Pitt Blows Double-Digit Second-Half Lead, Falls 81-73 at Syracuse

On Saturday afternoon, Pitt blew a double-digit lead to the Syracuse Orange in its first road conference game of the year.

After leading by 11 early on in the second-half, the Panthers struggled to take care of the ball, hit timely shots, and convert from the free-throw line throughout the rest of the half. While Pitt struggled, the Orange took advantage behind a breakout game from Quadir Copeland.

Pitt surrendered the first four points of the game to the Orange, headlined by a game-opening bucket by former Pitt commit Judah Mintz. However, the Panthers found their groove early behind a three pointer from Guillermo Diaz-Graham and early points from other members of the starting five: Blake Hinson, Zack Austin, and Bub Carrington.

Throughout the first half, the two teams traded buckets, as Diaz-Graham continued to pace the Panthers and the Orange looked all around for production. Eight different Syracuse players scored in the first half, led by Copeland’s six. As the half went on, the defensive intensity, along with some sloppy play, ramped up.

Each team had ten turnovers in the frame, and Syracuse capitalized directly with eight points off of those turnovers. However, the Panthers’ used timely defense towards the end of the half to go on a late 14-4 run into the break and steal all of the energy out of the JMA Wireless Dome. Carrington shined for Pitt on all cylinders early on, contributing 13 points, five rebounds, and four assists in his first half of basketball in an opposing ACC environment.

Pitt won the first-half rebound battle as well, earning a team-high seven from Will Jeffress off the bench in the half, and totaling 22 as a team. At the break, the Panthers held a commanding lead, 38-30.

In the second frame, Diaz-Graham continued his offensive outburst, draining a wide-open three to begin the half and extend Pitt’s lead to 11. However, after that bucket, the Orange went on a 14-2 run which included Mintz’s first three pointer of the game. The Panthers went freezing cold, going more than four-and-a-half minutes without a point. With just under 15 minutes to play, Syracuse had cut the lead back down to one, and shortly after, the Orange had obtained their first lead since early in the game.

Down the stretch, the Orange held onto momentum behind Copeland and a loud alley-oop finish from Mintz. As the Orange extended their lead, Pitt looked to freshman guard Jaland Lowe off the bench to stop the bleeding. Lowe hit his first two buckets in the half, one a driving layup on his left side, and one a pull-up jumper shortly after. He also dished out another assist, this time on a three made by Austin. Behind Lowe, Pitt cut the lead back within one-to-two possessions for the next stretch of play.

With less than five minutes to play, Syracuse earned two interior buckets, one from Maliq Brown, and another from Copeland to build its lead up to four. Then, Benny Williams followed up by knocking down a jumper with 3:30 to go, extending Syracuse’s late run to 6-0. Shortly after, Pitt’s Ishmael Leggett, who had turned in a strong second half, missed the front end of a one-and-one free-throw opportunity, continuing the Panthers’ struggles from the free-throw line.

Trailing 69-63, the Panthers had to string together some stops late if they wanted a chance to win. However, Williams slammed home another dunk off a Mintz-fed alley-oop, and the Panthers missed on the other end. After several more attempts to score, the Panthers yet again could not convert. Pitt went more than 3:30 without scoring in the final five minutes.

Lowe hit another three to cut the deficit to six with 34 seconds to go, but it was too little, too late. Syracuse closed out the win, 81-73.

Carrington finished as Pitt’s leading scorer with 17 points on 6-for-12 shooting. He also grabbed seven rebounds and dished out five assists. Behind Carrington, Hinson had 11 and Diaz-Graham added 14. Jeffress led the team in rebounding with ten boards of his own.

Pitt turned the ball over 15 times in the loss, and shot an abysmal 46% from the free-throw line (11 for 24).

For Syracuse, Copeland led the way with 20 points, while Williams added 14, Brown had 15, and Mintz had 12 points. Copeland grabbed eight rebounds in the effort, and Brown had seven.

With the loss, Pitt falls to 9-4 (0-2 ACC) on the year, while the Orange improve to 10-3 (1-1 ACC). Pitt’s next game comes at home