Pitt's second-half surge leads to victory in rematch with Syracuse

It was midnight Sunday morning when Pitt arrived home from, perhaps, its worst performance of the season.

Coach Jeff Capel wasn’t happy about the 27-point loss at Clemson on Saturday night, but he decided the best tact was to give his players an opportunity to get a good night’s sleep, followed by what he called “a mental day” later Sunday.

Not a day off, but an easier, less physical practice where everyone started to prepare for the next game, the rematch with Syracuse.

Capel proved this much: He knows when to push his players’ buttons and when to take it easy.

The result was Pitt’s 64-53 victory Tuesday night at Petersen Events Center, a game where the Panthers (8-12, 3-6 ACC) were more engaged than Syracuse (9-11, 3-6), played better defense and offensively often beat their opponents down the court. After sweeping the two-game series last season, Pitt has defeated Syracuse in three of their past four games.

It was a distinct departure from the game at the Carrier Dome on Jan. 11 when Syracuse won, 77-61.

This time, senior guard Jamarius Burton scored 21 points and, later, described the Panthers as “the hungrier team.”

With Pitt sitting on a two-game losing streak, Capel had a definite pregame plan: Keep everyone engaged. Don’t let the season unravel. Use the two days of practice not to wear down his team, but teach players the best way to attack Syracuse’s 2-3 zone.

In the end, the key numbers for Pitt were:

• A total of 15 fast-break points when Syracuse didn’t have time to set up its zone.

• Good ball movement that led to 15 assists on 20 field goals, with players patiently finding open spaces, especially in the second half when Pitt shot 50% (13 of 26). Mouhamadou Gueye added 19 points and 10 rebounds, Onyebuchi Ezeakudo had 11 points and three steals, and John Hugley added 11 points and a career-high 18 rebounds.

• Stingy defense that held the Orange to only nine field goals on 32 attempts in the second half (1 of 14 from beyond the 3-point arc).

“We responded in a big-time fashion from the last game,” Capel said. “The thing I’m most proud of is the first half. We could not make a shot and we did not let that affect our defense.”

Pitt trailed by 10, 21-11, with less than six minutes left in the first half.

“That’s something we’ve been preaching all year,” Capel said. “We haven’t done it all the time, but we did it a very, very high level (Tuesday).”

Said Burton: “We kept fighting on the defensive end regardless of if we’re making or missing.”

“I thought our guys were incredibly tough,” Capel said. “I thought we were together.”

Pitt cut Syracuse’s lead to 28-24 at halftime and then outscored their visitors 40-25 in the second half.

Ezeakudo said the coaches set the tone two days before the game.

“Our big thing was even when we’re down, seeing the coaches come in, still have energy, still believing in us,” he said.

“It starts from the top and that’s our head coach,” Burton said. “We feed off his energy. He has a show-up mentality, regardless of if we’re winning or losing. We show up each and every day and put the work in.”

The key to the game might have been Pitt aggressively keeping the defensive pressure on a Syracuse team that didn’t have much bench strength. Backup guard Symir Torrence missed the game with a knee injury. Syracuse’s Buddy Boeheim led all scorers with 25 points while taking 23 shots and playing all 40 minutes.

“The first time we played them,” Ezeakudo said, “one thing we saw was they were way too comfortable. They were getting anything they wanted offensively. Our biggest goal for this game was to make them uncomfortable.”

Syracuse is 2-6 since the calendar turned to 2022, prompting a question for coach Jim Boehiem about the likelihood of the Orange earning their 11th NCAA Tournament berth in the past 13 seasons. He clearly didn’t like the question.

“Do you see anything that looks like a tournament team out there?” he said to the reporter. “Do you? Then why ask the question?”

Meanwhile, Capel is just hoping his team can come back with a similar performance Saturday at Boston College.

“Hopefully, we can bottle this up,” he said, “and take it on the road with us to Boston.”