Generally speaking, you would think getting the double bye in the Big East Tournament it should be an advantage, but statistically speaking that hasn’t been the case, especially for the Pitt Panthers, who had dropped their three previous tournament games after receiving the dreaded double bye.
Their luck didn’t change much Thursday afternoon at Madison Square Garden as the Panthers dropped to 0-4 in such situations after falling to Syracuse 62-59, making Pitt one-and-done in their final Big East Tournament.
In tournament play, every little thing matters, especially free-throw shooting, which continues to haunt the Panthers year after year.
Pitt’s (24-8) defense let them down in the first half as they allowed Syracuse (25-8) to have a field day from behind the arc during the first 20 minutes. The Panthers made only eight field goals from the floor during that span while Syracuse knocked down eight three’s-five from James Southerland- en route to taking a 40-27 lead into the locker room.
But the Panthers showed grit and heart and fought their way back in the second half, pulling to within four points on a couple occasions late before closing the gap even further.
Talib Zanna made a layup and got fouled with only 32 seconds remaining to pull Pitt within 58-57, but predictably Zanna missed the free-throw.
Syracuse’s freshman Michael Carter-Williams had no such problems as he put the Orange back on top by three with a pair of clutch free-throws and then stole a soft pass from James Robinson and knocked down two more from the charity stripe to stick the fork in the Panthers.
Pitt had problems for most of the afternoon penetrating the Syracuse zone, something they are normally proficient at as they had won six of the last seven meeting between the two teams. The Panthers got very little from their big men, especially Steven Adams. On the day Pitt shot only 37.5 percent from the floor.
Syracuse on the other hand came out hot.
The Orange didn’t shoot the ball well the first time the two teams met this season (a 65-55 Pitt win), but they were scorching hot in the first half.
The Panthers dug themselves a double-digit hole by missing 10 straight shots from the floor in the first half. Meanwhile the Orange made 11-of-12 to close the half. Southerland scored 17 of his game-high 20 points in the first half as Pitt continued to go under screens and lose track of the sharpshooter who made all six of his three-point attempts.
Everything was going Syracuse’s way early including what turned out to be a big play at the end of the first half when Dixon, with a foul to give, choose not to foul and C.J. Fair knocked down a three at the buzzer.
It looked like a mistake not to foul at the time, but considering how the game ended, it proved to be fatal.
Pitt struggled to get in a rhythm all afternoon offensively, especially their usually reliable bench. The Panthers reserves had combined to average 26.8 points per game on the season, but combined to score only seven points on the afternoon.
In addition to the 20 points from Southerland, Fair (13), Brandon Triche (12) and Carter-Williams (11) all finished in double figures, as Syracuse shot 63.2 percent from behind the arc.
The Panthers were led by Lamar Patterson’s 14 points and 11 rebounds. Tray Woodall (12), Zanna (10) and Robinson (10) all scored in double figures.
But at the end of the day free-throw shooting killed the Panthers again as Pitt made just 11-of-19 (57.9 percent) on the day.
Pitt must now shake off the sting from this tough loss and get prepared for the NCAA Tournament next week.
Photo Credit: Associated Press
