Syracuse (17-10, 8-6 Atlantic Coast) lost to Pittsburgh (18-10, 7-7) in a tense finish Saturday afternoon in the Carrier Dome, but a pair of controversial calls in the game’s final 40 seconds marred the thrilling conclusion.

With 39 seconds left and the Orange down by one, Rakeem Christmas set a screen for Michael Gbinije on a pick-and-roll, only to be whistled for a moving screen. On Pitt’s final possession with just under 20 seconds remaining, Gbinije and Ron Patterson trapped James Robinson on the Panthers guard’s own baseline.

Robinson traveled, changing his pivot three times and possibly stepping out of bounds before throwing the ball away. No call was made and Pitt scored a few seconds later, taking a four-point lead with 17 seconds left.

Here’s how SU players reacted after the game.

On the moving screen call:

“I think that’s a bad— terrible call, but things happen.” – Sophomore forward B.J. Johnson

“No comment. No comment. We’re not allowed to talk about that.” – Syracuse head coach Jim Boeheim

“I set a screen. Ask the refs, I don’t know.” – Senior forward Rakeem Christmas

The senior also said it was no different than any other screen he set in the rest of the game.

On Robinson’s play:

“I felt like he was out of bounds but we just had to try to move on and win the game with the next few plays and we weren’t able to do that.” – Sophomore forward Tyler Roberson

“We were scrapping, we were getting turnovers and we were scoring off them and I think at the end, Robinson stepped out of bounds and they didn’t see it, that was big.” – Patterson

Published on February 21, 2015 at 5:25 pm

Contact Jacob: jmklinge@syr.edu | @Jacob_Klinger_