Women's Hoops Invades Pitt

rv/rv Syracuse (12-5, 1-3) at Pittsburgh (9-9, 1-3)
Game Details	Sunday, Jan. 19 \| 2 p.m. ET \| Pittsburgh, Pa. Petersen Events Center (12,508)
Game Coverage	TV: None Watch: ESPN3 Radio: ESPN 97.7/100.1 FM & 1200 AM \| Orange All-Access Live Stats Twitter: @CuseWBB \| @cuse
Syracuse Links	Roster \| Schedule \| Stats \| Game Notes
Pittsburgh Links	Roster \| Schedule \| Stats \| Game Notes

Follow @CuseWBB
SYRACUSE, N.Y. - Syracuse women's basketball (12-5, 1-3 ACC) concludes its two-game ACC roadtrip on Sunday when it plays Pittsburgh (9-9, 1-3 ACC) in a 2 p.m. tip-off at the Petersen Events Center.
• The familiar foes who have played each other every season since 1979-80 will play each other for the first time as Atlantic Coast Conference rivals. They both, along with Notre Dame, officially joined the ACC on July 1.
• The teams will meet again at the Carrier Dome on Feb. 23.

GAME COVERAGE
• Sunday's game can be watched live online at ESPN3.com and the WatchESPN app.
• All the Orange's games can be heard live on SU's flagship station, ESPN 97.7/100.7 FM and 1200 AM, and on Orange All-Access at SUAthletics.com with Brian Higgins '04 on the call.
• Free live stats are also available at SUathletics.com.
• As always, follow @CuseWBB on Twitter for live in-game updates.

STRONG START TO '13-14
• Syracuse went 11-2 in its non-conference schedule, the seventh time in program history the Orange was 11-2 or better after 13 games.
• An aggressive non-conference schedule, paired with a challenging start to the ACC slate has helped the Orange achieve a No. 17 ranking in the first official NCAA RPI of the season, released on Jan. 7.
• Currently, RealTimeRPI ranks Syracuse No. 15, while the Sagarin/CBN Ratings have it 17th with the No. 1 strength-of-schedule in the country.

AN ORANGE WIN WOULD...
• ...be its first road ACC victory.
• ...make SU 31-19 all-time against Pitt.
• ...make SU .500 all-time at Pitt (12-12).
• ...give SU five-straight wins over the Panthers.

SERIES HISTORY
• Syracuse leads the all-time series with Pittsburgh, 30-19, including an 11-12 record at Pitt. The Orange has won four in a row vs. Panthers.
• As they join the ACC together this season, the Orange and Panthers have played every season since 1979-80.
• Last season, on Feb. 16, Kayla Alexander had 18 points, eight rebounds and seven blocks to lead SU to a dominating 80-39 win at the Carrier Dome in their final meeting as BIG EAST rivals. La'Shay Taft added 11 points, while Brittney Sykes and Carmen Tyson-Thomas had 10 each. SU scored 27 points off 23 Pitt turnovers.
• The last time the teams met at Pitt, Iasia Hemingway poured in a career-high 33 points to lead SU to an 83-60 win on Jan. 7, 2012. The Orange went 34-of-38 at the free throw line, setting a facility record.

IN THE POLLS
• Syracuse dropped out of both the AP and USA TODAY Coaches top 25 polls last week and received 10 points in the AP and 21 in the coaches poll this week.
• The Orange was ranked an all-time program high 20th in the Dec. 23 and Dec. 30 AP polls. It was as high as No. 23 in the coaches poll three weeks ago.
• The Orange debuted in the AP poll on Dec. 2 at No. 22 and was ranked for four-straight weeks.

LAST TIME OUT
• Brianna Butler scored 14 points and Alexis Peterson scored 10 of career-high 12 points in the second half, but Syracuse came up short at No. 6 Maryland (15-1, 3-0 ACC), 77-62, on Thursday night at the Comcast Center.
• Down 20 with 8:13 remaining, Syracuse went on an 11-1 run which consisted of seven-straight points by Peterson sandwiched around four points by fellow freshman Briana Day to make it a 10-point game with 4:47 left, 69-59. Back-to-back jumpers by Brene Moseley then spurred an 8-3 Terrapins run to close the game.
• Brittney Sykes contributed nine points and six rebounds, while Rachel Coffey added eight points and five boards for the Orange, which shot 42.1 percent overall, including 6-of-21 from 3-point range.
• SU came into the game with the fewest turnovers per contest in the ACC, but committed 21, resulting in a 30-10 points-off-turnovers advantage for Maryland.

MASTER THIEVES
• With an aggressive fullcourt press and trapping defense, the Orange boasts the best turnover margin in the ACC (17th nationally) at +5.4 and has produced an average of 22.9 points per game this season off its opponents' 20.0 turnovers per game.
• In its three wins at the Paradise Jam, the Orange forced at least 20 turnovers by its opponents each game.
• Syracuse scored 53 points off 31 turnovers in its 113-42 win vs. Maryland Eastern Shore. SU totaled 18 steals by nine different players.
• SU's 2012-13 opponents averaged 20.3 turnovers per game, resulting in a +3.94 turnover margin. The Orange scored 20.5 points per game off turnovers.

TAKING CARE OF THE BALL
• Also aiding the ACC-best turnover margin is the fact that Syracuse is tied for the third-fewest turnovers in the ACC at 14.6 per game.
• SU surrenders just 14.4 ppg off its turnovers, resulting in a +8.5 margin in points per game off turnovers.
• Brianna Butler boasts the best assist-to-turnover ratio on the team, 37-to-15.

UP NEXT
• The Orange returns home to host two in a row at the Carrier Dome: vs. Clemson on Thursday at 7 p.m. and vs. Virginia on Sunday at 2 p.m.

Syracuse University Athletics

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