North Carolina 72, Syracuse 68: Orange come up short in home thriller versus Tar Heels

Heartbroken. But once more.

Everybody take a deep breath. Sure, the tip of this recreation made completely no sense. Let’s break it down and kind by all of the madness.

After trailing for a lot of the recreation in its house matchup in opposition to the North Carolina Tar Heels, Joe Girard hit a 3 with 53 seconds left to take a 68-66 lead over UNC. For a quick second, Syracuse regarded prefer it may draw back.

Nevertheless, the Orange fell quick as a result of expensive errors and a few momentum-swinging performs that finally led Syracuse (13-8, 6-4) to a demoralizing 72-68 house loss to North Carolina (15-6, 7-3) in a major time ACC matchup.

It was a back-and-forth affair that includes three ties and 6 completely different lead adjustments, and regardless of the Orange’s environment friendly efficiency offensively, North Carolina capitalized when it mattered most.

Syracuse was down by as a lot as 9 factors (15-6) early with North Carolina’s offense staying sizzling. The Tar Heels focused Joe Girard’s aspect of the zone early, offering higher passing angles for UNC’s Armando Bacot and Pete Nance within the paint or Caleb Love on the perimeter. North Carolina’s offense shot out of the gate, capturing 3/4 from three early and making the most of additional assist protection within the paint from Syracuse’s guards. The Tar Heels additionally picked aside the Orange’s 2-3 zone protection early with its passing, with UNC’s first 9 baskets coming off of assists.

However, the Orange stored issues shut with Joe Girard scoring 10 factors on 4/5 capturing to maintain Syracuse’s deficit in single-digits with somewhat over 10 minutes left within the first half.

Offensively, Girard and Chris Bell (7 factors on 3/3 capturing) powered the Orange to 19 of the workforce’s first 23 factors, whereas Judah Mintz confirmed his worth defensively with two early steals and two drawn fees at the same time as he struggled to provide on offense early within the first half. Syracuse minimize North Carolina’s lead down to a few factors with simply over 4 minutes left to go earlier than halftime courtesy of this end inside by Benny Williams:

Mintz began to get going offensively in direction of the tip of the primary half as Syracuse trailed 38-34 at halftime. It was a battle between the 2 offenses within the first half, as each packages shot 52% from the sphere and over 44% from three. 14 of UNC’s first 16 baskets have been off of assists, whereas Syracuse stored the competition shut by forcing the Tar Heels into 9 first-half turnovers whereas staying robust on the glass (15-14 rebound benefit for the Orange).

The primary half additionally featured a matchup between a trio of scorers from each groups. For Syracuse, the Girard-Mintz-Bell triad mixed for 26 of the Orange’s 34 first-half factors as Edwards (4 factors, 2/3 capturing, and three turnovers) struggled to get going. For UNC, Bacot led the way in which with 12 factors on 6/10 capturing as he, together with Nance and Caleb Love, mixed for 29 of the Tar Heels’ 38 first-half factors.

Syracuse began off robust within the second half, scoring on back-to-back fastbreak alternatives capped off by this slam from Bell to tie the sport for the primary time since tip-off:

The Orange briefly took a 42-41 lead over the Tar Heels with 17 minutes left to go, its first lead all recreation, powered by extra aggressive play from Jesse Edwards and a few improved protection in opposition to UNC’s electrical offense.

After the Orange stormed again, the Tar Heels caught hearth on a 10-2 run in the midst of the half to briefly retake a double-digit lead. But once more, Syracuse stormed again, solely trailing 59-57 with below eight minutes to go as two robust three-point makes by Bell stored the Orange’s probabilities of successful alive.

From there, it was a back-and-forth contest crammed with a handful of lead adjustments and momentum-swinging performs within the final couple of minutes. Trailing 66-65 with 90 seconds left to go, this top-of-the-key three from Girard gave the Orange a two-point lead with 53 seconds left.

Sadly, the Orange’s effort wasn’t sufficient, with UNC making big-time performs down the stretch to finally give Syracuse the loss within the Dome.

Girard (18 factors), Mintz (17 factors), and Bell (15 factors) all scored in double-figures for Syracuse, whereas Edwards completed with 8 factors, 7 rebounds, and 5 blocks. The massive man duo of Nance and Bacot mixed for 39 factors, whereas Love chipped in 15 factors.

As they are saying: it’s on to the subsequent one.

***

What are your ideas on the Orange’s efficiency in opposition to the Tar Heels? What occurred on the finish of the sport? How do you make sense of the tip for this recreation? Depart your feedback down under.