Syracuse Unable to Overcome Early Shooting Woes, Falls to Pittsburgh 65-61

Story by Emily Dick

Photo by Michael Castellano

Syracuse, N.Y.-- The Syracuse Orange hosted the Pittsburgh Panthers in front of 30,144 fans in the Carrier Dome Saturday afternoon, and what looked to be a Panthers runaway turned into an Orange heartbreaker as Pitt came away with the 65-61 win.

“We got off to a bad start offensively,” head coach Jim Boeheim said after the game. “The second half we did play better offensively and we battled back, but the first half was a really bad offensive performance and it put us in a bad spot.”

How bad was the first half exactly? About halfway through the first half, Syracuse was shooting 1-13, that’s seven percent. The Orange also didn’t make a 3-pointer until midway through the second half.

Pittsburgh hit a lull late in the first half, allowing Syracuse to battle back and tie it at 17 with a Ron Patterson layup. After a back and forth battle for the lead, Pitt started to heat back up.

Junior guard Michael Gbinije cut the lead to three with seven seconds left in the half, but Pitt’s Jamel Artis hit a buzzer beating 3-pointer to put the Panthers up 31-25 at the half. 

Syracuse started the second half slow again and allowed Pitt to gain an 11-point, 51-40, lead with eight minutes left. That’s when sophomore forward B.J. Johnson knocked down two 3-pointers.

Later in the game, and after another Pitt run, Rakeem Christmas made it a three-point game with a jumper in the paint with 1:17 on the clock. Artis was fouled on the other end and with the score 61-57, missed his second free throw.

Late Game Comeback

Christmas grabbed the rebound and got it down the court. Tyler Roberson dished the ball to Johnson who let it go for his third 3-pointer of the game. Just like that, Syracuse was down by one with a minute to go.

In the next possession, Pitt’s Chris Jones got an open look in the paint. As he made his move toward the basket, Christmas waited on the shot at get the block. Gbinije grabbed the rebound and the Orange advanced. Just as the Syracuse offense was running a play with 40 seconds left, Christmas was called for an illegal screen.

The Dome shook with boos and the Panthers regained the ball. Pitt never gave up the lead and secured the win after a Roberson layup attempt slowly circled the rim and bounced out.

After the game, the Orange had a common feeling about the way the game ended.

“It’s frustrating, but at the same time we should not have put ourselves in that situation to begin with,” Gbinije said.

“It’s really frustrating,” Christmas said. “You just have to put it behind you.”

Cooney Struggles

Arguably the most frustrated player on the court was red-shirt junior Trevor Cooney. Although Cooney played 32 minutes, he didn’t make a single basket. He was 0-5 for field goals and 0-4 from deep as well as missing a fast break layup.

After the game Cooney conceded that his back has been sore for a couple of days, although he's not sure what caused it. He normally plays the entire game but was out eight minutes during this one and spent part of that time standing at the end of the bench rather than sitting.

Panthers head coach Jamie Dixon said he was surprised at how his defense was able to slow down the Syracuse offense.

“I don’t know how we shut him (Cooney) down,” Dixon said. “I thought James (Robinson) did a great job on him. We changed our match ups and how we wanted to guard them, and I thought that was helpful.”

“We knew where he (Cooney) was going to be and we forced him to make tough shots,” Artis said after the game. “ They outrebounded us, so our defense had to step up.”

Roberson cut over the eye

Tyler Roberson, who has been strong for the Orange in recent games, took an elbow to the head on a rebound at the halfway point of the first half. There was no foul called. He returned with 1:28 to go with stitches over his eye and played the second half. Roberson contributed nine points, six rebounds and three assists for the game.

"He got hit," Boeheim said when asked about the play where Roberson was injured. " I don't know what happened."
 

By the Numbers

Syracuse did outrebound Pitt 35-22, and Christmas led the Orange with a double-double, 20 points and 12 rebounds, but it wasn’t enough.

The Panthers (18-10, 7-7 ACC) shot 50 percent, and 42 percent from three-point range.

Chris Jones was the leading scorer for Pitt. He had 19 points and went 5-6 from deep.

For Syracuse, Johnson ended up 3-4 from three, with 11 points. Gbinije added 12 points and seven rebounds.

Up next, Syracuse (17-10, 8-6 ACC) plays Notre Dame at the Edmund P. Joyce Center in South Bend this Tuesday at 8 p.m.

Louie and Bouie Show Returns

Halftime marked the Syracuse return of the ‘Louie and Bouie’ show. Former teammates Louis Orr and Roosevelt Bouie were honored in a ceremony at center court.

Orr's No. 55 and Bouie's No. 50 became the 11th and 12th jerseys honored in SU history.

There was a little mishap during the ceremony though. Bouie’s ceremonial jersey presented to him at half court was spelled “Bowie,” but it didn’t take away from the moment. The crowd of more than 30,000 gave the two a long standing ovation.

Louis Orr #55 and Roosevelt Bouie #50 the 11th and 12th Cuse players to retire jerseys. @NewhouseSports pic.twitter.com/dkMASfIeHF
— Emily Dick (@EmJDNews) February 21, 2015

Luckily the banner that hangs in the Dome with the retired number was spelled correctly.

Orr and Bouie played at Syracuse from 1976 to 1980. They were part of Jim Boeheim's first recruiting class. Syracuse went 100-18 during their four years.