sutomcat
No recent Cali or Iggy awards; Mr Irrelevant
- Joined
- Aug 15, 2011
- Messages
- 26,687
- Like
- 116,372
The First Day of Winter, also known as the Winter Solstice, takes place when either of the Earth's poles reach their maximum tilt away from the Sun. This happens twice a year, once in each hemisphere. The First Day of Winter in the Northern Hemisphere is on the December solstice, with the season running until the March equinox, while the First Day of Winter in the Southern Hemisphere is on the June solstice, with the season running until the September equinox.
SU News
Syracuse Orange guard Joseph Girard III (11) is in disbelief of a foul call, held back by Syracuse Orange guard Quadir Copeland (24) against Pittsburgh at the JMA Wireless Dome, Syracuse, N.Y. Tuesday December 20, 2022. Scott Schild | sschild@syracuse.com
The best and worst of SU basketball were on display in loss to Pitt (Axe recap) (PS; $; Axe)
The best and worst of the Syracuse University men’s basketball team was on full display Tuesday night in a 84-82 loss to Pittsburgh before 15,417 fans that included Buffalo Bills stars Josh Allen, Stefon Diggs and Gabe Davis at the JMA Wireless Dome.
The best?
Syracuse fought tooth-and-nail to stage a furious second-half comeback. It has a fearless freshman point guard in Judah Mintz willing to do anything to win, a major lift off the bench from forwards willing to put in effort and senior guard Joe Girard channeling his best Allen with clutch plays late after being bottled up early in the game.
The worst?
Syracuse got off to another slow start, can’t shoot 3s, got a lackluster rebounding effort from its two starting forwards, had the base 2-3 zone defense exposed (again) and saw star center Jesse Edwards fall back into a trap.
...
Pitt vs Syracuse Takeaways: Sharp Offense Covers for Late Collapse (SI; Thompson)
The Pitt Panthers are undefeated in ACC play after sneaking by Syracuse at the JMA Wireless Dome. They did everything within their power to give the game away, but survived nonetheless.
There is still so much to like about this Pitt team, even with the blown lead taken into account. All that has been hyped up about the Panthers - from their shooting ability to their experience to the ir chemistry - has held true 13 games into the season and has put them in a position to pounce on an unsuspecting ACC.
Confounding Game Management Late
Pitt led by 20 with 10:45 left in the second half and held a seven-point advantage with 2:15 to go in the game, but Syracuse still ended up with the ball, down just two with six seconds left. A win is a win but the Panthers let an opportunity to deliver a statement win fall through their fingers.
The Panthers' end-of-game management opened the door for that kind of collapse. First, they were passive with the ball in their hands. It's one thing to burn clock while holding a big lead but even when facing the press and when the Orange had cut their deficit inside of 10, Pitt held the ball for what felt like an eternity before even looking at the rim. At a time when they couldn't get stops, that was almost fatal.
...
3-pointers: Three things that stood out in Pitt's 84-82 win over Syracuse - Canada Today (canadatoday; Taylor)
The Pitt Panthers stayed on Tuesday night to beat Syracuse 84-82. Pitt led by as much as 20 points in the second half but needed two late stops to secure a road win. After the win, Pitt is now 9-4 in the season and the team starts 2-0 in the ACC game.
Here are three things that stand out in the game.
Did it on the go
The final five minutes of the game weren’t ideal for the Pitt Panthers. They nearly blew a 20-point lead in the closing minutes and while that’s the story of how it played out, only the bottom line counts.
Pitt won the game.
The team is 2-0 in ACC and now 3-1 in away games this season. This team has apparently adopted an underdog mentality and they are running with it. They were picked to finish bottom of the league, the program has lost six straight seasons and even ardent supporters of the program have kept this team at bay.
I think that should change. This team is pretty clearly the best under Jeff Capel, and going into the last 18 games of the regular season, this is a group worth watching. The Panthers almost lost that big lead, but first let’s talk about how they got there. They went into the Dome and punched Syracuse in the mouth. They played confidently, hitting outside shots and sharing basketball. There isn’t a single player on this team who dominates the ball and there are multiple scoring opportunities that can carry them through stretches of play.
