CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — The Syracuse Orange men’s basketball team suffered its largest margin of defeat this season, falling 103-67 to a veteran North Carolina on Saturday afternoon. It was the most points an opponent has scored against Syracuse since Indiana scored 110 against the Orange in 2021-22, but that game went into double overtime. Syracuse was beaten in regulation in nearly every aspect of the game.
It was simply “out-toughed” by the Tar Heels.
“They were tougher than us. They went after it,” Head coach Adrian Autry said. The Orange came out flat in the early going and North Carolina took advantage. The Tar Heels jumped out in front in the first few minutes and never looked back, controlling the lead for over 38 minutes.
“They came right out from the beginning and set the tone and we just could never get our rhythm and bounce back. That had all to do with the way they played. I thought it was the first time that we were kind of on our heels all year,” Autry said.
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North Carolina was on its toes while the Orange was on its heels and as expected from a North Carolina coached team, there was nothing flat-footed about the Heels on Saturday. North Carolina got out in transition and rebounded the ball at a high level. Syracuse surrendered a 53-30 deficit on the glass. North Carolina scored 58 points in the paint and scored 22 second-chance points on 19 offensive rebounds.
“They just were tougher than us,” Starling said. “It doesn’t get more simple than that.”
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Photo by Grant Halverson/Getty Images
Toward the end of the first half and for the entirety of the second half, Syracuse went to the 2-3 zone to try to change the tenor of the game. It was the first time in Autry’s tenure that he’s played zone for an entire half. For the most part, Jim Boeheim’s trademark 2-3 zone has been used sparingly by Autry, usually reserved for out-of-bounds defensive sets.
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The zone wasn’t worse than man defense in this game, but if the zone had any success at all it was only temporary. North Carolina hung 103 points on Syracuse. The 2-3 zone, Autry said, was in response to how well North Carolina was playing. He thought zone would be an option for this matchup but didn’t sound like a coach who planned on playing it for the length of time Syracuse did.
“Not as much as we had to do today,” He said in a frank tone. “I thought the second half we cut it down to about 15 and we had some momentum. Just again, too many turnovers. Costly turnovers.”
Once again Syracuse turned it over 17 times on Tobacco Road. Much like the Duke game, North Carolina made the Orange pay by turning those turnovers into 23 points. Too many times this young Syracuse team gambles after missed shots or turnovers in attempt to get the ball right back. Those types of gambles won’t work against good teams and it allows them to get out and score in transition.
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Photo by Grant Halverson/Getty Images
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The post-game mood was predictably low-spirited from the Syracuse side. Players spoke in hushed tones in the locker room from the bowels of the Dean E. Smith Center. Autry tried to remind his team that this would only count as one loss and that there was plenty of more basketball ahead.
“Every team has some bad games in a season,” Autry told his team. “One game doesn’t define a season. Whether it’s one big win or one big loss. We just got to move forward, we got to flush this out. We’ll revisit it a little bit and then move on.”
With a blowout loss of this nature, would Syracuse even bother to watch film or just flush this game and move on to Tuesday and focus on Pittsburgh?
“No we’re definitely going to look at film still,” Brown said.
Starling said he would watch film individually before the team gets together for its film session to understand what he needs to do. What’s clear is that North Carolina is currently on top of the ACC and looks ready to compete for a Final Four — maybe even a National Championship. The Heels have a chance to be ranked No. 1 come Monday after a wild week in college basketball.
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Syracuse, meantime, is still in year one of the Autry era. This is a process and most of these young players are still just sophomores. Syracuse can compete in the ACC but it will take some more time for this team to get ready to compete against the top programs in the country.
Of course, it wouldn’t have changed the outcome of the game, but not having 7-foot-4 center Naheem McLeod to go up against Armando Bacot didn’t help matters. McLeod wasn’t in the building for Syracuse’s defeat, missing his second game with a right foot injury.
“Nothing definitive,” Autry said of McLeod’s status. “We should know something soon about whether he’s able to move forward or not.”
American Airlines subsidiary PSA officially opened its new headquarters in Charlotte, North Carolina, on Monday.
