‘Cuse Crushed in Conference Clash at Carrier

Pittsburgh’s ten point win Saturday at the Carrier Dome knocked the Orange from the ranks of the unbeaten in college basketball. Number five Syracuse suffered their first loss of the season, and fourth straight at home to the Panthers. Syracuse was stifled by their unranked Big East opponents, 82-72. The Orange couldn’t fend off the best defensive team in the conference, shot under their average 54% from the field, and got into foul trouble throughout the afternoon. Pittsburgh made upstate New York feel like a home arena in handling the Orange and erasing a three point halftime deficit to pick up their second win in conference play. Syracuse dropped to 1-1 in the Big East and 13-1 overall.
The top scoring team in the Big East, Syracuse, was lead by senior Wesley Johnson’s 19 points. The Iowa State transfer was recruited by Panthers coach, Jamie Dixon, two years ago. Johnson failed to register an assist against Dixon’s revamped Pittsburgh roster. The Orange has only 12 assists in the game, nearly ten below their season average. Pittsburgh, on the other hand, came into Saturday’s showdown the second lowest scoring team in the Big East. The physical Panthers went on an uncharacteristic offensive splurge after struggling through the first half. Pitt made just ten of their first 30 shots in the first half. Ashton Gibbs and Jermaine Dixon kept the visitors in the game, excelling on offense and accounting for 23 of the 27 first half points. Pittsburgh came out firing and was efficient in the second half to stop the Orange from their first 14-0 season start in ten years.
Syracuse relied on strong second half defense to win their Big East opener against Seton Hall earlier in the week. The Orange defense wasn’t the problem yesterday. The offense was never able to rally after Pittsburgh ignited a 16-4 run to start the second half. The Orange were also nailed for 19 fouls in the game’s final twenty minutes. Johnson and Rick Jackson were called for four fouls to take whatever Syracuse spunk remained in the final quarter. Pittsburgh capitalized on Syracuse’s miscues and accurately made their free throws in the second half. Gibbs set a school record when he secured his 35th consecutive free throw, and finished the day with 37. The Panthers jumped on Jim Boeheim’s team with just 18 minutes remaining in the game. Brad Wanamaker slated a pair of free throws and the Panthers went on a 9-0 run to make it 43-34 in their favor. The Orange pulled back to within two with 11:18 in the contest. Johnson converted two Scoop Jardine misses and keyed an 8-1 Orange run. Gibbs used his long range accuracy to keep the Panthers in the lead down the stretch. The sophomore guard hit three 3-pointers in tihe span of four minutes for the cats. Pittsburgh resumed control by scoring 15 of their next 20 points, preventing any comeback from the undefeated Orange.
The Panthers were 10 of 24 from the arc. Syracuse’s solo shot from the rainbow was from Andy Rautins, the Orange leader in assists Saturday. Gibbs bucketed six from downtown and scored 24 points to lead the Panthers. Dixon, Wanamaker and freshman, Dante Taylor, all finished in double digits. Gibbs grabbed eight rebounds and Nasir Robinson added seven for the winning Panthers. Kris Joseph tacked on nine rebounds for the Orange. Syracuse came into Saturday’s home game leading the conference in margin of victory. They were beating opponents by an average of 25 points per game. For some reason, the Panthers have the Orange’s number. They seem to hand Syracuse some of their worst defeats and lopsided losses whenever they tip-off. History was on Pitt’s side Saturday. It was on Dixon’s side too. The Panther coach is 7-2 against teams ranked in the top five. The Panthers tenacity and mental toughness in hostile environments is an enduring characteristic of Dixon’s teams. It doesn’t matter who leaves the team for the NBA. Dixon usually finds a way to instill and affirm confidence in his ballclub for significant games. The inexperienced and young Panthers passed their first of three tough road tests. Cincinnati and Connecticut are up next for Pittsburgh. Perhaps upending and upsetting the unbreakable and unblemished Orange was the hardest one.

Parting Points: There are four unbeaten teams left in college basketball. Kansas thumped Temple yesterday and Kentucky held on to survive Louisville. The Texas Longhorns and Purdue Boilermakers are surprisingly still undefeated too.

Can the Cowboys contain DeSean Jackson today to win the NFC East? He had only two receptions in the first game against Dallas. Maybe the ‘Boys will hold the soaring Eagle receiver to one today.

Band of the day- Hootie and the Blowfish