Highlights & Recap: Pittsburgh 64 Syracuse 53
“I’m concerned about winning a game, are you kidding me?” head coach Jim Boeheim said. “Do you see anything that looks like a tournament team out there? We’re concerned about trying to win a game. Period.”
The orange trees have frozen over in upstate New York and traveling to chilly Pittsburgh, PA didn’t thaw out any of the frozen core of this ice-cold team.
“We’re obviously really upset right now,” forward Buddy Boehgeim said. It’s gonna sting for a while. Gotta turn it around and get ready for Saturday, play like that and you’re going to lose by a lot.”
Syracuse mustered perhaps the weakest second-half showings of the season and fell to the Pittsburgh Panthers in Peterson Events Center, where the Orange’s losing record sours to 6-10.
The Orange sink to 9-11, the worst record 20 games into a season that Jim Boeheim has ever coached in his 46 years at Syracuse.
After a miserable outing against Duke, Buddy Boeheim recovered quickly in the early minutes, firing off for 14 first-half points, including four made three-pointers.
Joe Girard’s struggles continued, shooting a bewildering 0-5, 0-3 from three through the first half, not to mention an added three turnovers.
“Joe was out of it, and I thought he would take charge,” Coach Boeheim said. “I thought he would say ‘ok, Symir is not here, I have got to do something’, and he didn’t do that. It was very disappointing.”
The biggest sin of this unholy start was the shooting percentages, as the Panthers comically outrebounded the Orange 28-19 (11-5 in offensive boards), yet only shot 22% from the field and a whopping 7% (1-14) from three.
Let the reader know that Pittsburgh is 336th in the NCAA in 3PTM, but they still average around 30% shooting from beyond the arc.
With key bench player Symir Torrence out tonight due to injury, head coach Jim Boeheim elected to have John Bol Ajak and Frank Anselem lead the way in the first half, not Benny Williams. Joe Girard needed to take on extra guard minutes, as Torrence is the lead backup at that position.
“He’s not playing well,” Coach Boeheim said on Joe Girard. “There’s nothing I can do about it, he’s gotta do something about it.”
Jesse Edwards snagged a team-leading nine rebounds and swatted three blocks, but was overwhelmed shooting, only managed 3-7 from the field and 2-6 from the charity stripe.
“At many points, we had the game in our hands,” Edwards said. “Just at the end, it was a tough one.”
Edwards struggled to make any offensive production, an unusual turn after scoring a minimum of 12 points in the last four games, including 12 against Pitt in their last meeting.
Coach Boeheim said he sees improvement in Edwards over the last few years, but his strength is a key issue. “We need him to do more, but I don’t think he’s capable of it.”
The second half saw a decent six minutes, but the wheels flew off the out-of-control bus.
Pitt completed perhaps the slowest run of all time with a 23-8 scoreline since SU was up 40-37, their final lead. This run lasted from 14:00 to 1:46 remaining.
Syracuse only managed shooting a pitiful 6-31 from three, good for 19.4%. Only 19-63 (30.2%) from the field didn't muster any more confidence.
“We gave them a little more room on the shots, they got a little more open,” Jesse Edwards said. “Too much, obviously, because if you give up any open shots, they’re going to start making them at some point.”
Williams did get a few minutes down the stretch, but his addition was too little, too late.
To avoid complete embarrassment, Joe Girard hit his first and last shot of the night to get the Orange to 53 points, tying the season-low mark in scoring.
“It happens to everyone,” Buddy said. “This is a tough league, some really good guards in this league. He’s playing 35-40 minutes a game on top of that. He’s gonna get through this, we know that.”
As tensions boil and the shooters remain freezing cold, the result is a lukewarm Syracuse basketball team that has struggled to impress.
Syracuse next goes back to the Carrier Dome to host the Wake Forest Demon Deacons this Saturday at 8 pm.
