With about five minutes left in Saturday’s game, the Carrier Dome crowd of 31,347 started pouring out. It had seen enough. Enough of the Syracuse basketball team’s putrid shooting. Enough of Pittsburgh’s dynamite, rim-rattling dunks. Enough missed free throws, including a run of seven straight misses, to last a season.

Despite the continued pummeling, Pittsburgh never showed mercy, beating Syracuse, 66-45, on Saturday. It was SU’s lowest scoring output since a 71-41 loss to No. 11 Kansas on Dec. 14, 1968, and the fewest points ever scored by an SU team coached by Jim Boeheim.

‘If I was a fan and I paid for this game, I’d be disappointed,’ freshman guard Louie McCroskey said. ‘To lose a game is one thing, but to lose with no emotion is another.’

The Orangemen shot 28.6 percent (8-for-28) in the first half, 25.9 percent (7-for-27) in the second half and 27.3 percent for the game.

Syracuse hit 11 of 25 free throws and was out-rebounded, 50-36. If they kept stats for muscle and hustle, Pitt surely would have thumped the Orangemen in those, too.

‘One of their guards (Carl Krauser) had 10 rebounds,’ center Craig Forth said. ‘That’s embarrassing. Maybe we should do a drill in practice where we all jump on a loose ball. Or maybe we should go outside after practice and chase buses. Anything to get a little tougher.’

In sum, the Syracuse team that overwhelmed Missouri and Notre Dame on the road just a week earlier completely broke down. No SU player shot better than 50 percent. Saturday marked the first time SU has been held under 30 percent from the floor since playing Notre Dame on Jan. 2, 1997, when SU connected on just 18-of-65 field goals (.227).

‘Let’s play tomorrow,’ Forth said. ‘Let’s play right now. I want to go back out there and play some more. This was embarrassing. I just want to get back out there.’

Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim blamed the outing on SU’s inability to match Pitt’s toughness.

‘I’m not even talking about strength; I just think mentally we weren’t very tough out there,’ Boeheim said. ‘Craig Forth is 7-foot, 260 pounds, and he got pushed all around the court. Billy (Edelin) is 210 pounds. I don’t think it’s anything to do with the weight room. Our guys are strong enough. We’re as physical as anybody. We just didn’t play physical today. We didn’t accept the physical challenge. And that’s it. Bottom line.’

As badly as Syracuse played, the Orangemen only trailed by six at halftime. But after trading baskets early in the second half, Pittsburgh ran off a 14-3 run, extending the lead to 50-32.

Pittsburgh, though, didn’t display its offensive muscle either. The Panthers shot 44.3 percent for the game, including just 32 percent in the first half.

Syracuse’s defensive effort kept the Orangemen in the game early. SU held Pitt’s two leading scorers – Krauser and Julius Page – to a combined 13 points on 5-of-19 shooting.

But once again, Pitt’s centers diced the Syracuse zone. Pitt center Chris Taft scored 15 points, and 6-foot-11 Mark McCarroll, who averages 6.1 points per game, scored 15 off the bench, including two 3-pointers. The Panthers outscored SU 40-18 in the paint.

‘We didn’t push the ball,’ McCroskey said. ‘We didn’t play with enthusiasm. Early on Pittsburgh dictated the tempo of the game. They wanted a slow, physical game. We wanted to get out and run. With them pounding the boards and everything, they definitely controlled the tempo of the game.’

Forward Hakim Warrick led SU with 16 points and 10 rebounds, but the junior only hit 5 of 16 shots as Pitt bullied him down low.

‘Offensively, really two teams in a row have been physical, bumped us, and we’re just not being physical enough,’ Boeheim said. ‘That’s something we’ve got to do if we’re going to be successful.’

Published on January 25, 2004 at 12:00 pm