In the context of Pitt’s regular-season success and postseason hopes, Tuesday night’s home game against Syracuse was about as important as it gets.

The Orange came into the game only one win better than the Panthers and with plenty of shortcomings that made the night seem like an opportunity for the home team to point itself in the right direction.

Instead, Pitt came out of its off week and fell right into the same habits that have plagued the team throughout the conference schedule, and the result was all too familiar:

Poor shooting, bad offense, low production.

And a loss, as the Panthers fell to the Orange 69-58.

It was the third time in the last four games that Pitt has been held to fewer than 60 points.

Pitt was in good shape and well on its way to a 40-point half at the midpoint of the first 20 minutes after Ishmael Leggett hit a three to give the Panthers a 20-14 lead. But they went ice cold after that, making just two field goals on 12 attempts in the final 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, Syracuse suffered no such slump. The Orange turned the 20-14 deficit into a 21-20 lead with a Kyle Cuffe three-pointer and baskets by J.J. Starling and Quadir Copeland as part of a 23-6 run that left the visitors with an 11-point lead at halftime.

In the second half, Pitt chipped away at that lead. The Panthers were down 12 with 16 minutes left in the game, but Jaland Lowe hit a pair of shots to get the lead into single digits for the first time since the 3:30 mark of the first half.

But the Orange answered right back. Justin Taylor hit a three, Starling landed a jump shot and Benny Williams, who earned an offsetting technical foul with Pitt’s Blake Hinson, slammed a dunk to push the lead to 15.

Lowe tried again to will Pitt back into the game. Syracuse was up 15 with seven minutes left in the game, but the freshman guard went coast-to-coast for a layup and followed that with an old-fashioned three-point play to get the lead down to 10. Starling hit a jump shot at the other end, but Lowe scored the next points with another and-1 conversion to get it down to single digits once again.

That was as close as things would get, though. Leggett fouled Judah Mintz on the next possession and the former Pitt commit drained both free throws. The Panthers’ response on their next two possessions was a missed three by Hinson and a turnover from Guillermo Diaz Graham before a foul on Bub Carrington gave Syracuse an extended lead and sent the few fans remaining to the door.

While Lowe scored a game-high and career-high 20 points, he was the lone bright spot on offense for Pitt. Hinson, the Panthers’ season leader in scoring, had 12 points on 4-of-17 shooting, making just 2-of-11 from three. And Carrington, who entered the game averaging 14.3 points per game, didn’t make any of his 10 field goal attempts - seven of which were from outside the arc - and was held scoreless for the first time in his career.

In addition to poor shooting, Pitt’s defense didn’t do much to help the team’s efforts. Syracuse shot 25-of-53 (47.2%) from the floor and 10-of-17 (58.8%) from three.

With the loss, the Panthers fall to 10-7 on the season and 1-5 in the ACC with a trip to Cameron to face Duke on the road coming up on Saturday.