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As February approaches, every Atlantic Coast Conference game matters. With only ACC play left, each opportunity is one more chance at securing a spot in the conference tournament.

The Orange still have games against bottom feeders like Miami, Boston College and Virginia. But it’s the teams just in front of them in the conference standings that are most important to knock off. Teams with similar records that will affect seeding come March. Teams like Pittsburgh.

Despite SU holding a one-point halftime lead, Jaland Lowe’s 17 second-half points willed the Panthers to victory Saturday, as Syracuse (9-11, 3-6 ACC) fell to Pitt (13-6, 4-4 ACC) 77-73. With a chance to take down a similarly placed team, the Orange faltered, dropping their sixth ACC game.

To Syracuse head coach Adrian Autry, it wasn’t his team’s 11 turnovers or 40 missed shots from the field that caused its 11th loss of the year. It was the timeliness of SU’s fortitude.

“Toughness at the time that plays need to be made, they made them, and we didn’t. And that was the difference in the game,” Autry said postgame.

Trailing by five with three minutes to play, Lucas Taylor got to the charity stripe and cut Syracuse’s deficit to three. Pitt’s Zack Austin converted a 3 but Petar Majstorovic scored a floater to pull within four. But J.J. Starling missed a jumper, and Lowe finished the game at the free throw line despite last-ditch efforts by Chris Bell from 3.

It was all Pitt in the end and early on. Fresh off an opening-tip win, Pitt immediately dished the ball around before getting it to Cameron Corhen for a layup. After a misplaced floater on the following possession, Corhen finished a lob pass from Guillermo Diaz Graham.

The Orange, however, jumped out to a 13-4 lead through the first four minutes courtesy of the 3 ball. Starling bailed out a stagnant SU offense on its opening possession from the top of the key, knocking down a triple. Jyáre Davis hit another before Elijah Moore found nylon from the left corner.

A 15-9 Syracuse lead was answered by the Panthers through their star backcourt. The duo of Jaland Lowe and Ishmael Legget got going as Leggett knocked down a 3 followed by a Lowe and-one.

The pair entered the game with a combined 33.9 points per game. Saturday, they became the catalyst and closers for Pitt’s offensive attack. Still, Syracuse used a rebounding advantage to spark its offense.

SU ranks fifth in the ACC in rebounding through seven conference matchups. Syracuse, with Eddie Lampkin Jr.’s ferocious inside presence, outrebounded Pitt 8-4 to start. It allowed the Orange to get out to an 18-15 lead despite five turnovers.

Pittsburgh’s press became more effective as the first half continued, and it garnered its first lead since 2-0 off a transition drive to the bucket. But Majstorovic splashed a 3 and converted a tip-in to take a 23-21 lead with 10 minutes remaining.

Starling picked up two early fouls, forcing Autry to substitute him for a backcourt of Jaquan Carlos and Taylor, which built a 28-23 lead. After Starling was substituted at the 11-minute mark, he didn’t return in the first half.

Pitt head coach Jeff Capel said the best way to defend Starling was to have him on SU’s bench. Even with Starling out, SU held a 15-14 advantage down the stretch to end the half up 33-32.

“We knew Pittsburgh would play a better first half, holding it to 32 points, we knew the second half would be a little bit more challenging,” Autry said. “But for the most part, it wasn’t good enough.”

Corhen immediately flushed a dunk to take a 34-33 lead to start the second half. Starling started the second half after his 11-minute hiatus and knocked down a triple. But Diaz Graham converted a top-of-the-key 3 for a 41-38 lead with 16:54 to play before Lampkin bullied inside for another bucket.

Lampkin’s team-leading 23 rebounds were a career-high, topping 14 from his TCU days, and was the most for a Syracuse player this season in a single game. Still, the outcome of the contest hampered any enjoyment of the feat.

“I don’t really care about 23 rebounds, but I lost, so it ain’t like I can go be happy and cheer about it, but I feel like I can go get more,” Lampkin Jr. said.

The Orange later knotted the game at 43-43 with a 3 from Moore, but the Panthers took the lead back with a Lowe floater. Starling reinserted in Carlos’s place and immediately drove to the bucket for a game-tying layup.

It became a Lowe vs. Starling affair. Mono y mono. Lowe first made a left-handed floater, then after a Pitt defensive stop, he skipped inside again, this time ripping a floater plus the foul, slamming the floor in celebration with his right hand.

Autry saw Lowe’s 17 second-half points compared to his five in the first as a testament to his off-ball movement, making it more difficult for the Orange’s defense to keep up. Capel said it was largely due to other guys around Lowe making their shots.

Lowe added another layup, building an 8-0 run to take a 53-45 lead, the Panthers’ largest of the game yet. SU answered with a 5-0 run, capped by Bell’s corner 3. Pitt then answered with its own 5-0 run to once again push the lead to eight, this time with eight minutes left.

Through the play of Starling and Lampkin and a few Bell 3s, the Orange clawed back. But Lowe willed the Panthers into the driver’s seat and pushed SU further down in the ACC standings as a result.

As Autry stood at the podium postgame to deliver his opening statement, his hands clamped each end. He delivered a grimace between each sentence and rarely looked up from his stat sheet for over a minute.

Autry closed his eyes, scratched the back of his head with his left hand and relived yet another disappointing loss. Twenty games into his second season, he’s a coach with more questions than answers. Still, he has no choice but to stay the course.

“This is part of this journey. This is part of our season, and we gotta keep picking ourselves back up,” Autry said.

Published on January 25, 2025 at 2:46 pm

Contact Aiden at: amstepan@syr.edu | @AidenStepansky