Kings of the ACC Castle: Syracuse Stays Perfect with 59-54 Win over Pittsburgh

No. 2 Syracuse Remains Unbeaten in Gritty Win over No. 22 Pittsburgh

By Jillian Thaw

Jerami Grant. 

No one had forgotten the recent history between the two former Big East heavyweights:Pittsburgh had won six of the last eight matchups, but Syracuse snapped the Panthers' five-game winning streak  in 2012 and had won two of the last three. Both were unbeaten in the ACC so the winner would get the lead in their new league rivalry and in the league standings.

  The players on the court were as intense as were the 30,046 fans in the Carrier Dome stands. Freshman Tyler Ennis was cool.

 

Ennis Emerges

Orange fans attempt to throw off Michael Young.

Syracuse (18-0, 5-0) would emerge victorious over the Pittsburgh Panthers (16-2, 4-1), riding Ennis' late-game heroics. “He [Ennis] made some of the best plays I’ve seen in a long time," Coach Jim Boeheim said after the game. "He won the game down the stretch for us.”

Ennis’s teammates were equally congratulatory. C.J. Fair, who finished with 13 points and six rebounds, said his trust in Ennis was strong: “We gave him the keys to this team and he leads.”

“We like to give him the opportunity,” Boeheim said. “They were playing Trevor (Cooney) and C.J. hard. We were trying to give him an opportunity to get to the basket and he just has a knack for doing it that’s as good as just about anybody that I’ve seen.”



Ennis and Cooney at the start of the second half.

Ennis finished with 16 points, three assists and two rebounds, but his poise and command in the last two minutes of the game are what cemented the win for Syracuse. He had six points during that stretch, and his two free throws with 4.8 seconds remaining secured the lead—and sent Orange fans in the Carrier Dome into a celebration that shook the stands. The play prompted Boeheim to compare Ennis’s maturity to Carmelo Anthony and Gerry McNamara.

“I mean, that feels great,” Ennis said with a smile in the locker room. “Especially because Coach Boeheim, well..." He chuckled, his laughter speaking for itself. 

Polishing Up

Syracuse struggled with rebounding, especially in the second half. The Panthers outrebounded the Orange 35-24 in the game and SU had only four offensive rebounds to Pitt's 16.  Lamar Patterson made four three-point baskets, including three in a row after SU led by ten, to help Pittsburgh briefly climb to a narrow second-half lead. Patterson, the Orange’s biggest headache, finished with 18 points, three rebounds and two assists in 38 minutes of play, his strong showing earning him praise from Coach Boeheim and reminding the nation why he was last week's ACC Player of the Week. 

Jerami Grant had yet another solid night starting in place of DaJuan Coleman, who is still recovering from a knee injury. Grant was perfect in his free-throw shooting and finished the game with 12 points and four rebounds. He was the first player to reach double-digit points.

Rakeem Christmas quietly had a strong game with 10 points, four rebounds and four blocks and, following a literal last-second foul by Pittsburgh center Talib Zanna (12 points, 11 rebounds, one assist), made both free throws, the final two points of the game. Boeheim applauded Christmas’s offensive efforts against Pittsburgh, but noted that the Orange could do a better job of getting to him more frequently.

Syracuse vs. Pittsburgh

Fan favorite Trevor Cooney was mostly inhibited during the game, as the guard faced a lot of pressure on the outside from Pittsburgh. 

“You look for other ways to win,” Cooney said. 

Cooney was 2-for-8 from three-point range (and those he made solicited the usual piercingly loud roar from the crowd) while Baye Moussa Keita, coming off of the bench, had two first-half blocks in the paint that completely shut down Talib Zanna, much to the joy of Orange fans.

Up Next

The Orange travels to Coral Gables, Fla. for a rematch against the University of Miami Saturday, January 25. When Syracuse met Miami in the Carrier Dome on January 4, the Orange had a closer-than-expected 49-44 win over the Hurricanes.

"They're a good team," Fair said. "That's where the focus is now." 

The Orange will continue its series against the Panthers February 12 in Pittsburgh in what will surely be another tense match.

Syracuse is 18-0 for the third time in four years.

Jim Boeheim's Post-Game Press Conference Here: