Sports SUmmary: Orange dominate Pitt on the road

Sports SUmmary: Orange dominate Pitt on the road

Elijah Hughes leads with 25 points and Bourama Sidibe earns a double-double in 72-49 win.
Published: February 26, 2020
Bourama Sidibe soars for one of his 10 rebounds vs. Pitt on Wednesday, Feb. 26, 2020.
Bourama Sidibe soars for one of his 10 rebounds vs. Pitt on Wednesday, Feb. 26, 2020.

Rebounding has been an issue for the Orange who have lost battles on the boards in nearly every loss this season.

On Wednesday night at the Petersen Events Center in Pittsburgh, SU players pulled down three rebounds in the first five minutes of play. Surprisingly, SU was able to continue this trend throughout the entire night, with the Orange snagging 41 rebounds while Pitt could only muster up 32.

This was thanks to the outstanding play of Bourama Sidibe who grabbed 10 boards on the night, as well as Marek Dolezaj and Elijah Hughes who each pulled down nine.

It was a low-scoring affair for the start, and after eight whole minutes, the Panthers only held a minuscule lead of 9-8. Then Hughes began to heat up. He scored seven consecutive points that led the Orange on an 11-2 run. It gave the Orange a 19-11 lead with nine minutes left in the half.

Later, the Orange went on a 9-0 run to make it 33-19 with around three minutes left. The run was highlighted by Sidibe, who had two steals, three rebounds, and three points from the charity stripe. By the end of the half, he and Hughes led the Orange with 11 and 16 points, respectively, to give Syracuse a solid 37-21 lead. Sidibe’s stellar work allowed them to outscore the Panthers 22-8 in the paint.

Brycen Goodine and Elijah Hughes make their way up the court vs. Pitt on Wednesday, Feb. 26, 2020.
Brycen Goodine and Elijah Hughes make their way up the court on Wednesday.

Smooth sailing

The second half continued to be dominant for SU as Joe Girard III scored seven of their first nine points in the half. The Orange simply dominated for the remainder of regulation.

Hughes scored 25 points on the night, with Girard backing up with 16, and Sidibe putting up an uncharacteristic 13. The big men were on fire tonight, and without them, the Orange would’ve experienced another crushing loss.

Unlike so many games before, no player for the Orange fouled out. Anyone who follows Syracuse surely breathed out a sigh of relief reading that. Although Sidibe came close with four personals, he avoided getting the boot. With close games against Duke and Florida State, they showed that they can at least compete with some of the best in the nation.

Sporting new puffed out chests and some much-needed confidence before the ACC Tournament, the Syracuse Orange closed out the night with a 72-49 victory.

Moving forward

Now, the Orange can be confident about postseason play and potentially a trip to the NIT. In the meantime, they’ll have to do it again on Saturday in the Carrier Dome against the struggling North Carolina Tar Heels.

Quincy Guerrier tries to defend an inbound pass vs. Pitt on Wednesday, Feb. 26, 2020.
Quincy Guerrier tries to defend an inbound pass vs. Pitt.