PITTSBURGH – When Pittsburgh started the first half of last night’s game against the Syracuse men’s basketball team on a 7-0 run, it looked like the Panthers would join the list of teams to jump out to large leads early against the Orange in the past week.

SU head coach Jim Boeheim called a timeout and the Orange responded by closing the gap and sticking with Pitt for the first 10 minutes of the half. But Syracuse, plagued by fatigue, never could grasp the lead and another slow start doomed the Orange.

After giving up another 6-0 run to start the second half, SU looked more like a tired team than a driven one. No. 12 Pittsburgh used its home crowd of 12,508 at the Petersen Events Center to energize it while demoralizing the No. 25 Orange on the way to an 80-67 win. The Orange never led in the game.

‘I don’t know what’s going on,’ Syracuse forward Terrence Roberts said. ‘We’re slouching right now.’

Even if the Orange (15-5, 3-3 Big East) won’t admit it, fatigue was a factor. It was SU’s sixth game in the last two weeks, including its fourth on the road in that stretch. Three of those games, including last night’s were against opponents ranked in the top 15.

‘We’re not going to blame our losses on our schedule,’ Roberts said.

The fatigue showed early. Gerry McNamara and Demetris Nichols threw up air balls in the first half and Matt Gorman joined those ranks in the second half, much to the enjoyment of the Pitt fans.

‘This is a real gut check for us,’ McNamara said. ‘It’s tough to play Saturday, Monday, two weeks in a row on the road.’

The Orange still tried to push itself, even switching to a press early in the second half. But the story was told more by Pitt’s dominance on the boards – it grabbed 45 rebounds to Syracuse’s 38 – or the SU players’ slow, measured gaits back to the court or bench after timeouts. Even energetic freshman Eric Devendorf, who scored 18 points, wore a pained grin while driving to the basket as time wound down in the second half.

‘We look like a team that’s been out playing a lot,’ Boeheim said. ‘We’re tired. … We need a few days off. It’s sad you have to play such great teams back-to-back and then have six, seven days off.’

Still, Pittsburgh (16-1, 5-1 Big East) faced a similar travel schedule as the Orange. The Panthers played five games in the past 11 days, two of which were against teams in the Top 25. Last night’s game was their first home game since Jan. 12. Pitt, like most of the Orange, refused to say exhaustion had any effect on its play.

While the Panthers seemed to be telling the truth somewhat, SU looked tired in the locker room after the game.

‘I have no idea what Syracuse is,’ Pittsburgh’s Carl Krauser said of SU’s level of fatigue. ‘I play for Pitt.’

Krauser scored a game-high 32 points for the Panthers.

Throughout the game, Syracuse would find the will to make a run only to run out of steam. SU cut the Pitt lead to 60-54 with 7:05 remaining before the Panthers went on a 20-13 run the rest of the game.

Syracuse often exhibited that tiredness by committing fouls. Center Darryl Watkins fouled out with 13 minutes remaining, Roberts did so with 3:10 to go after being called for a technical foul and Louie McCroskey fouled out with 1:19 left.

‘We’ve never played three games in the NCAA Tournament against top 10 teams,’ Boeheim said. ‘What really matters is how we bounce back.’

Published on January 23, 2006 at 12:00 pm