Syracuse plays its second ACC road game in a week Saturday afternoon when it travels to face Pitt.
The Orange (10-5, 1-1) are coming off an 82-72 win over Georgia Tech at home on Tuesday night behind Donnie Freeman’s career-high 27-point performance.
Freeman appears to be back on top of his game after missing more than a month of basketball (nine games in all). He returned to the lineup on New Year’s Eve in a 64-61 loss to Clemson.
The sophomore forward is a difference-maker, averaging a team-leading 19.3 points per contest, and is feeling good after dealing with injuries earlier this season.
“All stats aside, I’m just happy to be back out here,” Freeman said in a postgame radio interview. “I’m just doing what I love, doing it with the people I love. No better feeling. Points, rebounds, all stats aside, just doing what I love with the people I love, it’s an indescribable feeling.”
The Panthers (7-8, 0-2) have dropped two straight and haven’t played since losing 73-68 to Clemson on Jan. 3. Damarco Minor poured in 17 points in that contest; he’s averaging 11.1 points per game.
One of the toughest challenges for Pitt right now is overcoming situations where the Panthers rush shots or foul when they don’t need to in a close game, according to head coach Jeff Capel.
The youth of the team is part of it. Eight players on the roster are either freshmen or sophomores.
“It’s a youth issue. It’s an inexperience issue, and it’s not understanding how to win,” Capel told reporters after the loss to Clemson. “Again, they want to win and they are trying. We’re trying. Sometimes you want to win so bad you get yourself so revved up that you can’t think. You have to be able to think clearly.”
Cameron Corhen leads the Panthers in scoring and rebounding, averaging 13.3 points and 8.3 rebounds per contest. He has scored in double figures in all but three games.
Pitt will continue to be without one of its role players in Papa Amadou Kante, who will miss the rest of the year after undergoing arthroscopic knee surgery. He appeared in eight games this season, averaging 2.8 points and 5.4 rebounds.
–Field Level Media
