UNC Basketball Moments After – UNC vs Syracuse 77-64 Win
UNC Tar Heels Basketball Team Bounces Back With a Victory on the Road Against the Syracuse Orange
by Derrick Isaiah Clyburn
The North Carolina basketball team faced off against Syracuse on Saturday afternoon with Henri Veesaar returning to the lineup. After a disappointing loss to NC State, the Tar Heels looked to bounce back and get back on track against the Orange. UNC got off to a slow start early in this game, missing 11 of its first 15 shots. Carolina struggled to get off quality looks against Syracuse’s defense and wasn’t nearly aggressive enough attacking the basket, playing inside out, or getting dribble penetration to generate better shots offensively. Once the Tar Heels changed up their shot selection from contest twos and threes and started to get more ball movement and more paint touches, they went on a run after hitting seven straight shots and gained an eight-point lead over Syracuse.
Jonathan Powell gave the Heels a boost off the bench with two threes and some good on-ball defense on the perimeter. Syracuse came into this game a poor perimeter shooting team, so the Tar Heels made it tough on them to make shots in the paint and forced them to take jump shots. However, Syracuse did hit some tough shots and was able to stay in the game after a couple of scoring droughts from the Tar Heels due to bad shot selection, a lack of ball movement, and unforced turnovers. Seth Trimble’s going scoreless in the first half didn’t help matters either, but UNC still led by 5 going into halftime.
Syracuse came out with more energy and urgency after halftime and went on a run to tie the game 36-36. Syracuse hit seven of their first 12 shots, while Carolina only made three of their first nine shots to start the second half. Syracuse forward JJ Starling was taking advantage of UNC guards being switched on him by making shots over the top of them in top of them. Once North Carolina made the adjustment to keep a bigger forward on Starling and force the other Syracuse players to shoot more shots, Syracuse started to struggle offensively. Carolina had their most success offensively when they fed off their dribble penetration and got the ball to Henri Veesaar in the paint. Luka Bogavac did a great job all game long at getting into the paint and creating offense for himself and others.
However, the game was still close, and the Heels could only extend their lead to just at this point in the game. The Heels needed someone else to step up offensively to break the game open. With just over 11 minutes left, Seth Trimble had been quiet for most of the game, hitting only one shot, but after a steal and a fast break dunk, he started to get it going. After that dunk, Seth Trimble proceeded to hit six straight points, and Carolina went on an 8-0 run, controlling the game from that point on. For the remainder of the game, the Tar Heels were relentlessly getting into the paint and scoring or getting fouled, which put extreme pressure on Syracuse’s defense. Carolina shot 61% in the second and pulled away from the Orange late in the game. Henri Veesar had 19 points in his return to the lineup and made the Tar Heels play like a completely different team than the one seen in Raleigh on Tuesday night. Luka Bogavac, Seth Trimble, and Zayden High also left their imprints on this game as UNC got its 21st victory of the season over Syracuse.
UNC Stats
| 1 | 2 | T | |
| 16 North Carolina 21-6 | 33 | 44 | 77 |
| Syracuse 15-13 | 28 | 36 | 64 |
| Starters | PTS | REB | AST | FG | 3PT | FT | PF | MIN | STL | BLK | TO |
| H. Veesaar | 19 | 3 | 1 | 9/13 | 1/3 | 0/0 | 2 | 25 | 0 | 3 | 3 |
| S. Trimble | 13 | 5 | 2 | 5/7 | 0/0 | 3/7 | 2 | 30 | 2 | 0 | 1 |
| L. Bogavac | 13 | 6 | 2 | 5/10 | 0/2 | 3/7 | 1 | 31 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| D. Dixon | 7 | 4 | 4 | 2/7 | 1/4 | 2/2 | 1 | 32 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| J. Stevenson | 7 | 4 | 1 | 2/7 | 0/2 | 3/6 | 2 | 31 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Bench | PTS | REB | AST | FG | 3PT | FT | PF | MIN | STL | BLK | TO |
| Z. High | 9 | 11 | 0 | 2/4 | 1/1 | 4/6 | 5 | 19 | 1 | 0 | 3 |
| J. Powell | 6 | 1 | 0 | 2/5 | 2/3 | 0/0 | 2 | 18 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| K. Evans | 3 | 1 | 0 | 1/1 | 1/1 | 0/0 | 3 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| J. Young | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0/0 | 0/0 | 0/0 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| I. Denis | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| E. Davis | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| J. Holbrook | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| E. Smith | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| Total | 77 | 35 | 10 | 28/54 | 6/16 | 15/28 | 18 | – | 5 | 4 | 10 |
