Although the Orange made a last minute charge against Pitt in front of the home crowd at the Carrier Dome, missed shots, turnovers and injuries to Trevor Cooney and Tyler Roberson stopped the Orange from building on the impressive victory against Louisville earlier in the week.
An SU 8-0 run starting with 10 minutes left in the second half turned a 47-44 deficit into a 52-47 lead with 6:52 left. The Orange would never trail from there.
Former Syracuse and NBA standout Pearl Washington joins SNY’s Daily News Live to discuss the Orange’s self-imposed postseason ban, Syracuse in the ACC, his Big East memories, and NBA All-Star weekend.
Philadelphia, for example, is known as a professional sports town with only a sprinkle of interest in Penn State and Rutgers football (Big Ten) and Big Five basketball, and as such creates a huge void in the northeast TV map.
At this point the expectations are so diminished for the Syracuse basketball squad, I’d be beyond cliché if this column simply harped on the Orange’s odds of missing the NCAA tournament.
With an unusually long eight day, mid-season layoff until Virginia Tech comes into the Dome Feb. 3, it will be back to the business at hand which for this gritty and determined, if not undermanned, team.
For 36 minutes and change, Syracuse played #13 North Carolina tightly, but wilted late as the Tar Heels closed the game by outscoring the Orange 19-11 in the final 3:29 to pull away for a 91-83 win in Chapel Hill, N.C.