The last time Pitt was on the court, the Panthers suffered one of their ugliest losses in years, falling at Clemson 75-48 on Saturday.

The last time Pitt faced Syracuse, the Panthers got crushed in the second half en route to a 16-point loss in the Carrier Dome two weeks ago.

On Tuesday night at the Petersen Events Center, Pitt exorcised all of those demons, bouncing back from a rough first half to dominate after halftime and beat the Orange 64-53.

The Panthers got the win, but for the first 14 minutes, it looked like Tuesday night’s game would be a continuation of the loss at Clemson and the previous matchup against Syracuse. Pitt couldn’t buy a shot early on, going 1-of-10 from the floor before the first media timeout, and by the time the Orange went up 21-11 with 6:14 left in the half, Syracuse leading scorer Buddy Boeheim had as many made baskets as Pitt’s entire roster.

The tide turned, though. Led by stout defense and five points and a nice assist from John Hugley, the Panthers chipped away at the Orange lead. Two Mo Gueye free throws got Pitt within one point at 25-24 with a minute to play, but Boeheim hit a long three in the final 20 seconds to send the teams to halftime with a four-point score difference.

Unlike the game at Syracuse, the second half was all Pitt.

More specifically, it was all Jamarius Burton. The Texas Tech transfer made just one basket on six attempts in the first half, but he came out of the locker room on fire. Burton hit three three-pointers in the first nine minutes of the second half; his third followed a Femi Odukale and-1 that gave Pitt the lead and extended it to four at 44-40 with 11:40 to play.

Syracuse cut the lead to five at 49-44 near the nine-minute mark, but Pitt’s defense shut things down, as the Orange didn’t make another field goal for the next seven minutes. Boeheim broke the drought with a layup, but by that point, the Panthers had a comfortable lead of 10 points.

Boeheim finished with a game-high 25 points, but Burton paced Pitt with 21 points, tying his season best and recording his fourth 20-point game of the season.

Gueye followed Burton with 19, while Hugley and Onyebuchi Ezeakudo had 11 each. The Panthers were at their best after half-time, shooting 13-of-26 from the floor, 6-of-12 from three, 8-of-9 from the free throw line and committing just five turnovers in the final 20 minutes.

Hugley also grabbed a career-high 18 rebounds, while Gueye added 10 boards for his third double-double of the season.

With the win, Pitt improved to 8-12 on the season and 3-6 in ACC play. The Panthers will go to Boston College for a 4 pm tipoff on Saturday.