PITTSBURGH, Pa. — Syracuse (10-4, 0-1 Atlantic Coast) dropped its first conference game, 72-61, against Pittsburgh (11-1, 1-0) at the Petersen Events Center on Wednesday night. The Orange competed for 35 minutes before a string of late-game gaffes put its upset bid out of reach. The worst of those were Dajuan Coleman fouling out and the Orange making its last field goal with 5:32 left in the game. Here are three things we learned from the game, which was arguably SU’s toughest test to date.

1. Syracuse can take punches inside, it’s just a matter of how many

The Panthers outrebounded Syracuse, 43-25, and scored 22 second-chance points to the Orange’s two, but SU kept the game close late in spite of this.

Being outmuscled and outrebounded has been a theme for the Orange this season, but Wednesday showed that it can compete against an ACC-sized team without controlling the paint. Coleman fouling out was the ultimate back breaker in this game, but if Syracuse doesn’t commit back-to-back turnovers in the final minutes, it could have hung in the game until the finish.

“I thought we made it difficult for them,” said SU interim head coach Mike Hopkins, pointing to defense when asked how his team made up for the physical deficit. “In the first half, we talk about our percentages, they shot 34 percent (from the field) and 30 (from 3).”

Hopkins still thought the rebounding margin and second-chance points were the difference in the game, but did recognize that Syracuse maintained a foothold in the contest while being pushed around inside.

2. Tyler Lydon needs to assert himself offensively

The freshman forward took a season-low three shots against Pittsburgh, and tied a season-low with just one made field goal. He finished with five points by shooting 3-of-4 from the line, and Hopkins said after the game that he wasn’t near aggressive enough.

“The guy who’s been really good for us offensively that needed to take more shots tonight was Tyler Lydon,” Hopkins said. “He’s a guy that poses a lot of problems for opposing teams with his ability to shoot the ball and make plays.”

Lydon said he’s always focused on making the right play for his teammates, and that he realizes that he could shoot more. He’s made a team-best 45.9 percent from deep this season, and took just one 3 against the Panthers. After the game, starting point guard Michael Gbinije said he’s going to talk with Lydon about taking shots when he’s open and going off the dribble more often.

“I just have to be more aggressive,” Lydon said. “… In my situation, sometimes that means shooting the ball. Sometimes it’s doing other things, but I need to shoot a little bit more, definitely.”

3. It looks like Syracuse will roll out its “big” lineup in conference play

For a good chunk of the first half, and a small portion of the second, Hopkins used a lineup with Coleman at center, Lydon and Tyler Roberson and SU’s starting backcourt of Gbinije and Trevor Cooney.

That group helped the Orange hedge its rebounding woes against a bigger, more physical Pittsburgh team. It also had a lot of success trapping the Panthers in the corner to create turnovers, and stopped the hosts from living around the rim on offense.

“They had some big guys in and we were battling,” Cooney said. “It was a great lineup and it was working for us. We were spacing it out, and we were able to get into the lane and get dump offs, and that’s what we have to continue to do.”

Coleman said Syracuse worked on the bigger lineup a lot in practice in preparation for Pittsburgh and the upcoming ACC schedule.

The worry would be that the bigger group — which consists of two inside scorers and a very big small forward in the 6-foot-8 Lydon — would have trouble spacing the floor on offense and, in turn, scoring consistently. But Cooney and Gbinije were successful getting to the rim and that helped open things up despite Coleman and Roberson being unproven mid-range jump shooters.

“I thought our big lineup in the first half, when we went Tyler Roberson, Lydon and Coleman, it looked nice,” Hopkins said. “… It just becomes a different offensive game.”

Published on December 31, 2015 at 1:34 am