WASHINGTON — Syracuse (19-13, 9-9 Atlantic Coast) fell to Pittsburgh (21-10, 9-9), 72-71 at the Verizon Center. The loss was the last game the Orange will play before hearing its NCAA Tournament fate on Selection Sunday. Here are three quick thoughts from the Orange defeat.

The Other Guys

In Syracuse’s previous two losses to Pittsburgh, it was the likes of Jamel Artis and James Robinson that provided the spark on both ends of the court. On Wednesday, it was guys like Cameron Johnson and Ryan Luther that did the trick. The Panthers’ bench outscored its starters 20-11 in the first half, with Cameron Johnson connecting on two right-wing 3s to spark a comeback when Pitt was down by 10.

When the Orange had the cut the lead all the way down to four late in the second half, it was Cameron Johnson that hit a 3 to bring it back to seven. The Orange scored on the other end of the court, but Ryan Luther picked up his own miss and scored again for Pittsburgh.

In total, Luther and Cameron finished with a combined 37 points and Pittsburgh found a way to beat Syracuse for a third time by finding new players to get the job done.

Second half craziness

Pittsburgh wasn’t making all of its shots to start the second half, but it was never coming up empty-handed. The Panthers missed two shots on its first possession, until Ryan Luther made a layup on the next chance. On the next play, Michael Young hit an and-one jumper after his own offensive rebound.

In the first eight minutes, Pittsburgh only had two empty possessions as the lead grew to as many as 14 points. Jim Boeheim burned two timeouts as a 10-point lead saw a 24-point turnaround.

But trailing by 12 points with just 4:18 to play, Syracuse mounted a season-saving run. It started with a Tyler Roberson layup off a forced turnover. Then Malachi Richardson hit a 3. Then Tyler Lydon hit a long 2. The Orange forced two more turnovers that led to two more baskets. In less than three minutes the 12-point lead had been completely erased.

The full sections of SU fans chanted, “Let’s go Orange”. With one last shot at a win, down 72-71 and 6.6 seconds to play, Trevor Cooney missed a 3-pointer as time expired.

A New Daj

Syracuse big man Dajuan Coleman posted the best game of his career in a Syracuse uniform on Wednesday. Playing like he wanted SU’s season to continue into the NCAA Tournament, he posted 11 points and 11 rebounds and drew a crucial charge after the Orange had cut Pitt’s lead to six in the second half.

He made himself a presence on the interior, turning good passing into scoring. His first points came on a thunderous dunk in the second half. And with Roberson seemingly incapable on the offensive end and on the boards, Coleman filled his void in a big way.

Published on March 9, 2016 at 2:24 pm