Opponent Preview: What to know about Pittsburgh, Syracuse’s 2nd ACC opponent
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While Syracuse was outrebounded and punished during the first half via a flurry of 3-pointers by Cornell, it pulled through with a strong defensive effort in the second half to secure a fifth-straight win. Now, with only Atlantic Coast Conference games ahead, Syracuse welcomes Pittsburgh to the JMA Wireless Dome. The Orange typically have the Panthers’ number, though they are 1-3 against Pitt recently after rattling off seven-straight wins.
Head coach Jim Boeheim said the Panthers are playing some of the best basketball he’s seen from them and Pittsburgh — like Syracuse — enters the game with an 8-4 record with one conference win under its belt. The Panthers are one of the most experienced teams in college basketball and feature six upperclassmen in their rotation.
Before the Orange take on their second ACC opponent, here’s everything you need to know about the Panthers.
All-time series
Syracuse leads 73-48.
Last time they played
In Syracuse’s second game against Pittsburgh last season, the Orange fell short on the road 64-53, losing their sixth Atlantic Coast Conference game of the season. SU led by four points at halftime despite shooting just 32.3% from the field and connecting on just 5-of-17 from deep. But the Panthers overcame the deficit in the second half to the tune of 40 points, holding Syracuse to just 25 second-half points. After the Orange took a 40-37 lead midway through the second half, Pittsburgh held them scoreless for 4:07, allowing the Panthers to storm back to a 47-42 lead, one they’d hold for the rest of the game.
Buddy Boeheim scored a game-high 25 points, his 10th game finishing above 20 points that season and Jesse Edwards led the Orange with nine rebounds. Cole Swider also added nine points and eight rebounds. The loss came after Duke beat the Orange by 20 points, but SU followed up the loss to Pittsburgh with four straight wins — three of which came on the road — in the midst of its first losing season under head coach Jim Boeheim’s tenure.
The Panthers report
After six straight sub-.500 seasons, the Panthers are off to an 8-4 start that includes wins over Northwestern and NC State, with close losses to VCU and Vanderbilt. Despite being a streaky team, the Panthers have put up solid numbers throughout the nonconference portion of the season. Led by Blake Hinson, Pittsburgh is averaging 75.1 points per game and has four starters averaging at least 10 points per game.
Fifth-year head coach Jeff Capel also has one of the most experienced teams in college basketball, with the average player having 2.93 years of Division I experience. The backcourt features two graduate seniors, with Jamarius Burton — now at his third school — and former Marquette guard Greg Elliott manning the top of what has become a solid ACC offense. The Panthers are also 2-1 on the road thus far, despite going 0-2 against Michigan and VCU at the Legends Classic in Brooklyn, New York.
Kenpom odds
Syracuse has a 58% chance of winning, with an expected score of 70-67.
How Syracuse beats Pittsburgh
The Orange are going to have to play physically down low if they want to nab their sixth-straight win. That’s not the style of play that they’ve done successfully up until this point either, as only Edwards has found success getting boards and no other player averages above Benny Williams’ 4.7 rebounds per game. Conversely, the Panthers average 6.8 more rebounds per game than their opponents and have only been outrebounded in four games.
It’s a tall task, especially — as Boeheim said — because Syracuse doesn’t play well against physical teams, as evidenced by double-digit deficits at points during its eventual wins over Georgetown and Cornell. Edwards does have a clear size advantage on a much smaller Pitt lineup, but he’s going to need help from Williams, Chris Bell and Maliq Brown.
Stat to know: 33.9%
Pittsburgh has a 33.9% offensive-rebounding percentage, something that has helped it stay in games and close out wins during the early stretch of the season. This is a particularly difficult reality for Syracuse, who was just outrebounded by Cornell and who defends an offensive rebound rate at a 335th-ranking 34.6%. The Orange are likely going to force missed shots from deep and are going to have to clamp down on Pittsburgh inside the paint in order to stop possessions and control the pace of the game.
Player to watch: Blake Hinson, forward, No. 2
Hinson leads the Panthers in both scoring and rebounding in his first season at Pittsburgh. The Iowa State transfer is off to an incredibly hot start, averaging the ninth-most points per game in the ACC. He’s connecting on 62.3% of his shots from inside the arc and is also a 37.1% shooter on 3-pointers. Hinson is going to give Syracuse’s forwards fits, but coupled with an experienced backcourt that are both shooting over 40% from deep, he becomes a potent three-point threat with the ball.
