The performance looked personal, but Syracuse killer Nelly Cummings and Blake Hinson each downplayed as added motivation what Jim Boeheim said mere weeks ago about how Pitt allegedly "bought" its players over the offseason.
I'll say it if they won't.
Pitt took this personally, and it was treated as such. The scoreboard read 99-82 in favor of Pitt at the final horn, and the sold-out crowd of 12,508 inside the Petersen Events Center erupted into mayhem as the Pitt bench stormed the floor to mob manager-turned-walk-on-turned-scholarship-player Aidan Fisch, whose left-handed scoop layup resulted in the final bucket of the game with 14 seconds to play.
"Every game we play, kind of approach it the same way, 1-0," Cummings said. "We always want to come out of the game 1-0, so this game didn't have any extra juice on it. We just were locked in."
So, read into that how you will. The Oakland Zoo certainly did not forget that, but more on that below.
Whatever the motivation may be, even if it is proving wrong bozos like myself who voted them to finish 14th in the ACC, this Pitt team looked unstoppable in the hustle categories which separate a good basketball team from a great one.
How do you dominate a rival? By pounding them in each of those hustle categories.
Pitt scored 21 points off of turnovers to Syracuse's eight, scored 25 second-chance to Syracuse's 11, out-rebounded Syracuse on the offensive end 18-11, and scored 15 fast-break points to Syracuse's seven. Pitt's bench outscored the Orange's, 28-6, and Pitt made 19 of 22 free throws.
Pitt also assisted on 27 of its 32 made field goals while committing just five turnovers.
When the opposition shoots it at a higher percentage overall -- Syracuse made 50% from the field to Pitt's 47.1% -- those things matter.
"It's huge," Jeff Capel said. "We wanted to get extra possessions, so the offensive rebounds gave us that. We tried to have a -- one of the things we want as a goal for our program is any 50-50 ball on the floor, it should be ours. We did a better job as the game went on of doing that. There were some plays in the first half where we had an opportunity to get on the floor. Even early in the second half where we had an opportunity that we didn't do a good job there. But, for the most part, I thought we did a really good job of playing hard. Obviously we played together, we were connected, and we made a lot of shots."
Pitt's blowout of the Orange mirrors a zany day inside the ACC otherwise.
Miami lost to Florida State on a Matthew Cleveland buzzer-beater in Coral Gables, Fla. The Hurricanes blew a 25-point lead to the Seminoles. Then, shortly after Pitt and Syracuse went final at The Pete, North Carolina upended Virginia in Chapel Hill, N.C.
Pitt is in the driver's seat within the ACC standings at 14-4, with Miami trailing by one-half of a game at 14-5 and Virginia and Clemson back by one full game at 13-5. A win Wednesday at Notre Dame will guarantee Pitt at least a share of the ACC regular-season title, heading into the regular-season finale Saturday at Miami.
MORE FROM THE GAME
• This is why sports absolutely rules. Hollywood is jealous of this script.
As ACC Network broadcaster (and Syracuse alum) Joel Godett said: "The best two points of the ballgame."
The Murrysville, Pa., native Fisch was a manager, then a walk-on, then earned a scholarship on Capel's team for the remainder of this season. He scored the final bucket of his final game on his hometown court.
Just look at this reaction from Capel and the team from within the locker room:
Started as a dream 🥲@fischtank13 pic.twitter.com/E9xrH1Im7t
— Pitt Basketball (@Pitt_MBB) February 26, 2023
"It was an unbelievable moment at the end to get Fisch in, and then for him to score," Capel said. "It was emotional for all of us, and I think you saw that and you know what he means. That shows what he means to our program."
Immediately upon the final horn, the Pitt bench rushed across the court to mob Fisch.
"I've never done nothing like that, and that was probably the most fun thing I've ever did in my life," Cummings said. "Pure adrenaline."
• Cummings continued his sheer dominance in his career against Syracuse. In three games -- one with Colgate and two with Pitt -- Cummings has clocked in these averages:
- 18.0 points per game
- 8.7 assists per game
- 47.2% shooting overall
- 50% 3-point shooting
- 36.3 minutes per game
- 4 total turnovers
Pretty good!
