Panthers bring No. 5 Orange back to earth

No big names, no expectations and no fear. The defensive-minded Pittsburgh Panthers stalled the high-scoring Orange men’s basketball attack Saturday afternoon, and served up the first SU loss in the Dome since Halloween with a 82-72 Big East victory.

The two teams on the floor differed drastically from the respective schools' 2008-09 editions. Last year's Panthers bullied their way to the Elite Eight behind the talented trio of forward DeJuan Blair, wing Sam Young and point guard Levance Fields. Pitt was seconds from going to the 2009 Final Four before Villanova’s Scottie Reynolds dashed to one of the biggest shots in tournament history. Head coach Jamie Dixon’s charges this season are smaller, quicker, play textbook Big East basketball and have a strong record (12-2, 2-0 Big East).

Syracuse lost its three top scorers to the professional ranks, and as it’s been widely chronicled, the 2009-10 version is different, better even, than expected. The Orange (13-1, 1-1) is big, long and scores the basketball at will (Big East-best 87.7 points per game coming into Saturday).

After staging a 13-point comeback at Seton Hall on Dec. 29, the chinks in the Orange armor were too much to over come against Pittsburgh.

“Seton Hall bothered us a little bit, but they are not a defensive team,” said Syracuse head coach Jim Boeheim. “They are an offensive team. Pittsburgh’s a tremendous defensive team. They always have been, and you have to match the physical nature of how they’re playing. We did not do that and you’re not going to win that kind of game.”

Predictable Syracuse opened the game with a heavy dose of its frontline, scoring 12 points in the paint to build a 20-12 lead. Senior Arinze Onuaku hit his first three shots and the crowd of nearly 25,000 was happy in the New Year.

Slowly, Pittsburgh inched closer, using offensive rebounds and 3-point shooting to close within 30-27 by halftime. The year stopped being happy.

Cuse made short-term resolutions at the break and extended the zone outside the arc in second half. The long-range shooting of Pitt was not to its advantage, and on the other side of the floor, height was in the Orange's favor.

The first change, a defensive one, did more harm than good. Extending the zone puts a higher premium on block-out assignments. On Pitt’s first possession of the half, the Panthers ran down an offensive rebound, and stripped the next missed shot out of Onuaku’s hands and scored a lay-up.

"The second half starts the story of the game,” said Boeheim. “Ricky (Jackson) had the ball and lost it, Arinze (Onuaku) had the ball and lost it, and they got two baskets and you can’t do that.”

Pittsburgh totaled 12 offensive rebounds on the afternoon, the second game in a row the Orange surrendered double-digit extra possessions. How does that happen with the front line Syracuse puts on the floor includes Johnson (fifth in the Big East in rebounding), and the massive pair of Onuaku and Rick Jackson? Lack of box outs. That’s the answer. It’s not enough to be big in this conference, because speed is just as effective.

“I said this on the first day that we are not rebounding as well as we need to,” Boeheim said following the game, “and that is what I’m saying when I say that.

Pitt guard Jamie Dixon hit a 3-pointer to put the Panthers up 43-34 with 15 minutes to go, part of a 25-8 Pitt run across the halves. The Orange counter on offense was to post up Wes Johnson. The forward showed little variation to his post game in the second half, and he succumbed to the physical play of the Panthers, shooting awkward jump hooks. On one play, Johnson got bumped, drawing a foul and a fake cheer went up at the Dome. The referees were not to blame on Saturday.

Boeheim, in an effort to speed the game up to the Orange liking, brought full-court pressure and mixed in half-court traps. The move created three quick turnovers, and Wes Johnson slipped by the Panthers for a pair of offensive putbacks to bring Cuse within two with 11:10 to go.

But then that plan backfired as well: Syracuse was unable to catch up with the Panthers in the backcourt, committing reach-in fouls that got Pittsburgh to the free throw line often. The Panthers were 26 for 36 while Syracuse was 15 for 23.

Free throw shooting was a hot topic Saturday: Pittsburgh guard Ashton Gibbs made all four of his free throws, extending his school-record streak to 37 consecutive makes (the streak began Nov. 24 against Texas). Gibbs also hit six three-pointers on the afternoon to lead all scorers with 24 points.

“Defensively, we did a very good job in the first half except we didn’t find (Ashton) Gibbs and Gibbs is their best three-point shooter,” Boeheim said. “You can’t allow that to happen.”

Simple things win Big East games. Simple things like rebounding and free throws.

Now that the Orange finally have that first loss, the team and its fans can stop preening around like the No. 1 seed is in hand. If you don’t put your hands up on defense, if you don’t turn and box out someone when a shot goes up, and if you leave the building down ten with three minutes left, you won’t get a spot in the national tournament.  

Coach Boeheim has the motivational capital now to wipe the stars from his team’s eyes, and get them to play like Pittsburgh.

Wes Johnson, who led the Orange with 19 points, is already leading the charge: “A lot of teams aren't going to lay down just because we are ranked highly," he said. "It's Syracuse basketball so it is going to force us to go out and show these teams that we mean business."

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