The Syracuse Orange and Pitt, a rivalry as old as time, met for the second time in less than three weeks at the Petersen Events Center.
The Panthers hung around for the early part of the first half, but it wasn’t enough as the Syracuse Orange shot 58.8% from downtown en route to a 69-58 victory.
It was the Judah Mintz and JJ Starling shows for the Orange in the Steel City as the pair combined for 31 points on the night. Syracuse was sinking shots left and right, and Jeff Capel could only watch as his team got swept by the Orange for the first time since the 2019-20 season.
Takeaway #1: Syracuse plays at a much higher level when Starling has confidence
It’s not easy being the hometown man, and JJ Starling would tell you he feels that pressure more often than he would like to in an Orange uniform. While Quadir Copeland always provides a spark off the bench, a more confident Starling elevates this group’s play so much more. The level of play Adrian Autry got from Starling tonight hasn’t been on display since the Oregon game, and one could argue that was the best game from Syracuse this season.
Starling’s confidence was on full display tonight as soon as the first couple of buckets dropped in for him, and his mindset fueled him to a 7-of-11 night from the field, along with 2-of-5 from behind the arc. If you take free throws out of the picture, he was the best player on the floor tonight for the Orange. Starling frees up Mintz from a lot of pressure, which helped Mintz tonight as he drew a lot of contact from the Panthers knowing he had a clear lane when he got the ball. Starling has the potential to be at least a Second-Team All-ACC nod if he can have that confidence boost his production on a more consistent basis.
Takeaway #2: Pitt has to clean up the three-point shooting
Shooting in the perimeter for the Panthers certainly could’ve been better, but it was night and day difference compared to the shooting from deep. Not only did this Panthers group shoot just 19.2% from behind the arc, their main shooters ghosted when it mattered the most. Blake Hinson and Carlton “Bub” Carrington combined to go 2-for-18 from downtown. You don’t have to be a mathematician to know that’s not a pretty number.
The only three-point shooting performance worse than this one for Pitt on the season was in the loss two weeks ago against North Carolina. For the Panthers, it’s more than just needing to keep putting shots up knowing they’ll eventually fall. The shot selection from this team is poor, and that’s not on Capel. Too many times this group is throwing up shots just to avoid a shot clock violation as a result of not executing the offense. Not having last year’s experienced shooters is understandable, but shooting performances like this go deeper than just a younger group of players.
Takeaway #3: The Orange are making a push to be the third-best team in the ACC
This Syracuse team has the potential to be one of the better teams in recent history and right behind the blue bloods of the conference in North Carolina and Duke. This doesn’t mean the Orange will get the better of the Tar Heels later this season or even in the ACC Tournament; they certainly can, but a lot would need to go their way for that to occur.
The ACC is wide open behind the two main powerhouses even though there are currently a few teams between the Blue Devils and the Syracuse Orange. NC State is above Duke currently, but the Wolfpack along with Miami, Florida State, and Wake Forest are four of the next five opponents for Syracuse. Three of those four games are at the JMA Wireless Dome where Autry has led his team to an 8-0 record so far this season.
The Orange took a step forward tonight against Pitt with a turnover rate of just 15% and only trailing for 5 minutes and 34 seconds of the entire game. Protecting the basketball and finding ways to play with the lead is crucial as the lines are drawn between pretenders and contenders. Syracuse’s defense did well with forcing some of the poor shots from the Panthers, but there will be nights when some of those shots go in. With a little bit more offensive efficiency, Autry could have the Orange winning a large portion of the remaining games and need just one or two wins in the conference tournament to officially go dancing.
Next game for Syracuse: vs. Miami-Fla (Jan. 20 – Noon)
Next game for Pitt: at #7 Duke (Jan. 20 – 8 p.m.)