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Jesse Edwards had the position, but like so many other instances Tuesday night, Syracuse couldn’t get him the ball.

This one mattered more than any of the other ones did, though. The Orange trailed by one with the clock inside nine seconds, needing points — even just one — from their go-to scorer to complete a shocking 20-point second-half comeback against Pitt.

There was no attempt, let alone a basket. Edwards, in fact, never touched the ball on one of the game’s biggest possessions. Blake Hinson, shading Edwards like the Panthers had all night to limit the center’s damage, jumped Judah Mintz’s pass for the steal. Edwards fouled Hinson after the turnover, his game-ending fifth and walked off the court with a season-low eight points. Mintz’s jumper at the buzzer missed, and Syracuse (8-5, 1-1 Atlantic Coast) fell to Pitt (9-5, 2-0 ACC) 84-82, with Edwards posting a nice stat line (including nine rebounds and six blocks), but fouling out and not producing enough offensively to help the Orange extend their winning streak to six.

His last play on the court was indicative of the night he had, as the Pitt defense hounded him all night.

“We wanted to get it to Jesse and they doubled him, and we didn’t recognize it and threw the ball to Pittsburgh,” head coach Jim Boeheim said of the play postgame. “So, just not a good read.”

It wasn’t surprising that, even with Edwards not scoring Tuesday the way he usually has this season, Syracuse still targeted him when it needed a bucket. After averaging 12 points per game last season, Edwards has bumped that up to over 14 per game this season and the Orange have fed him more frequently in the post as a result. And the center has responded, with only one single-digit performance in 12 games coming into Tuesday. Edwards’ start to the season has put the rest of the league on notice and has forced opposing coaches to game plan around him.

“I think he’s played as well as any big guy in our league, really in the country, this year,” Pitt head coach Jeff Capel said. “He’s long, he’s athletic, he’s gotten better. He’s got great timing. And he’s a really good player.”

One game under 10 points became two after Edwards met Pittsburgh’s defense, though. Capel said the Panthers were focused on giving non-shooters space and using those defenders to help on players like Edwards. The goal for Capel’s team was to “shrink the floor,” the head coach said, making it tougher for Edwards to find any space and points. It worked especially with eight seconds left and Hinson guarding Maliq Brown, who hasn’t attempted a 3 this season.

“That play was a really good job of Blake understanding the personnel, understanding the scouting report, because the guy he was guarding was a non-shooter,” Capel said. “(Hinson) did a really good job of reading Mintz’s eyes, and he was able to come over and get a steal.”

On the plays where SU was able to get it to Edwards, double teams quickly came. Early in the first half, Edwards caught it inside but was doubled, forcing a kick out pass to Mintz, who missed the open 3. Early in the second half, Edwards drew two defenders again and passed outside to Symir Torrence, who also missed his 3-pointer. Boeheim has said shooting 3s is not a winning formula for the Orange, who shot 25% (6-for-24) from deep on Tuesday night.

Edwards said after the Georgetown win that he’s not used to seeing double teams every time he catches the ball. He’s been working in practice on keeping his head up for passes and not over-dribbling and turning it over. But the problem against Pitt was Edwards had a hard time even getting the ball. On one possession midway through the first half, Syracuse spent the entire possession clearly looking to feed Edwards, who tried to secure position, yet never got a passing angle. The center finished 4-for-8, his third-straight game with less than 10 attempts.

Without Edwards’ usual dominance, and a sluggish start from Joe Girard III, SU struggled to keep up with the Panthers, who held a double-digit lead for most of the second half. Mintz registered 24 points, but Benny Williams and Chris Bell combined for just seven. Boeheim expressed his frustration with Williams and Bell postgame, saying they lacked energy throughout the night. The need for secondary scoring is something that clearly still plagues Syracuse as it enters the heat of conference play.

“When they take Joe out, and really make it hard for Jesse — which people are gonna do — then we’ve gotta get some other options there,” Boeheim said.

Edwards battled foul trouble for most of the second half, exiting early in the half after collecting his fourth. He returned five minutes later, Syracuse needing him down 18. Looking to incite a furious comeback, SU cranked up its full-court press — something Boeheim said he didn’t want to do because of Edwards’ foul trouble — and with a significant boost from reserve wings Brown and Quadir Copeland, closed the gap to single-digits.

“I thought the last group played as hard as they could play and got us back in there,” Boeheim said. “They played the hardest.”

The comeback fell just short — the ill-fated pass for Edwards a large part of that — and Pitt’s defensive strategy provided a potentially successful formula for shutting down the Orange’s attack: Lay off the perimeter players, dare them to shoot even and surround Edwards inside. It worked for 30 minutes on Tuesday when Pitt needed it the most, leading to Edwards’ worst performance of the season and Syracuse’s first conference loss.

Published on December 21, 2022 at 1:15 am

Contact Connor: [email protected] | @csmith17_