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E-mailPitt seeks revenge against Orange
The Panthers players remember in great detail that fateful Sunday 333 days ago, when Syracuse handed Pitt its first loss at Petersen Events Center -- a 49-46 win in overtime.
"It's definitely fresh in our minds," sophomore center Aaron Gray said.
The Orange's win snapped the Panthers' 34-game win streak in the building. The streak included wins over Connecticut and Notre Dame twice.
Pitt also saw its 40-game home winning streak shattered (counting six wins at Fitzgerald Field House), in addition to its dreams of surpassing Providence (41) and UCLA (51) for the most consecutive wins to open a new building.
"Yeah, we're pretty mad at them," junior point guard Carl Krauser said. "We've got to get those guys back. They're a great team with a great coach and we'll need to follow our game plan and protect our house this time."
Eight of 10 starters from the two teams will be back on the floor Saturday night, when No. 4 Syracuse (20-1, 7-0 Big East) returns to face the 20th-ranked Panthers (13-3, 3-2) at 7 p.m. The Orange have all five starters back; Pitt three.
Syracuse star forward Hakim Warrick expects the Panthers to be about as hospitable as Archie Bunker. The Orange are riding a 13-game winning streak, and Pitt wouldn't mind putting it to a halt.
"I know they're looking for some revenge," said Warrick, who averages 20.1 points and 9.0 rebounds. "We know all about breaking their streak and them losing for the first time there. We expect them to be hyped up for us."
Is he worried?
"They're going to come after us, but it's always that way in a game like this," Warrick said.
"I think we'd hate them even if they didn't break our long streak," Gray said, laughing. "They're real competitive games and they're fun games to watch. We get to play them at the Petersen Center, so this gives us another big chance to show people that, after beating Connecticut (last Saturday), that we are one of the best teams in the Big East."
Pitt and Syracuse struggled offensively in their previous meeting at the Petersen Center. Not only did the teams combine to go 35 of 105 from the field (33.3 percent), but Pitt's point total was its lowest in 22 years, and Syracuse's was its lowest in 42.
"It just felt like the ball wouldn't go into the basket," Krauser said. "We had a lot of opportunities and couldn't get it there."
Although Pitt played superior defense in that one, two of its top stoppers from that team -- Julius Page and Jaron Brown -- are gone. Page shut down Orange star guard Gerry McNamara, who did not convert a field goal in regulation and finished 1 of 9 from the field (1 of 7 from 3-point range). McNamara, though, hit a 3-pointer and two free throws in overtime that sealed Syracuse's win.
Sophomore Antonio Graves will guard McNamara for a good portion of tomorrow night's game, but will get help from Krauser, Ronald Ramon and Keith Benjamin. McNamara averages 15.6 points and is 71 of 201 from 3-point range. He's hit five or more 3-pointers the past three games, though he averages just 1.2 in four career games vs. Pitt.
"We're going to play up on him and make him shoot tough shots," Krauser said. "We have to try to keep the ball out of his hands and try to make him think there's more than just one guy guarding him."
The Panthers capably did that against UConn sharpshooter Rashad Anderson in the second half of their 76-66 victory in Storrs last Saturday. Anderson scored just three of his 19 points in the final 20 minutes.
"We made him think there was a guy-and-a-half guarding him," Krauser said. "Antonio would guard him on the ball, and I'd help in the lane. ... We definitely turned the corner with that win and now we have to keep going straight down the road."
