With nearly 14 minutes left in Pitt’s 69-58 loss to Syracuse on Tuesday night, there was plenty of time for the Panthers to recover from what had been a listless performance.

Suddenly, several opposing players went to the floor, falling onto the Pitt logo at midcourt, pushing each other and grabbing for a loose ball.

Tempers flared briefly, but nothing much came of it, other than offsetting technical fouls against Pitt’s Blake Hinson and Syracuse’s Benny Williams. Officials also called a held ball, and Pitt gained possession.

Would this be the spark the Panthers, trailing by 11 points, needed in front of a crowd of 7,708 at Petersen Events Center?

Actually, no.

Hinson missed his next three shots, Syracuse (12-5, 3-3) kept scoring and went on to complete the two-game season sweep of the Panthers. The Orange, who defeated Pitt, 81-73, on Dec. 30, were coming off a 103-67 loss at North Carolina on Saturday. It was Syracuse’s first victory in Pittsburgh in its past four outings.

Pitt (10-7, 1-5 ACC) is sinking further and further from national relevance while its stars — Hinson and Bub Carrington — have lost sight of the rim.

Hinson scored 12 points but shot 4 of 17 from the floor and made only 2 of 11 3-pointers. Incredibly, Carrington, who had created such a stir with a triple-double in his first collegiate game two months ago, was scoreless while playing 35 minutes, 20 seconds. He has hit only four of 26 shots in the past two games and was 0 for 10 against Syracuse.

“We didn’t make (shots), and they did,” Pitt coach Jeff Capel said. “I think we’re pressing. I think we’re putting pressure on ourselves, especially here.”

Pitt has played four conference games at the Pete, and is shooting only 35.5% from the field, 33.3% in the most recent games against North Carolina, Duke and Syracuse.

“We have to continue to be tougher, to be together and to fight through it,” Capel said, “and to figure out a way to cross that bridge and become that team that we want to be and think we can be.”

Hinson scored 22 or more points six times in Pitt’s first 10 games. He surpassed 20 only once in the next seven.

“I don’t know if it affects his confidence,” Capel said of his star player’s scoring slump. “What it can do with Blake is to make him press a little bit more. Because there’s no one wants it more than him, for this program, for this city, for this university, for this student section.

“As a player, you know when you’re struggling and sometimes you try to go get it even more. He got some good looks. He just missed them, just like we all did.

“We just have to keep encouraging him. We need him to be him, and those shots and plays will eventually fall.”

Freshman guard Jaland Lowe led the Panthers with a season-high 20 points, showing an ability and willingness to drive toward the basket. He scored 16 of Pitt’s 32 points in the second half.

“I wanted to give us a spark, be that guy that stepped up, ignite guys,” he said.

Lowe, 19, said he and his teammates are trying to live up to standard that Capel sets.

“He holds us to a high standard,” Lowe said, “and we want to hold that standard for him and for ourselves.”

The game was close through much of the first half and Pitt built a modest lead, 20-14, with 10:19 left before halftime. But Syracuse went on a 20-4 run and maintained a comfortable lead through the rest of the game.

The difference was the simple fact that Syracuse made shots (25 of 53 for the game, 47.2%) while Pitt was mostly off target (23 of 65, 35.4%). The Panthers kept shooting from beyond the 3-point arc but missed 21 of 26 shots.

At one point in the second half, Pitt seemed to build some momentum and trimmed the Syracuse lead to 60-50 with 6:28 left in the game. But the Panthers couldn’t get a defensive rebound off two Syracuse misses, and the Orange’s J.J. Starling finally hit a basket to quell the minor uprising.

Starling scored 17 points and Judah Mintz 14 to lead Syracuse. The Orange had been averaging only four 3-pointers in their five previous ACC games. Tuesday night, they were 10 of 17.

What frustrates Capel as much as any shooting slump from one of his players is he knows how much they want to improve.

“I love my team. They are really good guys,” he said. “They want to be really, really good. They’re searching right now. We’re searching, all of us.

“I have to do a better job with them. Hopefully, as we go forward, we can get back into the rhythm we were in earlier this year. I’m trying to figure out the buttons to push. Obviously, what I’ve done has not worked.”

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