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Fresh off one of its best offensive performances of the campaign, bolstered by Donnie Freeman’s return to the starting five, Syracuse travels to Pittsburgh Saturday for a matchup against an old rival.

Freeman’s career-best 27-point night carried the Orange to an 82-72 win over Georgia Tech earlier this week for their first Atlantic Coast Conference triumph of the year. Though SU struggled to definitively close the game late, head coach Adrian Autry’s squad finally displayed inklings of an offensive identity after exploding for a season-high 44-point first half.

Now, the Orange will try to replicate that effort versus the Panthers, who enter Saturday’s contest on a two-game losing skid.

Here’s what to know before Syracuse (10-5, 1-1 ACC) battles Pitt (7-8, 0-2 ACC) at the Petersen Events Center in its second straight road conference game:

All-time series

Syracuse leads 75-52.

Last time they played

On Feb. 18, 2025, the Orange lost on the road to the Panthers 80-69. SU allowed Pitt to outscore it 46-28 in the second half, one of many signs that Autry’s second year at the helm would result in Syracuse’s fourth straight missed NCAA Tournament.

Besides former SU guard Chris Bell’s 23-point night on 7-for-12 3-point shooting, the Orange shot just 38.3% as a team and surrendered 55 combined points to the Panthers’ Zack Austin, Jaland Lowe and Ishmael Leggett. Syracuse guard J.J. Starling finished 5-for-15 from the floor with five turnovers.

KenPom odds

Syracuse has a 44% chance of winning, with a projected final score of 71-69.

The Panthers report

Pitt is one of three teams in the ACC without a conference win thus far (Florida State, Boston College). Under eighth-year head coach Jeff Capel, the Panthers began ACC play with back-to-back narrow losses to Miami and Clemson — two of the conference’s upper-echelon programs.

Capel’s squad doesn’t excel in many categories but also isn’t porous anywhere notable, either. Pittsburgh’s 35.9% 3-point rate is the 77th best total in Division I, per KenPom, its 114.1 adjusted offensive efficiency ranks 85th and its 104.6 defensive efficiency is 96th.

Though the Panthers’ adjusted tempo of 64.9 (336th in D-I) and average possession length of 19 seconds (340th) are among the nation’s lowest pace numbers, they make up for it with their 3-point shooting. Additionally, their defense averages more than eight blocks and eight steals per game, both ranking within the nation’s top 100.

Pitt’s offense is very balanced. It boasts four scorers averaging double figures — Cameron Corhen (13.3 points per game), Barry Dunning Jr. (12.3), Brandin Cummings (11.6), Damarco Minor (11.1) — and three additional players with 8.0-plus points per game. Per EvanMiya’s individual performance ratings, Minor’s overall BPR of 5.47 is higher than anyone on SU.

However, Pitt has just three players with a defensive BPR of 1.0 or more, while Syracuse has seven — which essentially means the Panthers have way fewer above-average defenders.

How Syracuse beats Pitt

If SU’s last two games taught us anything, it’s that anytime 6-foot-9 forward Freeman steps on the court, there’s a chance he can take over. Freeman dropped 18 second-half points against Clemson on Dec. 31 in his return from a right ankle injury that caused him to miss nine games, then poured on a career-high 27 in Tuesday’s victory over Georgia Tech.

The easiest way for Syracuse to win this one is through another spectacular performance from Freeman. For the first time all year, the Orange are developing a true offensive identity in spacing the floor in the halfcourt and running it through Freeman’s ball dominance, point guard Naithan George’s distribution skills and relentless off-ball movement from shooters like Nate Kingz, Kiyan Anthony and Tyler Betsey. Starling hasn’t been a major part of the offense so far, but that’s OK if Freeman can give stellar outings day in and day out.

Get Freeman the rock early and often, and the Orange should be able to rely on their defense to carry them to victory over a pretty methodical Panthers offense.

Stat to know: 41.7%

There is only one player in this game who shoots above 40% from 3 on more than 30 attempts: Pittsburgh guard Minor. Through 15 games, Minor’s 41.7% 3-point clip leads the Panthers and is over 6% better than Syracuse’s top 3-point shooter among its rotational players — Freeman at 35%. Minor’s EvanMiya offensive performance rating (OBPR) sits 3.72, by far a team-best, spurred by his long-range excellence.

Betsey and Kingz, two guys brought in via the portal to transform SU’s perimeter game, have shot 34.4% and 31.9% from 3 this year, respectively. Autry and Co. would love to see those two’s numbers become more on par with someone like Minor as the Orange look to improve their 31.3% clip from downtown.

Player to watch: Cameron Corhen, center, No. 2

Corhen versus Syracuse center William Kyle III will be a heck of a matchup. Corhen leads the Panthers in scoring and has decent range for a 6-foot-10 big man, currently boasting a 7-for-17 mark from beyond the arc. He also hauls in a team-high 8.3 boards per game and is a fairly reliable free-throw shooter at 64.1%.

Against Kyle — who’s tied for the most blocks per game in the nation with 3.1 — Corhen has one of his tougher battles of the year ahead of him.

Published on January 9, 2026 at 5:51 pm
Contact Cooper: ccandrew@syr.edu | @cooper_andrews