Syracuse knocks down 10 3s in 83-72 road victory over Pittsburgh
In one of its best shooting performances under Adrian Autry, Syracuse drained 10 3-pointers against Pittsburgh Saturday. Courtesy of Pitt Athletics
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PITTSBURGH — Adrian Autry’s Syracuse squad can’t afford to lose toss-up games if it wants to stand out in a loaded Atlantic Coast Conference field. Against arch-rival Pitt, however, the Orange’s electric shooting performance flipped a projected tight contest into a demolition.
Syracuse (11-5, 2-1 ACC) poured on a season-high 48 first-half points and shot 10-for-22 (45.5%) from 3-point range in a 83-72 victory over Pittsburgh (7-9, 0-3 ACC) Saturday. The Orange hosted a shooting clinic inside the Petersen Events Center, outdoing a Panthers squad that’s typically reliant on the 3-ball themselves. SU’s stars came to play, too, as the dynamic duo of Donnie Freeman (22 points) and J.J. Starling (19 points) was in full effect.
Though the Panthers stormed back to cut their deficit to six points of the Orange late, carried by Pitt guard Brandin Cummings’ game-high 29 points, Syracuse finished the game with authority. An elbow jumper from Freeman, his 21st and 22nd points of the day, and a subsequent William Kyle III steal followed by a Nate Kingz layup put SU ahead 81-70.
If the last two outings taught you anything — an 82-point night against Georgia Tech followed by Saturday’s shooting masterclass in Pittsburgh — it’s that SU’s high-flying offense has arrived.
And it couldn’t have done so at a more opportune time.
The Orange began the game with fireworks, exhausting the Panthers in transition en route to an 8-2 lead by the first under-16 timeout. Kyle nabbed two steals in the opening four minutes. On one play, he swiped the ball from Pitt guard Damarco Minor’s grasp at midcourt then skied toward the rim for a one-handed jam — posterizing star center Cameron Corhen in the process.
The avalanche continued after the first stoppage. Kingz buried a 3. Then Freeman went on a six-point spurt capped off by a 3-point play on a second-chance bucket from the right block, made possible by an Akir Souare offensive board.
Freeman came to the bench and went on a stationary bike after nailing the and-1 free throw. But the Orange kept their foot on the gas.
All while SU’s defense repeatedly made stops, forcing the Panthers to start 0-for-7 from 3, and rigorously applied pressure on Corhen, its offense couldn’t have been more efficient, led by Starling’s 3-for-3 start from the floor as well as three consecutive 3-point makes from Tyler Betsey.
Syracuse beat Pitt at its own game Saturday. The Panthers entered the contest with a 35.9% clip from long range, the 78th-best mark in the country. Yet, the Orange got off to a 6-for-11 start from downtown and finished 10-for-22. Pitt went a season-worst 5-for-26 (19.2%) after a 2-for-11 start.
For an Orange offense that’s looked so vanilla most of the season, they were unrecognizably excellent against a scrappy Pittsburgh team.
But the Panthers weren’t going to be easily vanquished; they embarked on a mini 5-0 run to close the first half at an 11-point deficit.
Syracuse, though, began the second half with Freeman knocking the ball out of Corhen’s hands. On the other end, Kyle grabbed an offensive rebound and aggressively threw down a one-handed — almost tomahawk-esque — putback jam, eliciting gasps from the home Pitt crowd.
Kyle’s rim-rocking dunk sent the Orange’s bench into a state of total shock, with jaws hanging to the floor in awe.
The absurd putback slam energized SU, to what Autry would call “level five,” and the Panthers struggled to slow down the freight train that was the Orange offense. Before the final under-16 timeout, Starling drilled a 3 from the right wing to hand Syracuse its then-largest lead of the day at 59-42.
After SU had challenges closing out Georgia Tech last game, the same proved true against Pitt. It only led 77-70 with 2:45 left.
Even still, for a team that has prided itself on defense from the get-go, it was refreshing for the Orange to outscore a team rather than trying not to be outscored.
