to go the length of the court to have a chance to take the lead.

The ball was inbounded to guard Ennis, who dribbled the ball past half court, and threw up a prayer shot while being guarded by two Panthers, that would go in at the buzzer to help the Orange remain undefeated and take down the Panthers, 58-56. The shot not only silenced the Pittsburgh fans at home, but would go down in history as one of the greatest shots in Syracuse basketball history.

Point guard Tyler Ennis helped Syracuse basketball knock off Pittsburgh in dramatic fashion.

Forward Fair lead the scoring that night with 14 points, four rebounds, and one block, while Ennis would finish 13 points, two rebounds, and five assists for the Orange to go 24-0 on the season and remain the number one team in the nation. Zanna would finish with 16 points, 14 rebounds, and one assist, while Patterson would finish with 14 points, four rebounds, and four assists as the Panthers would fall to 20-5 overall.

Looking back on this moment, there have been some crazy last-second shots that the Orange have made that would stand the test of time. whether it is Pearl Washington's big half-court shot to take down Boston College back in 1984 or John Gillon's big last-second three to take down the No. 10 Duke Blue Devils back in 2017. But this half-court shot to defeat Pitt will always go down as one of the biggest shots in Orange history.

Will we see more moments like this coming up in the 2024-25 season? That we will have to wait and see.