The carrier moved its corporate office from Dayton, Ohio, and plans to have over 450 employees at its Charlotte campus. The headquarters is situated about two miles from American Airlines’ Charlotte Flight Training Center and five miles from Charlotte Douglas International Airport, where many PSA staff are based.
PSA is now the only Part 121 passenger carrier based in North Carolina, company leaders said.
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“Because of what Charlotte offers, PSA has a stronger foundation for continued growth,” PSA President and CEO Dion Flannery said in a statement. “And we believe the benefit will be mutual, as the region will continue having reliable aviation partners, a top employer, and a responsible corporate citizen headquartered in its backyard.”
Of the 450 employees expected to be based in Charlotte, about 150 have relocated from Dayton and another 50 were already in Charlotte at other facilities. The other 250 positions are being filled by new hires.
PSA operates flights under the American Eagle brand. It directly supports four American Airlines hubs – Charlotte, Dallas/Fort Worth, Philadelphia, and Washington National.
A grand opening event at the headquarters in Charlotte will take place in March.
PSA will maintain a significant presence in Dayton, with hundreds of employees, including pilots, flight attendants, and technicians, based at the airline’s crew base and maintenance hangar at Dayton International Airport.
WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY)–As many as one thousand people gathered in downtown Wilmington around Thalian hall as part of the “Ice Out for Good” protest.
This protest is one of many throughout the country to protest against ICE, after the death of Renee Nicole Good, who was shot in the head by an ICE agent on January 7th.
Organized by Indivisible Actions Southeast North Carolina, protesters surrounded the building as they waved signs and chanted across third street.
Many of the protestors held signs to not only protest Trump and ICE, but also to remember Renee Nicole Good.
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In the past week, Trump and many others say the ICE agent was just trying to defend himself, and many of the protestors disagree. Many say that Good was the victim in the situation.
“I think it needs to be a thorough investigation. Minnesota needs to be involved. There needs to be an ethical way of going about this. If there was nothing wrong, then they would cooperate. We need to keep investigating. We need to understand. I think they were way too quick to write off motivation. At the end of the day our neighbor or was killed,” said one protestor.
One other protestor says they are upset over what is being told. “That’s very disturbing to see a spin put on things when you have an actual video and then you’re propagandized about what we’re being told it was, even though we saw it was not.”
“Things could have been de-escalated by the officer,” said another protestor, believing that things didn’t have to turn out that way.
A Vigil for Good will be held outside the Alton Federal Building along Water Street. It will start at 7 in the evening on Wednesday, and it will be hosted by Siembra NC and Make North Carolina Work.
North Carolina defensive lineman D’antre Robinson plans to enter the NCAA Transfer Portal. He transferred to UNC from Florida ahead of the 2025 campaign.
In his lone season with the Tar Heels, Robinson made 12 appearances. He recorded 39 tackles and a forced fumble. He was also credited with half a sack.
As a true freshman at Florida in 2024, Robinson played in 11 games. He notched 16 tackles, including three for loss, as well as 1.5 sacks.
D’antre Robinson played high school football at Jones (FL), where he was a four-star prospect. He was the No. 267 overall player and No. 27 defensive lineman in the 2024 recruiting cycle, according to the Rivals Industry Rankings.
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This past season was legendary head coach Bill Belichick‘s first at the helm of North Carolina. UNC posted a 4-8 overall record and a 2-6 mark in conference play
In December, Belichick hired former Arkansas offensive coordinator Bobby Petrino to serve in the same role for the Tar Heels next season. In November, there was speculation that Belichick would return to the professional ranks. Alas, the 73-year-old HC quickly squashed those rumors.
“Despite circulating rumors, I have not and will not pursue any NFL head coaching vacancies,” Belichick wrote. “Since arriving in Chapel Hill, my commitment to the UNC Football program has not waivered.
“We have tremendous support from the university, our alumni, and the entire Carolina community. My focus remains solely on continuing to improve this team, develop our players, and build a program that makes Tar Heel fans proud.”
To keep up with the latest players on the move, check out On3’s Transfer Portal wire. The On3 Transfer Portal Instagram account and Twitter account are excellent resources to stay up to date with the latest moves.
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