| Starters | PTS | REB | AST | FG | 3PT | FT | PF | MIN | STL | BLK | TO |
| J. Starling | 22 | 4 | 2 | 10/19 | 0/1 | 2/3 | 1 | 34 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| D. Freeman | 9 | 7 | 0 | 3/8 | 0/3 | 3/4 | 5 | 28 | 0 | 3 | 1 |
| N. George | 7 | 3 | 1 | 2/11 | 0/5 | 3/4 | 2 | 35 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| W. Kyle | 4 | 8 | 1 | 2/4 | 0/0 | 0/0 | 2 | 28 | 2 | 1 | 2 |
| N. Kingz | 4 | 0 | 1 | 2/6 | 0/2 | 0/0 | 4 | 21 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Bench | PTS | REB | AST | FG | 3PT | FT | PF | MIN | STL | BLK | TO |
| T. Betsey | 10 | 0 | 0 | 3/5 | 3/5 | 1/3 | 3 | 22 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| S. White Jr. | 6 | 5 | 0 | 3/4 | 0/0 | 0/0 | 3 | 17 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| K. Anthony | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0/2 | 0/1 | 2/2 | 1 | 14 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| I. Souare | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0/0 | 0/0 | 0/0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| N. Lobdell | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| L. Fennell | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| T. Diawara | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| C. Russell III | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| Total | 64 | 28 | 6 | 25/59 | 3/17 | 11/16 | 23 | – | 4 | 5 | 10 |
UNC Bright Spots
Henri Veesaar had 19 points, 3 rebounds, 3 blocks, and 1 assist.
Luka Bogavac had 13 points, 6 rebounds, and 2 assists.
Seth Trimble had 13 points, 5 rebounds, 2 assists, and 2 steals.
Zayden High had 9 points, 11 rebounds, and 1 steal.
Needs Work
The Tar Heels need to play hard for 40 minutes. They need to play with a sense of urgency to start games and not have stretches where they play lackadaisical basketball or just look uninterested out there on the floor.
The Tar Heels need to make sure they are not allowing the defense to dictate what shots they take. The shot selection must be better. They must consistently play through the bigs and attack the basket aggressively to collapse the defense, which will generate better shots for them.
The Tar Heels must be better at the free-throw line. Shooting 54% from the line is totally unacceptable. You allow teams to hang around and are unable to close out games when you can’t make free throws consistently. They must be more focused in that area, and the coaching staff needs to continue to emphasize how important making their free throws is.
Final Observations
The Tar Heels improve to a 21-6 record. With Caleb Wilson still being out, the Tar Heels will need to just stack wins in any way they can over the next couple of weeks. Some games may be ugly, but they must continue to build winning habits as the season progresses. Guys will need to continue to step up in Caleb Wilson’s absence, filling the scoring, rebounding, defensive, and energy void. Henri Veesaar being back helps out tremendously and takes the pressure off the guards to carry the scoring load, but the guards still need to be more aggressive than they’ve been in these last few games. The guard play, even when Caleb Wilson returns, will determine how far this team will go in the tournament.
Their play is crucial on both ends of the floor because if you combine good guard play with arguably the best frontcourt in the country, there’s no telling how good your team can be. North Carolina also needs to work on being sharp at the little things such as defensive rebounding to finish off defensive possessions, hitting their free throws at a higher percentage consistently, limiting their turnovers, taking the best shot available on offensive possessions, constantly moving the ball offensively, playing at a pace that only your team can, and being in the right spots defensively. Being great and consistent in those areas will put them in the best position to win each night with the talent at their disposal. They only have a few games remaining in the regular season and must find a way to be playing their best basketball at the end of the season, going into tournament play. Next up is Louisville on Monday, February 21, on ESPN at 7:00 P.M.