Record Set! No. 1 SU Defeats Pitt, 71-63

Monday, January 16

Syracuse, NY

7:30 p.m.

Syracuse University

Pittsburgh

SU's 20-0 record is a school record

Photo by: Michael J. Okoniewski

1/16/2012 8:20:20 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score | Season Stats | Player Quotes | Coach Boeheim Quotes | Photo Gallery

SYRACUSE, N.Y. – It was a record-setting night at the Carrier Dome as No. 1 Syracuse (20-0, 7-0) set the mark for its best start in program history with a 71-63 victory against Pittsburgh (11-8, 0-6) on Monday night.

The 20 wins to start the season surpassed the SU standard set by the 1999-00 squad that opened the year at 19-0. The win also ties Hall of Fame coach Jim Boeheim with long-time Kentucky coach Adolph Rupp for fourth in career coaching victories at 876. Dean Smith sits in third place with 879.

Scoop Jardine (12 points, 10 assists) and Fab Melo (10 points, 10 rebounds) each recorded their second double-doubles of the season. Dion Waiters led SU players in doubles figures with 16. Kris Joseph and Brandon Triche had 12.

The Orange came out pushing the pace and scored the first 13 points of the game. Joseph registered the first four points of the contest on fast break run outs. Melo then tallied the next two hoops, followed by a three from Jardine and a jumper from Triche, giving SU the 13-0 cushion.

Pitt weathered the early storm, and outscored SU 13-6 over the next six minutes to get within five, 19-14, at the under eight-minute timeout.

#C.J. Fair# then finished a left-handed drive with a one-handed dunk at the 5:25 mark of the opening frame, and converted the three-point play, bringing SU's advantage back to nine at 26-17.

After Pitt scored the next four points, SU pushed its lead back to double-digits with a 7-0 run, capped off by a Jardine-to-Melo ally-oop. It gave SU a 33-21 lead with 2:22 remaining.

The Orange, who did not trail at any point during the game, shot 52 percent from the field (14-of-27) in the first half and held the Panthers to 32 percent (10-of-31). The Panthers also committed 11 turnovers in the opening half.

Jardine's jumper from behind the arch gave Syracuse its largest lead of the second half at 48-34, but a 15-5 Pitt run sparked by Talib Zanna and John Johnson ensued, and brought Pitt to within four at 53-49, forcing SU into a timeout with 8:36 remaining.

Out of that called timeout by Coach Boeheim, Joseph and Waiters hit back-to-back three pointers and stretched the Orange lead back to 10 with 7:16 remaining.

From that point on, Pitt would not get closer than eight points, while Syracuse iced the game by making 11-of-12 from the free-throw line.

The Orange shot 46 percent for the game and made 20-of-23 from the charity stripe. Pittsburgh shot 39 percent in the contest (22-of-56).

Melo set a career-high with his 10 rebounds and also blocked six shots. Fair contributed seven points, five rebounds and three blocks in 28 minutes of action.

Pittsburgh's Lamar Patterson, Ashton Gibbs and Cameron Wright each scored 10 points to lead the Panthers. Dante Taylor pulled down a game-high 11 rebounds.

Syracuse is on the road for its next two contests, beginning this Saturday against Notre Dame (6:00 p.m., ESPN), followed by another appearance on Big Monday against Cincinnati (7:00 p.m., ESPN) on Jan. 23.

Notes: Syracuse's 20 wins marks the 34th time in 36 seasons that Coach Boeheim has guided the Orange to that milestone ... He is the all-time Division I leader in 20-win seasons ... Dion Waiters continued his streak of double-digit scoring in BIG EAST action with 16 points, making it seven straight contests ... For just the third time this season, the SU bench was outscored by the opposition, as Pitt held the advantage 30-25 (Stanford and Bucknell were the other two) ... Scoop Jardine is averaging 7.6 assists over the last five games ... Syracuse snapped a five game winless streak against the Panthers.