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Syracuse came off a shaky first road win of the season over Virginia, where its shooting was inconsistent and it was routinely outrebounded by the Atlantic Coast Conference’s worst team. The Orange, though, were able to hold on to a seven-point victory. Against Pittsburgh, those trends continued and were worse than seen against the Cavaliers. SU made just two 3-pointers and Najé Murray was held scoreless after a season-high 24 points against UVA.

But similar to that Virginia win was a near-perfect shooting performance from the free-throw line that ultimately made the difference in Syracuse’s (11-12, 4-9 Atlantic Coast) crucial late-game victory over Pittsburgh (11-13, 2-11 ACC).

Here are some observations from SU’s 67-65 win over Pitt:

3-point struggles

For the second week in a row, Syracuse faced a poor 3-point shooting team. The last time SU faced Pittsburgh, shots from deep helped it claw out an eight-point victory, as it made 13 3s compared to the two from the Panthers — which finished just 9.5% from deep.

After missing 16 consecutive 3s on Sunday, Syracuse made its first 3-pointer since the opening minute when Chrislyn Carr pulled the Orange within six points with an open look from the left corner. What was once a strength for the Orange in the early stages of the season turned into a weakness against Pittsburgh. 

Murray, who scored a season-high five 3-pointers against Virginia, missed all seven of her 3s — and ultimately all of her field goal attempts. Syracuse needed to resort to other ways to generate offense as it scraped by to a late victory.

Rebounding

Its inconsistencies on the boards nearly cost Syracuse the game on Jan. 30. Pittsburgh outrebounded the Orange 62-39 and held a much smaller SU side to just eight offensive boards. Rita Igbokwe led the Panthers with 10 rebounds and finished a point shy of a double-double. 

Pittsburgh entered Sunday’s game ranked seventh nationally in total rebounds per game with 44.9 and averaged 15.7 offensive boards (12th nationally). Syracuse, however, had the 24th-worst rebounding rate in the country, and that disparity showed on Sunday. The Panthers were winning the battle on the boards 24-18 at halftime with 11 different players having recorded at least one rebound. 

Taisha Exanor kicked off Pittsburgh’s late first-quarter 8-0 run after scoring a second-chance layup, picking up the loose ball after Jayla Everett missed a layup of her own. But the Panthers also secured boards off their own free-throw attempts. Igbokwe, who controlled the paint both offensively and defensively, rebounded Liatu King’s missed free throw and scored a layup and was fouled in the process by Alaina Rice. Igbokwe finished off the and-1 and gave Pitt a nine-point lead near the end of the third quarter.

Pittsburgh has recorded at least 35 rebounds in every game this season — the longest streak in program history — and matched that number well before the end of the third quarter. Amber Brown finished with 10 rebounds, leading to her second double-double of the season.

Syracuse loses the battle in the paint, again

Pittsburgh knew its size would easily handle Syracuse along the boards. But as the Orange’s 2-3 zone tried forcing the Panthers to get looks from deep, that strategy appeared to backfire. Pitt only attempted 10 shots from deep in the first half, which was as many as SU attempted throughout the first 10 minutes.

In January, Syracuse only scored 26-of-80 points inside while Pittsburgh scored 50, including 22 on second-chance shot opportunities. The Panthers matched the 22 mark at halftime on Sunday, while Syracuse struggled to reach double figures with only eight.

Igbokwe gave Syracuse more trouble defensively, too. She recorded four blocks for the fourth time in the last six games, and her fourth block of the game came when Syracuse trailed by two late in the fourth quarter. After the block, Igbokwe accelerated into the Orange’s end, starting a possession that would lead to three Pittsburgh shot attempts. But Pitt ended up missing all of them, and SU went the other way, with its possession leading to Teisha Hyman being fouled and tying the game up after making both shots from the line. 

Turnover trouble

Pittsburgh went on a 6-0 run midway through the first quarter and then an 8-0 one to close out the first 10 minutes. During that span, Syracuse conceded five turnovers which Pittsburgh turned into 11 points.

The Orange’s first three turnovers came within a 3:30 span and all led to Pittsburgh’s scores. The first two came on inbound plays that resulted from Syracuse’s passes that went out of play. On the third, Hyman attempted to send a pass into the Panthers’ end, but Brown read it perfectly and ran the ball back in transition for a solo layup, scoring the final two points of that six unanswered point streak. 

Syracuse recorded just two more turnovers in the second quarter, but none led to Pittsburgh’s points, allowing SU to pull within three points at halftime. In the second half, Syracuse’s turnovers continued to diminish, but they still proved to be costly, and SU finished with 11.

Published on February 13, 2022 at 4:16 pm

Contact Alex: ahcirino@syr.edu