Syracuse vs. Pittsburgh preview: Five things to watch - SCACCHoops.com

Syracuse vs. Pittsburgh preview: Five things to watch

by Andrew Godnick

Posted: 2/2/2019 7:57:44 AM


Can the Orange sweep the season series?

The Syracuse Orange (15-6, 6-2) face their first repeat opponent of the season, as they travel down to play in the Peterson Events Center to take on the Pittsburgh Panthers (12-9, 2-6). The first meeting between the two sides went in Syracuse’s favor, 74-63. But playing on the road in the ACC is a whole different monster.

The Orange pulled out the road win against the Boston College Eagles Wednesday night, and now they’ll look to cap off their three-game road trip with a win prior to their showdown with the No. 25 Florida State Seminoles.

Tyus Battle’s aggressive mentality

Tyus Battle led the Orange to a much-needed road win on Wednesday, as he was the game’s leading scorer with 31 points. The junior guard is now averaging 18 points a game on 46 percent shooting from the field, as it looks like the dominant scorer is ready to lead Syracuse on this final regular season stretch.

Battle used his pull up jumper to his advantage against the Eagles, because his size for his position allows him to rise over the smaller defenders. Battle was also the game’s leading scorer back when the Orange and the Panthers first met with 22 points, so let’s see if the sixth-leading scorer in the ACC can dominate once again.

Has Buddy Boeheim figured it out?

After struggling mightily to find his rhythm in the offense, Buddy has recently begun to find his spots on the perimeter where he can torch defenses with his picture-perfect stroke. Boeheim had another quality game on Wednesday where he tied his career high of 13 points on 3-5 shooting from deep — the other time Boeheim had 13 points you may ask? Well, that was on January 19th when Pittsburgh came to the Carrier Dome. Syracuse needs as much perimeter help as they can get on the offensive end of the floor, and it looks like Boeheim is ready to fit the label of a three-point marksman.

The long ball

Boeheim wasn’t the only player for Syracuse who had success from deep in their first meeting with the Panthers, as the Orange shot 12-26 from deep in that victory with five players hitting a three pointer. Syracuse has shown they have the ability to win games with hot shooting, and Saturday’s game on the road will be another test to see if the Orange can be consistent from deep.

Slowing down Pittsburgh’s perimeter threats

The Panthers shot just 11-of-35 from deep against the Orange in their first meeting, but Xavier Johnson and Jared Wilson-Frame were able to keep the Panthers within striking distance with the deep ball; the two guards combined for eight threes to go along with their 36 combined points. If the Orange want to grab another road conference win, they’ll need to limit Pittsburgh’s perimeter success from the tip.

The battle on the boards

Syracuse was able to win the first meeting between these two sides despite getting outrebounded 44-37. Paschal Chukwu did his job by grabbing 11 rebounds, but Oshae Brissett and Elijah Hughes combined for just six rebounds. Syracuse needs to get easy buckets in transition if they want to have success on offense, and that starts by cleaning up the defensive glass. It’s hard to win on the road in the ACC, but winning the rebound battle will move the Orange one step closer to improving to 16-6 on the season.

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