watching those replay's of that foul shot is damning. You have two 5th year senior guards at the top of the key, and both are completely passive and ball watching and don't even bother to take even rudimentary steps toward boxing out.
So much of winning is attention to detail. That entire last sequence displayed how little this Syracuse team cared about detail. Losing almost 2 seconds because of not boxing out? Failing to use picks/create space for the inbounds (at least according to JB, someone wasn't where they were supposed to be). Pitt was up on ALL the Syracuse players (look at the guy blanketing Lydon) and they intentionally didn't follow Cooney to the corner to receive the inbounds pass. Pitt actively wanted the ball in Cooney's hands. At no point in his trip up court does Cooney look to pass, or another Syracuse player look to create space or cut or get open (they are simply jogging up court - only Roberson was sprinting). Cooney shoots the ball with 2.3 seconds left - so enough time to pass or work for a better shot, but not enough time to allow for a possible offensive rebound/tip in. No Syracuse player was below the foul line when Cooney went up for his shot - they were only down 1 point! Make Pitt defend all over!