UNC Basketball Moments After – UNC vs. Syracuse 86-79 Loss
UNC Tar Heels Basketball Team Falls to a Historically Hot Shooting Syracuse Squad on the Road
by Derrick Clyburn
The North Carolina basketball team traveled to Upstate New York to face the Syracuse Orange. Little did the Tar Heels know that they would be defending an opponent that would shoot 62.5% from the field for the game many being tough and lucky shots. Syracuse used their big guards to go isolation against the Heels’ smaller guards and they got the shots that they wanted throughout the first half.
North Carolina would fight back with some hot shooting from Cormac Ryan who hit three 3-pointers in the first half to help the Tar Heels stay close. The Heels had trouble solving the Flat-line zone and allowed the Orange to control the pace of the game for most of the first half. UNC was fortunate to go into intermission tied at 42.
In the second half, Syracuse would continue their hot shooting. JJ Starling and Judah Mintz would take turns going one-on-one hitting tough contested shots. The Tar Heels didn’t have an answer to slow those big guards down. North Carolina would stay in striking distance but 3 turnovers in their last five possessions would doom them. UNC only had 11 free throw attempts compared to 25 by the Orange who would go on to win at the free-throw line to seal the victory 86-79.
UNC Game Stats
| 1 | 2 | T | |
| 7 North Carolina 19-6 | 42 | 37 | 79 |
| Syracuse 16-9 | 42 | 44 | 86 |
| STARTERS | PTS | REB | AST | FG | 3PT | FT | PF | MIN | STL | BLK | TO |
| R. Davis | 19 | 0 | 3 | 7/17 | 4/11 | 1/1 | 3 | 37 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| C. Ryan | 18 | 2 | 3 | 6/14 | 4/9 | 2/2 | 4 | 40 | 0 | 0 | 5 |
| H. Ingram | 14 | 11 | 3 | 6/11 | 2/5 | 0/0 | 3 | 33 | 3 | 0 | 3 |
| A. Bacot | 14 | 10 | 3 | 5/9 | 0/0 | 4/4 | 4 | 30 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| E. Cadeau | 4 | 1 | 7 | 1/4 | 1/1 | 1/2 | 4 | 32 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| BENCH | PTS | REB | AST | FG | 3PT | FT | PF | MIN | STL | BLK | TO |
| J. Washington | 5 | 1 | 0 | 2/2 | 1/1 | 0/0 | 0 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| J. Withers | 4 | 1 | 0 | 2/2 | 0/0 | 0/0 | 1 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| S. Trimble | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0/2 | 0/0 | 1/2 | 1 | 11 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| D. Farris | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| J. Okonkwo | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| R. Landry | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| Z. High | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| P. Wojcik | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| C. Lebo | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| Total | 79 | 28 | 19 | 29/61 | 12/27 | 9/11 | 20 | – | 4 | 1 | 11 |
| STARTERS | PTS | REB | AST | FG | 3PT | FT | PF | MIN | STL | BLK | TO |
| J. Mintz | 25 | 5 | 4 | 8/11 | 0/1 | 9/11 | 2 | 40 | 3 | 0 | 1 |
| J. Starling | 23 | 3 | 0 | 9/15 | 3/6 | 2/2 | 2 | 40 | 1 | 0 | 3 |
| M. Brown | 14 | 6 | 4 | 4/4 | 2/2 | 4/6 | 2 | 34 | 2 | 1 | 2 |
| C. Bell | 13 | 3 | 0 | 5/11 | 3/7 | 0/0 | 3 | 36 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| J. Taylor | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1/1 | 0/0 | 1/2 | 0 | 21 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| BENCH | PTS | REB | AST | FG | 3PT | FT | PF | MIN | STL | BLK | TO |
| Q. Copeland | 8 | 3 | 2 | 3/6 | 0/1 | 2/4 | 2 | 23 | 3 | 0 | 1 |
| M. Hima | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0/0 | 0/0 | 0/0 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| N. Ruffin | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| K. Cuffe Jr. | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| P. Carey | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| C. Westry | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| A. Clayton | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| W. Patterson | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| C. Gatty | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| N. McLeod | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| C. Owens | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| Total | 86 | 22 | 11 | 30/48 | 8/17 | 18/25 | 11 | – | 10 | 1 | 8 |
UNC Bright Spots
RJ Davis had 19 points, 3 assists, and 1 steal.
Cormac Ryan had 18 points, 2 rebounds, and 3 assists.
Harrison Ingram had 14 points, 11 rebounds, 3 assists, and 3 steals.
Armando Bacot had 14 points, 10 rebounds, and 3 assists.
Needs Work
North Carolina must learn how to play with hunger and toughness knowing that everyone is gunning for them. They need to get that chip on their shoulder back. They seem to be struggling to handle success since they played dook.
The Tar Heels must attack the basket more to put pressure on the opponents by getting to the free-throw line. They only attempted 11 compared to Syracuse’s 25.
Final Observations
The Tar Heels are now 19-6 and 11-3 in ACC play. Hubert and his staff must work on helping the players regroup and refocus. They seem to have lost some of the hunger and fight that they had earlier in the season. They have to develop the killer instinct to finish teams off. Next up is Va. Tech on Saturday at 2 pm on ACCN.