There was obviously panic in the final five minutes as Syracuse threw in a few more shots and increased the pressure on the full field, but because they played so well early on they were able to stave off that late comeback. Syracuse had two chances to take the lead and they forced a turnover and a bad shot. Even as things worked against them and the crowd got louder, they made some big plays in the closing seconds.
I still think we all want to see a little bit more of this team before we fully buy in and that’s fair after the last six years, but I think they’re quite an entertaining group and they certainly have at the moment my attention.
Blake “Himson”
I really can’t say enough good things about Pitts junior forward Blake Hinson. He put on a show on Tuesday night and was the best player on the floor. Hinson scored a game-high 25 points and also snagged 13 rebounds for his fourth double-double of the season.
...
Instant Juice: Syracuse 82, Pitt 84 - The Juice Online (the juice; Cheng)
A quick take on Syracuse’s 84-82 loss to Pitt on a wild evening at the JMA Wireless Dome:
WHAT HAPPENED: A late 10-2 run from Syracuse pulled the Orange to within 83-82 with 17 seconds left. On the potential go-ahead possession, Judah Mintz telegraphed a pass to Jesse Edwards and it was stolen by Blake Hinson, who went 1 of 2 from the line. That still left SU with six seconds to win, but a wild 3-pointer from Mintz at the buzzer missed, and Pitt escaped with the win. It was a frantic finish, especially given that the Panthers led by as many as 62-44 with 13:13 to go after a Jamarius Burton free throw.
ANALYSIS: Why did Syracuse trail throughout most of the evening? Look no further than the 3-point line. Syracuse shot 6-24 (1-12 in the first half), while Pitt was 13-32. The Orange did get it going late with a run of heroic 3-pointers from Joe Girard, who finished 3-8 from downtown. But Chris Bell went 0-5 from downtown, and SU’s bench combined for just 1-5 shooting. A secondary reason was rebounding, as Pitt was +9 on the glass. Syracuse’s starting wings, Benny Williams and Chris Bell, had only one combined rebound.
...
Quick Hits: Copeland makes case for more playing time for Syracuse - The Juice Online (the juice; Stechschulte)
Syracuse rallied from down 20 points, but couldn’t push past Pitt, losing 84-82 at the JMA Wireless Dome on Tuesday night. Here are some quick hits from the game:
- Jesse Edwards’ last field goal attempt of the first half came with 9:33 on the clock. Edwards got his next shot just over four minutes into the second half, then committed his fourth foul on the Panthers’ next offensive possession. While Pitt was focused on double-teaming Edwards (Syracuse’s lack of consistent outside shooting enabled them to have as many as three players ready to help against the center on some possessions), his teammates still have to keep trying to get the big man involved at the forefront of their minds.
- First half three-point shooting was tilted entirely in Pitt’s direction. The Panthers shot 8-of-19 from long range while the Orange could muster just one triple out of a dozen attempts. SU finishing the first half with five more free throws helped keep them within eight at the break.
- Things were not much better inside the arc for the Syracuse zone in the first half. Pitt shot 8-of-11 from inside the arc before the break.
- Just start Maliq Brown. He’s the only forward on the roster who has established a reasonable expectation of what he will do while on the floor. Rebounding, the occasional basket, and a couple “Johnny-on-the-spot” plays are not particularly exciting, but they are often better than what the other forwards have to offer. Brown is averaging 8.3 points and 6.8 rebounds in 20 minutes per game in the last four outings, bested only by Benny Williams in scoring (10.3 points, but only 3.5 rebounds in 24 minutes per game in that span).
Syracuse nearly erases 20-point deficit before rally falters - The Juice Online (the juice; Stechschulte)
While Syracuse has not seen a whole lot of snow prior to the official start of winter, Pittsburgh buried them in an avalanche of three-pointers that was too much to overcome in an 84-82 loss at the JMA Wireless Dome on Tuesday night. The Panthers (9-4, 2-0) built a 20-point second half lead and the Orange (8-5, 1-1 ACC) fought back to get within one, but could not get over the hump.
