Syracuse men’s basketball: takeaways from loss to Pitt

Did you enjoy the first ten minutes?

The Syracuse Orange (11-16, 5-11) finally got off to a good start in a game, but they once again were out-played down the stretch in an 80-69 loss to the Pitt Panthers (16-10, 7-8). Here are some takeaways….

Good from Deep…for a half

Syracuse ended the game with a season-best 14 threes (on 33 attempts) but they were 9-16 in the first half and just 5-17 in the second half. A number of those makes in the first half were on tough shots, and a lot of misses were on open looks in the second half. Pitt’s interior defense kept the Orange on the perimeter and Syracuse couldn’t connect.

Paint Domination

In the first meeting, Eddie Lampkin grabbed 23 rebounds and kept Syracuse in the game. Last night, Pitt was determined to take him away and even with starting center Cameron Corhen in foul trouble, they did that. Lampkin had only six shot attempts as Pitt sent multiple defenders at him when he tried to back down in the post.

That led to a lot of those open looks, but Syracuse’s other players didn’t cut enough to the basket and when they did the Panthers were there to meet them- blocking eight shots on the night- including six in the first ten minutes when the Orange could have really blown the game open. The rebounding battle was tied, but Pitt out-scored Syracuse 28-14 in the paint,

Little things add up

When you are you a struggling team, you need to convert on opportunities and several times Syracuse had chances to stop Pitt’s momentum and failed.

Up 22-11, Naheem McLeod was alone at the rim but fumbled the ball and got blocked from behind by Zach Austin who then drove into McLeod for an and-one on the other end.

A couple of minutes later, Lampkin grabbed an offensive board, drew a lot of contact but lost the ball. He then committed a bad foul at midcourt, his 2nd of the half and went to the bench.

Up 35-24, Kyle Cuffe fouled Jaland Lowe at midcourt with Pitt in the bonus. Lowe made both free throws and Pitt was able to set up the press force a Starling turnover and suddenly it was 7-point game.

Twice in the late first half, Petar Majstorovic grabbed offensive rebounds and passed out to an open Bell, who missed both. It was a strong shooting game for Bell (7-12 from3), but those looks could have kept a double-digit halftime lead instead of the 41-34 score.

Starling had clean looks from 3 in the second half and went 0-4 in the 7 minutes before Pitt grabbed the lead. He took 11 3’s on the night and didn’t make any in the 2nd half.

The Orange never made Pitt pay for going smaller and then struggled guarding all those players on the perimeter in the 2nd half. Unless a miracle run occurs, this will be the worst season in over 50 years and a long 8 months for Adrian Autry before the 25-26 season arrives.