Beat writers predict Pittsburgh to sweep season series against Syracuse

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Syracuse was embarrassed for the second straight game as Clemson picked apart its defense for 91 points. The Orange have three games left in the season with their final road game at Pittsburgh.

The Panthers are comfortably positioned at the top of the Atlantic Coast Conference, playing their best basketball of the season right now. They’ve dropped just one game in the last eight contests, holding opposing teams to 67.9 points per game over the course of the year. 

Here is what our beat writers project will happen against the Panthers:

Anish Vasudevan (21-7) 
S.O.S. 
Pittsburgh 75, Syracuse 62

Syracuse is in survival mode, needing a strong ACC Tournament run to have a shot at making the National Invitation Tournament. The Orange collapsed in back-to-back games, unable to score at all against Duke’s defense before Clemson scored at will on their 2-3 zone — Jim Boeheim will stick to the zone, get over it. 

If Syracuse wants a chance to salvage the end of the season, it’s going to have to get scoring from its forwards. Joe Girard III and Jesse Edwards are obsolete offensively as defenses continue to limit the pair. Judah Mintz can only do so much. It will be a tough task to get any of the forwards hot against Pittsburgh, who holds teams to a 41.2% field-goal percentage, which is second-best in the ACC. Simply put, the Panthers know how to play defense. The Orange can too, depending on the day. Saturday won’t be that day.

Connor Smith (23-5)
0-for-2
Pittsburgh 85, Syracuse 73

Syracuse’s defense had been on a roll, giving up fewer than 70 points in three straight games against Virginia, Boston College and Florida State. That streak ended in the three-point win over NC State, and then came the blowout loss to Duke and then Clemson’s 91-point performance came on Wednesday. Boeheim said SU’s defense was “awful” against the Tigers, who poured in 14 3-pointers. 

So now probably isn’t a great time for a visit to Petersen Events Center and face a Pitt team that dumped 84 points on the Orange back in December. That’s the third-most points SU has allowed in a game this season, and the Panthers hit 13 3s — eight of them coming in the first half. Syracuse’s defense clearly isn’t playing great right now, and despite averaging only 75 points per game, I expect Pittsburgh to have no problem carving up the zone, just like it did in the first game against the Orange. And even with Judah Mintz playing great basketball right now, and Jesse Edwards in need of a bounce-back game, I think Pitt’s scoring will be too much, and Syracuse will suffer its third straight double-digit loss. 

Anthony Alandt (19-9) 
Judah —> transfer portal
Pittsburgh 81, Syracuse 70

Hot and cold doesn’t even begin to describe the rollercoaster season that Syracuse has rode through. After enjoying a three-game winning streak and improving to 9-6 in the ACC, the Orange have lost their last two games by 22 and 18 points, respectively, and travel down to Pittsburgh in the midst of another late-season freefall. Edwards looks lost underneath the basket, and aside from Mintz, Syracuse isn’t getting any help on offense. Combined with the fact that they’ve allowed 27 3-pointers in the last two games, the Orange have shown they don’t belong on the court with the top teams in the conference.

Pittsburgh is rolling and enters Saturday night on a 9-2 tear after two straight losses to Clemson and Duke. Since the last time they played Syracuse — and won — the Panthers have seen the emergence of two more key contributors in John Hugely and Jamarius Burton. There’s just too many weapons that the Panthers can utilize against a 2-3 zone that seems to be figured out for me to think Syracuse can pull off the road win. It also has no chance of winning any of its final three games if it continues to see zero production from its forwards and spotty shooting days from Girard. This team looks lost, and Pittsburgh is going to take care of business, sweeping the season series against SU.