Pitt came into the game making 8.8 triples per game and nearly matched that with eight in the opening half as they torched the 2-3 zone of for 13 treys overall. Their late struggles from the field, making just 1-of-10 overall, left the door open for SU, but Judah Mintz’s late jumper was not close and Quadir Copeland could not get his putback try off in time.
Syracuse’s valiant rally was undone in part by seven missed free throws after halftime, including a pair by Maliq Brown, who had a solid effort off the bench otherwise, with a minute to play.
The two teams played it tight until Pittsburgh opened up a 17-10 lead on the strength of ten straight points. Symir Torrence stopped the bleeding with a dunk for the Orange, but the Panthers added their fourth and fifth threes of the opening ten minutes to stretch their lead to 23-12.
Another trey a minute later pushed the margin to a dozen, but a couple minutes later, SU went on an 8-3 run to whittle the Panther advantage down to 34-27. Pittsburgh withstood that effort and held a 41-33 lead at halftime.
...
Pittsburgh guard Nelly Cummings poses with his former Colgate teammates in the JMA Wireless Dome Tuesday. Cummings scored 22 and Pitt beat Syracuse 84-82. (Donna Ditota | dditota@syracuse.com)
Colgate players flock to Dome to support Cummings, who torched SU for 22 in Pitt win (PS; $; Ditota)
Nelly Cummings did not need to remind his former teammates about Dec. 20.
Colgate players knew that was the day Cummings would be back in Central New York. Only this time, the former Raider point guard would be wearing a Pittsburgh uniform.
“I wanted to make sure if they wanted to come, if they could come, I was going to get ‘em tickets,” Cummings said late Tuesday night in the JMA Wireless Dome.
They wanted to come.
Eight Colgate players packed into two cars and made the hour-long trip from Hamilton to Syracuse to watch their former teammate score 22 points in Pitt’s 84-82 win over the Orange.
They sat behind the Pittsburgh bench, a spot reserved for visiting fans here in the Dome. Cummings knew where they were. He located them, he said, after he sank his first 3-point shot with 14 minutes and 43 seconds left in the first half.
That 3 was all it took. The Raiders rose in unison, several of them making the universal sign for a 3.
Cummings kept them busy all night.
“We were all pretty active,” Colgate center Keegan Records said. “We’re all pretty close with him, played with him for a couple years, each of us. We were all yelling and screaming for him.”
...
MBB: Ugly Season in Louisville (RX; HM)
MBB: Ugly Season in Louisville
Tuesday night the Louisville Cardinals lost by 8... at home... to Lipscomb... an 8-5 Atlantic Sun team whose five losses included South Dakota, Alabama A&M, and Tennessee State.
The Cardinals now drop to 2-10 on the season. It's officially time to start worrying about Cardinals Men's Basketball. To say Head Coach Kenny Payne is having a rough start at his Alma Mater is one of the greatest understatements of this young century.
December 31st, Louisville visits Rupp Arena to play #19 Kentucky. That game is scheduled to be shown on CBS at noon. I didn't think it was legal to televise public executions in the Commonwealth, but apparently basketball makes it ok. Just don't let the kids watch it!
Other
Researchers at SUNY ESF are one step away from re-populating trees that almost went extinct 100 years ago (PS; $; Featherstone)
Genetically-engineered American chestnut trees grown near Syracuse may soon be coming to a backyard near you after they went “functionally extinct” more than 100 years ago.
Federal regulatory approval allowing distribution of transgenic chestnut trees to the public could come as early as next spring, said Andy Newhouse, a biologist at the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry.
Three federal agencies, led by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, are currently assessing any risks the trees might pose to other organisms, or to the environment.
The review process began three years ago, said Newhouse, who is tasked with overseeing regulatory compliance for ESF’s American Chestnut Research & Restoration Project.
“Once that’s done we’re hoping to be able to start with small scale distribution,” Newhouse said, “and start getting trees into backyards.”
...
