At 3:30 a.m. on Saturday, 50 members of Otto’s Army stood in 19-degree weather, waiting for the arrival of a bus bound for Pittsburgh.

The trip, sponsored by the Syracuse University Student Association, was the first away game bus trip of the 2013 basketball season. The vouchers included a two-way bus trip and game ticket to the men’s basketball Syracuse-Pittsburgh game at the Petersen Events Center in Pittsburgh. The tickets were free to the first 50 student season-ticket holders in line at the Schine Student Center on Wednesday.

Caitlyn Cohn, a freshman communication and rhetorical studies major, said she was drawn to the opportunity to go on another trip after the experience she had traveling to the MetLife Stadium in New Jersey last September to see the Syracuse-University of Southern California football game.

Despite the outcome — Syracuse left Pittsburgh with a 65-55 loss — Cohn said she would definitely go on another trip if given the chance.

After six hours on the bus, the group of Orange fans lined two rows that stretched across the back of the arena. Chants of “Let’s go, Orange!” erupted throughout the game, fostering a fun, spirited atmosphere and a competition of sorts between the two student sections.

Members of Pittsburgh’s student section, the Oakland Zoo, slept inside the arena the night before, and came to the game clad in gold shirts for the “gold-out.” Many also wore bathrobes over their clothes as they jeered at Syracuse guard Michael Carter-Williams, who was reportedly involved in a shoplifting incident in December.

When Syracuse silenced the Pittsburgh student fans with a 3-pointer or explosive dunk, members of Otto’s Army would yell, “We can’t hear you” in their direction. The Pittsburgh student section responded with chants of “This is our house,” and ended the game by waving and singing the words to “Na na hey hey” toward the upper levels where the Orange fans sat.

Although the outcome wasn’t what they had hoped for, many members of Otto’s Army were glad they had the opportunity to go and support their team in a hostile, road-game environment surrounded by the rowdy Pittsburgh student section.

“It was a good atmosphere, us against them, even from the upper deck to down low,” said Tim Langlois, a freshman broadcast and digital journalism major. “I think we compared pretty good especially because we didn’t have that many people. Sometimes they were just silent in responding to cheers, and I thought we did a good job.”

Published on February 3, 2013 at 11:13 pm

Contact Molly: [email protected]