Fast turn-around. Barely time to get over the loss to the Red and now Pitt hosts Orange. Pitt is installed as a 5.5 point favorite at this point. Syracuse will play its 4th straight road game (it is 1-2 at this point), and trying to snap a 2-game losing streak.
This will be the 93rd meeting between Syracuse and Pitt. The Orange leads the all-time series, 60-32, but has lost six of the last eight encounters with the Panthers, including both meetings last season. At the Peterson Events Center last January, Pittsburgh won a 75-69 decision to halt SU’s 13-game winning streak. In the second game played at the Carrier Dome, Pittsburgh outscored Syracuse 18-6 during the final 6:58 of play to overcome an eight-point deficit and beat the Orange, 68-64.
That was being extra generous. Pitt has won 7 of the last 9. Both teams are in the midst of a compressed schedule. This will be the 5th game for Pitt over the last 12 days.
I’ve previously mentioned Coach Boeheim’s complaints about the scheduling costing his team, and fans seem to think they got the short end this year in the BE, but the gamblers just see it as a team that is just in the tough part of the schedule and not at the top-shelf level.
“I don’t put too much weight on fatigue in college sports,” says Covers Expert Shawn Torrey. “I mean, what else would these guys rather be doing than playing basketball? The legs might be a little tired, but the skid can more so be attributed to the level of competition.”
Along with the Wildcats and the Huskies, Syracuse also had to deal with a scrappy Cincinnati team through that stretch. Those three teams have a combined Big East record of 10-4. The Orange are just a game over .500 in league play and two of those wins came against struggling Notre Dame and South Florida.
“Syracuse had some tough games early in the season, but the majority of them were sandwiched between a pair of lesser opponents,” says Torrey. “Now the Orange find themselves in the heart of a tough stretch of Big East games, and it’s showing.”
That’s especially true when you look at the team’s turnovers. The Orange committed 39 in their last two games, and 40 percent of the Wildcats’ offensive production (32 points) was a result of 19 SU giveaways. Fatigue can certainly factor into sloppy ball handling, but it’s been an issue for the Orange all season. They’ve committed 294 turnovers to date, an average of nearly 16 per game.
“From what we’ve seen, Syracuse just doesn’t match up with the Big East’s elite,” says Torrey.
And the jury is still out as to where Pitt matches with the “Big East Elite” (presumably WVU, UConn and Villanova).
The Pitt game notes are here (PDF), and the Athletic Department is encouraging extra rowdiness from the Oakland Zoo for the ESPN Big Monday game. Good news, Dick Vitale won’t be there. It will be a 3-man crew of Sean McDonough (Syracuse grad), Bill Raftery and Jay Bilas.
