Quadir Copeland leads Syracuse to 81-73 win over Pittsburgh

It’s hard to find two programs who know each other better than Syracuse in Pittsburgh today in the 125th all time meeting. The intensity was at an all time high, and it brought Syracuse to an 81-73 victory. The Energizer Bunny off the bench, Quadir Copeland, led the way for the Orange with 22 points, the fourth game in a row that the man from Philadelphia has scored over ten points.

“I just try to see how much I could make an impact on the game.” Copeland said, “So I come in like right away. I try to make an impact right away because I feel like I’m energy change here. No matter the game’s going good, I make it go better. If it is not going good, I’m going to get it right back on track.”

“Especially in the second half. Their bench was tremendous to get 52 points from their bench.” Pittsburgh head coach Jeff Capel said, “and Copeland with driving and drawing fouls.”

“What I love about Quadir here is that no matter what mistakes and not you know he gives you everything he fights you know and that’s you know that’s I think every coach wants that I know that that guy can play for me.” Syracuse head coach Adrian Autry said, “I know some mistakes, but those type of people, they can play for me, you know, that’s that’s, you know, that’s where, you know, Quadir is. That’s where he’s in that area. But all of our guys are like that. You know, our whole team is like that. So I’m excited about this part.”

In a game like this, when the intensity is that high, it’s the little things that matter the most. And today for the Panthers, they went 11 for 24 from the free throw line. The orange will have to continue to do the little things right and continue to play intense basketball. On Tuesday, when Syracuse travels down to Durham for a matchup with Big Bad Duke, that game tips off at 9 p.m..

Reporting from the JMA Wireless Dome, Adam Gotkin, Citrus TV.