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Men's Basketball

What we learned after Syracuse’s 80-75 loss at Pittsburgh

Jessica Sheldon | Staff Photographer

Cameron Johnson lit up Syracuse for six 3-pointers and a game-high 22 points.

By Connor GrossmanSenior Staff Writer

PITTSBURGH — After a six-point lead disappeared midway through the first half, never again did Syracuse (16-10, 8-5 Atlantic Coast) have an advantage over Pittsburgh (14-11, 3-9) in an 80-75 loss on the road Saturday. The Panthers halted the Orange’s five-game winning streak, and SU will now be pressed a little harder to fill out its NCAA Tournament resume in the final five games of the season.

Here’s three things we learned from Syracuse’s loss.

Pittsburgh’s ability to switch defenders limited the Orange’s 3-point shooters

Against one of the worst teams in the ACC at defending 3-pointers, it was odd to see Syracuse, one of the conference’s best 3-point shooting teams, bury only one shot behind the arc in the first half. And before a late-game revival, SU was shooting only 24 percent from 3 at one point.

After the game, Syracuse players explained at least part of the root of its struggles from deep. When big men like Tyler Lydon or Taurean Thompson set a screen around the basket, ideally freeing up a Tyus Battle or Andrew White to scamper into open space behind the arc, the Panthers keyed in on the strategy by switching defenders effectively.



So if the defender on White, for example, ran into Thompson’s screen, than Thompson’s defender would immediately cover White. That left for fewer opportunities behind the arc, even if head coach Jim Boeheim was pleased with most of the looks his team got.

“Andrew (White) just had a tough time getting open on screens like that,” Battle said. “They played some pretty good defense, our offense just wasn’t clicking.”

Thompson playing in foul trouble is a consistent reality

It didn’t take longer than one defensive possession for Thompson to commit his first foul of the game. He bumped Jamel Artis under the basket, not a significant amount of contact, but enough to draw a foul he wouldn’t take long to regret. The freshman forward accumulated three fouls into the early minutes of the second half, resulting in a 12-minute stay on the bench.

Thompson sat alone in his locker room chair after the game, quietly lamenting another night he couldn’t give all he’s capable of because of foul trouble. It’s become a recurring theme, and a potentially fatal blow to SU’s NCAA Tournament hopes, given that Roberson’s eight-point, five-rebound game is “about what he does,” according to Boeheim.

“I gotta stop getting into foul trouble,” Thompson said, “because on the court I feel like I’m an offensive threat and I open up shooters. I just have to do a better job staying on the court.”

Syracuse’s perimeter defense hasn’t gotten much better

Throughout the season, Syracuse has allowed big performances from opponents’ best 3-point threats. It occurred again on Saturday afternoon as Pittsburgh’s Cameron Johnson went 6-for-8 from behind the arc. The rest of the Panthers went 2-of-10 overall from deep, but Johnson’s damage was enough to make a difference.

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In conference games only, Syracuse entered the weekend with a 3-point field-goal percentage defense of 40.7, ranking 12th in the ACC. The problem that hurt Syracuse against Notre Dame (V.J. Beachem), North Carolina State (Maverick Rowan) and Virginia (Kyle Guy) cropped up once again.

Johnson delivered a pivotal punch with 2 minutes and 50 seconds remaining as he nailed a 3-pointer from the right wing. He spun around, yelled and looked up toward the Petersen Events Center rafters. Pittsburgh held a late 10-point lead that it wouldn’t relinquish.

“We didn’t find him. He’s a good shooter, we know that,” Boeheim said. “We can’t give him open shots. We’ve done that pretty much throughout the whole year. We’ve let the best shooter on the other team get too many looks. That’s a reason we’re struggling this year.”





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