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Ithiel Horton curled to the top of the key, received a pass and floated toward the right wing. The Pittsburgh guard’s shot went up, and he called “game” in the empty Carrier Dome. That shot bounced high off the back rim, where one rebound could have secured victory for Syracuse on Wednesday afternoon. 

One rebound could have saved Syracuse from another lackluster performance, much like Alan Griffin’s block did against Buffalo or one 3 from Joe Girard III did against Bryant. On three separate occasions earlier this season — before a 17-day stretch without a game — Syracuse squeaked by inferior opponents at home with late-game runs and game-changing plays. 

But no one boxed out Pitt forward Au’Diese Toney, whose right hand tipped the ball in. When the Orange needed one stop to win a game they should’ve finished off minutes before, they couldn’t find it. When they had one chance to retake the lead and win the game on the final possession, they couldn’t get to the final possession. Marek Dolezaj’s inbound pass was stolen. Pittsburgh made its free throws and held on as Griffin’s half-court shot at the buzzer hit the left rim and bounced the Orange to their second loss of the season. 

The Slovakian forward said he thought a few Orange players were confused coming out of the timeout before the inbounds play. Head coach Jim Boeheim said the Panthers defense was better than the Orange’s offense. 

“I was kind of waiting if they (would) go in the right spot, and they didn’t,” Dolezaj said. “I kind of panicked and just threw the ball somewhere. That is on me; the last play is on me.”

Even though Syracuse hadn’t played a game in 18 days — and Pittsburgh hadn’t in 15 — the end of Wednesday’s Carrier Dome contest was as if Syracuse picked up right where it left off following the overtime win against Buffalo. This time, Syracuse didn’t pull out a win. The Orange’s offense, which played some of their best basketball in the opening 10 minutes of the game, progressively worsened as Syracuse (6-2, 1-1 Atlantic Coast) lost to Pittsburgh (6-2, 2-1). In the final 30 minutes, Syracuse kept missing the shots it made early, except for three Robert Braswell 3s in the second half. The Orange, who fired a season-high 38 3s, now rank 212th in the country from beyond the arc (32%). 

“The bottom line is we got shots that we can make and need to make — and didn’t make,” Boeheim said. “Our defense wasn’t great, but it was good enough. We had open shots and didn’t make them.”

Syracuse had an 14-point lead at the end of the first half, but went on to lose against Pittsburgh in the Carrier Dome. Courtesy of Rich Barnes | USA Today Sports

Any concerns of potential rust following the pause due to COVID-19 quickly dissipated after Griffin didn’t hesitate to pull up and shoot a 3 over his defender on the game’s first possession. The next possession, he spotted up and received the pass. Again, he didn’t hesitate. He made both. 

The Orange couldn’t begin practicing as a team until Sunday, but they worked out individually during the quarantine period. Bourama Sidibe was expected to return, but soreness in practice led to his absence again. This wasn’t the first the stop-and-start of the 2020-21 season that disrupted Syracuse’s typical rhythm. It was, though, the first time they responded positively from it to start the game. 

During their first quarantine, the Orange spent two weeks in quarantine and played a game days later against Bryant with little practice time. In December, Syracuse added Northeastern to the schedule days prior to the game and made just 2-of-18 from beyond the arc in that weekday afternoon game, squeaking by the Huskies in a six-point win. 

But on Wednesday, the Orange looked solid on both ends of the court to start out. Boeheim said after the season-opener win against Bryant in November that the Orange weren’t ready. Whatever went differently during this quarantine, they were ready — at least initially — for Pittsburgh.

“It’s hard to say, but we just didn’t shoot well,” Boeheim said of the impact of the layoff. “A lot of time off, it doesn’t help when you don’t practice, you don’t have your legs, legs ran out of gas.”

As Syracuse steamrolled its way to a quick 11-0 lead and expanded it to 20-6 in the opening 10 minutes, the Orange had no issues playing defense. No issues making shots. SU went 5-of-9 from 3 to start the game, and the Panthers recorded just one assist in the opening half — an 18-point showing. 

But Syracuse’s inability to put the Panthers away when they were controlling the game left an opening for Pitt to claw its way back. Pitt cut the lead to four as SU kept missing 3 after 3, many of them hitting the front rim. The Orange finished the game making 7-of-29 the rest of the way, four of them by Braswell. 

“We need to set up our offense and take our time, and probably, when the 3 is not falling down, just probably drive more to the basket and try to get a foul or just make a layup,” Dolezaj said. “That’s where we probably struggled the most, and we are not realizing what we need to do.”

Despite the poor shooting as a team, the Orange’s worst shooter on the season to-date provided the spark. Braswell, who entered Wednesday 0-for-12 from 3, made three consecutive 3s from the left wing to push the Orange’s lead from four to double digits. 

Syracuse appeared to be safely ahead at that point, but even when the shots weren’t falling, the Orange kept trying to shoot their way out of the funk. Boeheim wasn’t critical of the team’s shot selection postgame, but Griffin and Girard both fired contested, long-range 3s in the final minutes. Even when Griffin hit a contested 3 to put SU up three with 1:24 to go, it prompted him to try another with SU up one the next possession, and he missed. 

The Orange finally paid on Wednesday aftenoon. They had avoided bad losses with three separate close calls before. But when they couldn’t even get a shot off in the game’s final moments, they’d finally made an error they couldn’t rescue themselves from. 

“I think practices will help us, but right now, we didn’t have legs to make shots,” Boeheim said. “All the shots we got were good shots, but if we shoot that poorly, it’s going to be difficult.”

Published on January 6, 2021 at 7:03 pm

Contact Anthony: amdabbun@syr.edu | @AnthonyDabbundo