Highlights & Recap: Pittsburgh 84 Syracuse 82

The Orange's rally comes up short against the Panthers.

Syracuse fans will be having nightmares about Nelly Cummings against the 2-3 zone. The former Colgate guard scored 22 points for Pittsburgh in the 84-82 win for the Panthers. Cummings shot 7-12 from the field and 6-11 from 3-point range.

Cummings also had 18 points last season in Colgate’s 100-85 win over Syracuse last season.

“He makes shots, he’s a good player,” Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim said about Cummings.

The Orange drop to 8-5 overall and 1-1 in ACC play. Pittsburgh improved to 9-4 and 2-0 in ACC play.

The Orange shot 44% from the field and 25% from 3-point range. Pittsburgh shot 47% from the field and 40% from 3-point range.

Blake Pinson led the Panthers with 25 points and 13 rebounds on 9-19 shooting from the field, 2-9 shooting from 3-point range and 5-7 from the line.

Pittsburgh rode the hot shooting of Cummings and the dominant inside play of Pinson to a 20 point lead with 10:31 left. The silence in the dome was palpable.

Then the Syracuse press started causing chaos for the Panthers. The different tempo to the game caused numerous turnovers and fast break opportunities for Judah Mintz and the Orange. Pittsburgh finished with 16 turnovers.

Mintz attacked in transition, getting to the line for 12 free-throws. He made eight of them. Mintz finished with a team high 24 points on 7-17 shooting from the field and 2-6 shooting from 3-point range.

Joe Girard stepped up in the second half, as well as Quadir Copeland. Both Syracuse players made some key 3-pointers to trim the deficit and get the Orange faithful back on their feet. Syracuse had the ball with 17 seconds left down one point before it went wrong for the Orange.

“Judah and him (Girard) gave us a chance at the end with Q, (Quadir) they made some big plays,” Boeheim said. “When we had it to one point, we wanted to get it to Jesse, they doubled him and we didn’t recognize it and they threw the ball to Pittsburgh. Just not a good read.”

Syracuse’s defense struggled in the first half. Forwards Benny Williams and Chris Bell couldn’t defend the baseline well enough or rebound well and they got the early hook. Maliq Brown came in and provided some good energy, with six rebounds and two points in 13 first-half minutes for Brown.

“We had no effort from our forwards from the beginning,” Boeheim said. “It’s hard to watch. Q (Quadir) came in and he had six rebounds in 12 minutes. Benny and Chris got one rebound between the two of them in 12 minutes. You can’t win that way. It’s really hard to watch that as a coach.”

Copeland finished with a season-high 10 points on 4-5 shooting, including a key four point play down the stretch.

Cummings hot shooting propelled Pittsburgh to a 41-33 halftime lead. The Panthers shot 53% in the first half from the field and 42% from beyond the arc in the first 20 minutes.

“We didn’t play defense, we didn’t rebound,” Boeheim said.

The Orange couldn’t buy a basket in the first half from beyond the arc, shooting 1-12 from deep.

The offense improved in the second half, but Jesse Edwards got in early foul trouble at the backline of the press in the second half. Edwards had four fouls early in the second half. He ended up fouling out at the end of the game.

“It was a good fight, a good effort against a good team,” Boeheim said. “Pittsburgh is a good team. It was a really good effort to come back in this game. But you can’t put yourself in those positions like that.”

Syracuse had great contributions from the bench. It had 27 bench points from five different players.

“We certainly have to get better with the guys that are starting,” Boeheim said. “We had some good starts early in the year, but recently, we haven’t.”

Local business man and Syracuse fan Adam Weitsman brought Josh Allen, Gabe Davis, Stefon Diggs, Tanner Gentry and Nigel King of the Buffalo Bills to the game.

Syracuse plays next at home against Boston College on December 31 at 2:00 pm.