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PITTSBURGH — Jim Boeheim tried timeouts, lineup changes and a full court press. He picked up his first technical foul of the season arguing with the officials. Something, anything to stop Pittsburgh’s 64-point offensive barrage in the second half. 

Boeheim tried replacing Joe Girard III with Kadary Richmond at point guard. Pitt countered by sagging off Richmond defensively. Boeheim tried two consecutive timeouts with about 14 minutes left. Pitt forward Justin Champagnie responded with a putback slam dunk two possessions later. 

Boeheim tried to apply the press to force turnovers, but it didn’t generate the stops necessary to erase a ballooning deficit as the Panthers exposed the Orange’s defense every which way on Saturday afternoon. 

“Our defense was probably the worst I’ve seen it since I’ve been here,” said Boeheim, the 45-year head coach.

Already shorthanded without Bourama Sidibe and needing a response to Tuesday night’s loss against North Carolina, the Orange’s challenge defensively became an even bigger test when Champagnie — Pittsburgh’s top scorer and rebounder — returned from an LCL injury. 

Syracuse had already slipped up once against Pittsburgh and hurt its tournament résumé. The Orange knew another loss would be tough to excuse in the eyes of the selection committee that meets in March. Trying to avoid its third 1-3 Atlantic Coast Conference start in four years, Syracuse once again stifled the Panthers to start the game and grabbed a quick 9-1 lead — another lead to protect. But once again, SU couldn’t keep it.

The Orange held Pittsburgh to one point in the game’s first six minutes. Pitt then scored 95 points in the remaining 34 minutes. After missing its first 11 shots, Pittsburgh (8-3, 3-1 ACC) bullied Syracuse (7-4, 1-3 ACC) inside, outran them down the court and shot better from distance en route to a dominant 96-76 win at the Petersen Events Center.

“We got no stops,” Boeheim said. “We’re going to have to find some way to be better defensively, going forward. Our defense was not there, we couldn’t get a stop in the second half.”

In the opening 10 minutes, the Orange forced Pitt to take contested shots and secured quick defensive rebounds to prevent second-chance points. Champagnie frequently flashed to the high post in the half-court offense and became another body for the Orange to block out on the defensive glass. 

Slowly, Pittsburgh guards Xavier Johnson and Femi Odukale found increasing success at getting into the heart of the Syracuse zone and passing their way out of it.

Sometimes, those passes were outside to Ithiel Horton — the Panthers best shooter — who finished 5-of-10 from 3. More often, those passes found Champagnie inside. Boeheim called the forward an all-league player postgame. 

“In the second half we couldn’t control him at all,” Boeheim said of Champagnie, who tallied 24 points and 16 rebounds. “He’s a really good player, and he hurt us.”

The Orange — who Boeheim called a team of shooters, not drivers, after the last loss to Pitt — showed they don’t have much shooting at all. When the Panthers regained the lead late in the first half, the Orange opted for fewer 3s and more attacking the interior. Buddy Boeheim and Girard combined for just six points in the first half, and Alan Griffin attempted only one 3. 

“We need to find a way to get to the basket and score, and we need to drive the basket more when we’re not shooting well,” said Quincy Guerrier, who finished with 18 points and 13 rebounds, postgame. 

Despite Quincy Guerrier’s strong first-half showing, Syracuse shot 3-of-23 from beyond the arc and its defense collapsed down the stretch. Courtesy of the ACC

Guerrier, Griffin and Marek Dolezaj combined for 31 of the Orange’s 37 first-half points, almost all of them coming from inside the paint. While Pitt’s front line was physical on the glass, the Orange stopped settling for contested heaves. They improved their shot selection, queuing up a 10-2 run to end the opening frame. But the lead was once again brief. 

Following two live-ball SU turnovers and a missed Girard 3 out of halftime, Pitt quickly retook control, and the Orange had no reply to the ease at which Johnson entered the paint, Horton hit 3s or Champagnie dominated the glass. 

Pitt began the second half with an 8-0 run to retake the lead in the opening two minutes, which the Panthers never surrendered. With 11 minutes to play, Pitt had a double-digit lead — like Syracuse did on Jan. 6. But Saturday, when SU tried to mount a comeback and cut the deficit to five, the Panthers didn’t stop running. They didn’t settle for jump shots and enable the Orange back into the game. They produced a 16-4 run and cruised to their second biggest win ever against Syracuse. 

“We have to get better on defense,” Guerrier said. “It’s more about moving our feet, playing with energy. We didn’t come out in the second half with energy, and that’s the reason we lost the game.”

Instead of the slow and methodical pace the Panthers played at to start the game — often bogged down in the half court by the Orange’s zone — Pittsburgh looked to run.

The Orange couldn’t manage a stop. When they forced a Pitt miss, the Panthers rebounded it. Girard didn’t play at all in the game’s final 10 minutes, Buddy went 0-of-8 from beyond the arc and Girard went 0-of-3. As a team, Syracuse made 3-of-23 from 3, which is still not its worst shooting performance of the season. The Orange rank 235th in the NCAA for 3-point percentage. 

“For us to win, we have to make some 3s” Boeheim said. “If we’re not going to make 3s, we’re not going to score a lot of points inside.”

Because the Panthers had no issues on the glass, they pushed more players out in transition and the fast break. Pitt managed 18 fastbreak points to six for the Orange. Bad Syracuse shots became easy Pittsburgh points.

As animated as Boeheim was on the sideline, the Orange did not respond with the same energy on defense. There was no spark. The stops never came, and Syracuse suffered its second loss to the Panthers in a span of 10 days.

For the second straight year, the Orange’s interior defense has been exposed. For the second straight year, there’s not a clear way to fix it. 

“We don’t have an answer,” Boeheim said of the personnel. “We’re playing the best group we have, and we’re going to continue to play them. We have to try to get better defensively with who we have.”

Published on January 16, 2021 at 2:22 pm

Contact Anthony: [email protected] | @AnthonyDabbundo