Offense falters again as Syracuse falls at home to North Carolina

Once again, the Syracuse offense failed to consistently generate positive results, allowing #16 North Carolina to complete a season sweep at the JMA Wireless Dome with a 77-64 win. The Orange (15-13, 6-9 ACC) got within 36-34 early in the second half, then shot just 7-of-24 over a nearly 17-minute span as the Tar Heels (21-6, 9-5) put them away.

Star freshman Caleb Wilson missed his third straight game for UNC, but his absence barely mattered. SU held their last lead of the game before it was nine minutes old and were even with the Heels only four times after that, the last coming less than eight minutes into the second half.

North Carolina shot 51.9 percent overall and 61.5 percent in the second half. That second session mark included them making 15-of-21 (71.4 percent) on 2-point field goals. Syracuse struggled from long range throughout the game, as Tyler Betsey was the only player to make a 3-pointer. He made three of the Orange’s collective 17 attempts.

Syracuse had a hot start, but it did not last long

SU got out to a quick lead, scoring eight of the game’s first ten points. North Carolina replied with several bursts that added up to outscoring Syracuse over the bulk of the half, 28-14.

First was a 7-2 run that chipped away most of the Orange advantage, which was followed shortly after by a quick 8-2 flurry featuring a couple 3-pointers by Jonathan Powell for a 17-14 lead. An 11-4 run after that gave the Tar Heels a 30-22 lead at the under-four media timeout.

SU knocked a couple points off the Carolina lead, including getting their first 3-pointer of the game from Tyler Betsey, and went into the half on the down end of a 33-28 game. J.J. Starling hit his first three shots after the break to bring Syracuse within 36-34, then Naithan George tied the game with two foul shots.

UNC responded with the next two baskets to go back in front, but the Orange came back to tie once more, getting a steal and coast-to-coast slam from William Kyle III to make it a 44-44 game, forcing a timeout from the guests with 12 minutes on the clock.

North Carolina ramped up their offense to pull away

The Tar Heels responded to the break by scoring the game’s next eight points to retake control by the midpoint of the second half and force an SU timeout. Donnie Freeman drew a foul and dropped the ball on the fallen defender, earning a technical foul, but Seth Trimble missed both free throws.

North Carolina nudged their lead out to 59-48 for their greatest advantage to that point. Syracuse could get no closer than eight points over the remainder of the game, as the Heels ran off a 14-4 run to pull away in the final five minutes of play.

Starling paced the Orange by finishing with 22 points. Betsey was the only other SU player in double figures, notching ten points. Freeman finished with nine points and was disqualified for being called for a second technical foul for his fifth foul with 1:44 remaining.

Veesaar paced North Carolina with 19 points and blocked three shots. Trimble scored 13 points, all in the second half. Luka Bogavac had a dozen points while Zayden High, who fouled out on a technical foul call at the same time as Freeman, had nine points and 11 rebounds.

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