With just over a minute to go, Syracuse sat in its patented zone and waited for a different variation of the same thing it had seen all game long. In a methodical and slow way that only Saturday’s game could produce, SU’s lead had shrunk to just five points.

Xavier Johnson jab-stepped. Not there. Ryan Murphy caught it at the top of the 3-point line. He raised the ball above his head. No shot. Murphy swung it to Trey McGowens, who teased a shooting motion. But that hadn’t worked all game. The same action, the one that further eliminated another chance for the Panthers to cut into the deficit, had happened several times earlier in the game. Pittsburgh threatened to shoot, and the Orange called their bluff.

Elijah Hughes said after the game that the goal coming into the game was to prevent Murphy, the Panthers’ best shooter, from finding his range and hurting SU. But when it came to the other players on the floor, SU’s approach was to hope for just the opposite. In its 69-61 win, Syracuse (13-7, 6-3 Atlantic Coast) urged Pittsburgh (13-7, 4-5) players to beat them from the outside. Syracuse forced the typically interior-oriented Panthers to score more than half its points from outside the paint — a result that led to a 38.9% clip from the field and several shot clock violations. 

“Let them beat us from the outside,” Bourama Sidibe said. “Because we know they’re a good team. Sometimes, a lot of good teams don’t make a shot against the zone.”

When Pittsburgh went inside initially, the Orange not only limited them but embarrassed them. Syracuse had five of its six total blocks in the first eight minutes of play, establishing a defensive presence at the rim and in the paint. Hughes (3 blocks) and Sidibe (2) in particular anchored the bottom of the zone, while Marek Dolezaj (1) also routinely altered shots at the rim.

So, McGowens and Pitt’s slashing guards stretched out a little further. For the remainder of play, Syracuse bothered Pittsburgh’s guards by forcing them to take jump shots, bringing them out beyond their comfort zone. After the threat of blocks had been established, including two out by the free-throw line, Johnson stepped in toward the free-throw line for another pull-up jumper.

Johnson’s low and slow release with a hitch rarely allowed him to create the necessary space. As he tried to beat the Orange from a range inside the 3-point line, all Sidibe needed to do was step up to bother it. Syracuse’s offense capitalized, and before Pittsburgh had a chance to find openings, Buddy Boeheim burst for 18 first-half points to establish a lead SU never lost. The Orange kept an eye on Murphy, the only player that the Orange thought could counter the 2-3, and forced the rest to make plays they rarely are asked to make.

“(Johnson)’s not really a big-time shooter, but he can make shots,” Hughes said. “So we tried to really contain him, keep him out of the paint.”

Perhaps the most dangerous part of the game was when SU lost sight of that. Johnson and McGowens still struggled, but the zone pushed forward and allowed offensive rebounds. To further add to a slow and steady game all along, Pittsburgh surged closer to SU with missed shots and follow 2-pointers. Pitt shrunk the lead to eight and then later to just three. But the success keeping Pitt’s guards out of the paint helped the Orange stay afloat. By the time Murphy had hit a late-game 3-pointer, the pace had already been set, and there was little time for the Orange to lose control.

Late in the second half, with a chance to tie the game when that had previously seemed impossible, Johnson stepped back and air-balled a 3-pointer wide well to the left side of the rim. But the ball fell into the hands of a Pittsburgh player underneath, and the Panthers got another opportunity. When the game resorted to that play, when the Pitt offense went to its shooters, the put-backs and second chances were its best offense. But it wasn’t enough. And Johnson was reminded each time he touched the ball.

“AIR-ball!” yelled the crowd, in unison.

“AIR-ball!”

“AIR-ball!”

Published on January 25, 2020 at 4:22 pm

Contact Michael: [email protected] | @MikeJMcCleary