Something Special

In case you didn't hear me screaming, Syracuse remained unbeaten, a perfect 24-0 with a halfcourt shot at the buzzer to beat Pittsburgh 58-56.

I love Tyler Ennis. He is the perfect point guard in that he spends most of the game setting up his teammates and making the smart play, but when the game is on the line he wants the ball in his hands.
Obviously that last shot is a lot of luck, but it also requires skill, you need to get as far as you can but get the shot off in time. And it wasn't a chuck, he was square to the basket with good shooting form. He could have that shot 10 more times and not make it once, but he nailed it this time when it counted.
But that wasn't his only big play. You may recall Syracuse taking a 1-point lead 10 seconds earlier when Ennis drove right into the defense, drew a foul and sunk both free throws. And he made the smart decision to take the easy basket instead of trying to take the last shot.

But this wouldn't have happened without CJ Fair. He scored the 8 Syracuse points prior to Ennis's final 5. One came on a beautiful baseline cut (and pass from Ennis) for a corner 3-pointer and then a jumper to cut the Pitt lead to 54-53. If someone not named CJ Fair wins ACC Player of the Year it would be a travesty.

This victory also wouldn't have happened without what I call the Jim Boeheim Memorial No Points Offense, it kills you every time. Dixon had his team take the air out of the ball, kill 30 seconds of the shot clock every time and chuck up something bad as time expired. As a result, Pitt made only 1 field goal in the final 6 minutes, and it came on a tip-in from one of the aforementioned bad shots at the buzzer.

I hate playing Pitt. They play such a physical style, that it sucks you in, and it confuses the referees. The refs simply can't call fouls on everything Pitt does or they'd have no players left. Unappealing as it may be they force you to play their style and they're better at it than you are. The refs' swallowed whistles were the same for both teams (I saw Syracuse commit fouls that went uncalled) but it's a lot harder for them to be consistent. For instance, the reach-in foul called on Christmas that sent Zanna to the line with 4 seconds left, was a foul. But in this game there were probably at least 8 similar infractions that were overlooked by the refs.

But it was great to win and see the team celebrate on Pitt's home floor. This win snapped an amazing streak of 9 wins vs. top 5 opponents.

A game like this makes you wonder if this team is really just very lucky, luck that will run out eventually? Or are they creating their own luck through skill and poise under pressure? Only time will tell.