Pittsburgh Basketball: 3 keys for Senior Night matchup with Syracuse

2. Handle the zone for all 40 minutes

One issue that I believe Syracuse has defensively is that their 2/3 zone has lost its luster. They don’t have the same length and quickness on the perimeter to cause problems and force turnovers and teams usually do better against them in the second go-around.

In the first matchup, Pittsburgh went 13/32 from three-point range. All four starters made at least two and they got away with both Greg Elliott and Blake Hinson shooting a combined 4/18 from deep. Both simply do better at home so assuming that both Cummings and Jamarius Burton get them all good looks, there should be another 30+ shot opportunities all around.

But Pittsburgh can’t become too reliant on the three-pointer, even at home. They shot just 11/29 in a home loss to Clemson, as well as 7/28 in a Quad 4 defeat at home to Florida State. Ultimately, they’ll have the opportunities, as the Orange is bottom-5 in the entire country at three-pointers allowed. This isn’t Virginia Tech or Georgia Tech who made it a point to not allow many open 3s for Pitt, Syracuse will just have to hope that they don’t make some.

But if the Panthers find a way to make at least 10 in this game, they’ll be on their way to victory.