Pitt men’s basketball (16-10, 7-8 ACC) overcame a 16-point deficit to smash the struggling Syracuse Orange (11-16, 5-11 ACC) 80-69 — marking its 25th all-time victory against the Orange. Defense won the game for Pitt with eight blocks ensuring the game didn’t get away from the team in a turbulent first 20 minutes.
Redshirt senior forward Zack Austin and senior guard Ishmael Leggett led the scoring for the Panthers with 19 points a piece. Austin went 75% from outside the 3-point line to help Pitt secure the victory.
“I start my game on the defensive end,” Austin said. “I just come in with energy every day just playing defense, hitting open threes and doing whatever this guy asks me to do.”
Before today’s game, the Orange dropped two consecutive road games, losing to Miami 91-84 and North Carolina 88-82 — the last two teams Pitt claimed victories against.
Pitt started slowly once again, failing to put points on the board in the opening 5:20. The Panthers weren’t alone in struggling on offense, with the Orange only managing to stretch a 9-0 lead before redshirt senior Zack Austin sunk a three.
Pitt’s chances of beating Syracuse looked low nine minutes into the first half as Syracuse took an early 13-point lead, inviting jeers and boos from the home support. Syracuse, with an 80% 3-point field goal percentage, looked unstoppable.
“I have to figure out how to get us off to better starts,” head coach Jeff Capel said.
After the 10-minute mark, Pitt’s defense was pivotal to keeping Pitt in the game, holding Syracuse to just one of 11 field goal attempts to claw the deficit back to six. Pitt’s defense earned five blocks in five minutes — three of which were stopped by junior Guillermo Diaz Graham.
“I thought this was as good of a game as [Diaz Graham]’s had,” Capel said. “To have eight rebounds, keep basketballs alive, get big threes when we needed them but he also had four blocks.”
Capel and the Panthers had their work cut out for them heading into the locker room at the half with Pitt trailing 41-34. The Panthers had a field goal percentage of 37% compared to the Orange’s 44%, and Pitt was lucky to have a chance of still snatching the game from Syracuse.
“Our guys, in the first half, did a good job of doing what we asked them to do,” Syracuse head coach Adrian Autry said. “Then late in the first half, we got careless.”
Leggett scored two threes in 20 seconds just one minute into the second half to set the Panthers on the road to recovery. The Panthers’ 3-pointers started falling in, and Pitt reduced the difference to two points.
Sophomore guard Jaland Lowe completed the comeback on a fast break to tie up the game with 13 minutes to go after trailing for 25 straight minutes. It wasn’t long before the Panthers pounced in front, with the defense continuing to stand strong and Leggett scoring 13 second-half points after only scoring six in the first.
The Panthers pulled completely away with a 15-3 run. Pitt extended its lead to nine points with five minutes to go.
Pitt closed out the game holding Syracuse to six points in the last five minutes, earning Pitt the 80-69 victory as they squeezed the juice out of the Orange.
“The second half, we were terrific,” Capel said. “We defended at a really high level, we executed offensively, we made shots and we were able to get a big-time win.”
Next, the Panthers travel to Indiana to take on the Fighting Irish on Feb. 22 at 2:15 p.m. No. 13 in the ACC prior to today, Notre Dame is at risk of dropping out of the ACC championship and will be eager to put up a challenge. Fans can watch the game on The CW.
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