This includes his double-double effort of 14 points and a season-high 13 assists Saturday. He added four rebounds and turned the ball over just once.
To what does he attribute his success against the Orange?
“Two great coaching staffs (at Colgate and Pitt) that had me prepared to go out there and do what I did," Cummings said, modestly.
After he posted 22 points on 7 of 12 shooting to go with six assists at Syracuse Dec. 20, he said something similar about his recipe for dominating the Orange:
"I think it was just the game, you know. That's just what the game called for today. I just want to win. Whatever it takes to win, that's what I'm going to do."
The same theory definitely applied Saturday, on a Senior Day in which he was honored alongside Fisch, Nike Sibande, Jamarius Burton, and Greg Elliott before the game tipped off.
"It's definitely hard to put it into words," Cummings said, "but I would say it was just special, man. It meant a lot to me. The crowd was electric. I mean, it's the last time we're going to play here, so it means a lot for us to go out that way, for sure."
• Hinson notched his 1,000th-career point in the most Blake Hinson way possible. Early in the second half, he sent up a 3 from the corner while double covered by the Syracuse zone and sunk it off the side of the rim.
Hinson also made at least two 3s from the halfcourt logo during the game. He attempted 17 3s throughout the game. Syracuse as a team launched 16.
"I've said it over and over, I have learned Blake," Capel said. "One of the things you have to do as a coach, you have to learn your team. I have learned with him you've got to give him some leeway because he could make -- and it could be the one that gets him going and gets us going. I will tell him at times (to) slow down. I did that today. Just let it come to you, because at times he can go where he's trying to chase it, but I give him some leeway with that."
Hinson's 22 points led Pitt scorers. He came off the bench in favor of Sibande, who earned the starting nod from Capel for Senior Night.
"That was great," Hinson said of achieving 1,000. "I didn't know it until I got into the locker room. Just being around my friends and stuff that I started college with, they always posted 1,000 points on Instagram, and I always wondered in the back of my head, 'Where am I at on that scale?' I don't even know. I transferred a couple schools, so I'm like, 'Is that stat just been broken off? Do we know where I'm at?' But it was cool to find out that, OK, I'm there, so it was great."
• As expected, the Oakland Zoo absolutely ate Boeheim alive before, throughout, and after the game. The jeers even came down upon starting guard Judah Mintz, the one-time Pitt commit who now starts at point guard for the Orange. For Mintz, it was the chant of "TRAI-TOR! TRAI-TOR!" throughout the game, which turned into "O-VER-RATE-D" chants towards the end.
Here is the scene as Boeheim made his way onto the floor for tip-off:
And here are just a few signs spotted within the Zoo:
Yeah, the @OaklandZoo came prepared. These are just a few feet from Syracuse’s bench and off-center of the basket. #Pitt pic.twitter.com/mELCjWdJDa
— Corey Crisan (@cdcrisan) February 25, 2023
I'll have much, much more on Boeheim in a separate story to be posted after this one.
THE HIGHLIGHTS
THE 5s
• Syracuse: G Judah Mintz, G Joe Girard III, G Justin Taylor, F Benny Williams, C Jesse Edwards.
• Pitt: G Nelly Cummings, G Greg Elliott, F Jamarius Burton, F Blake Hinson, C Federiko Federiko.
THE ESSENTIALS
• Boxscore
• Live file
• Scores
• Schedule
• Standings
• Statistics
THE INJURIES
• Out for the season: F Will Jeffress (foot), F John Hugley IV (personal).
THE SCHEDULE
• Two games remain in Pitt's regular-season schedule. The Panthers are at Notre Dame for a 7 p.m. tip-off Wednesday, and will fly to Coral Gables, Fla., for a showdown at Miami at 6 p.m. Saturday which could still decide the top overall seed in the ACC Tournament.
THE CONTENT
• Visit the Pitt team page for more coverage from the Petersen Events Center. A new episode of the H2P Podcast will be recorded Sunday morning.
