SYRACUSE, N.Y. — The Syracuse Orange basketball team suffered its seventh quadrant one defeat on the season, dropping a 77-64 decision to the North Carolina Tar Heels in front a home crowd of 23,606. North Carolina stymied Syracuse’s offense while owning a 36-28 points in the paint edge.
North Carolina (21-6, 9-5) was without star freshman Caleb Wilson, who suffered a broken left hand and has now missed the last three games. Henri Veesaar returned to action despite being listed a quesitonable before
the game. He led North Carolina in scoring with 19 points and 3 rebounds. Seth Trimble and Luke Bogavac each scored a baker’s dozen.
Syracuse (15-13, 6-9) was led by JJ Starling, who finished with 22 points and 4 rebounds. Tyler Betsey scored 10 points off the bench.
Syracuse punched first by jumping out to a 10-7 lead at the first media timeout. A pair of scores from Nate Kingz and JJ Starling as well as a jumper by George gave the Orange backcourt the early edge. North Carolina doubled Freeman on his first pair of touches.
The first substitutions for Syracuse occurred at the 13:18 mark as Tyler Betsey and Sadiq White checked in. Kiyan Anthony followed at 12:07. Another Starling score had Syracuse up 12-9 at the second media timeout. North Carolina would punch back and take command from there.
What started out as a fast-paced game settled into a controlled, halfcourt game which ironically worked in North Carolina’s favor. The Tar Heels tried to push pace after made baskets but a prepared Syracuse team did a good job of getting back. In the halfcourt though, Carolina began to execute and take advantage of mismatches, authorizing its first lead of the game 17-14 on a Jonathan Powell three. Veesar and Kyle traded buckets but a three by Veesaar had North Carolina up 22-18 at the penultimate media timeout of the first half.
From there Zayden High stripped Kyle on the perimeter, dove on the floor for the loose ball and called timeout. Autry inserted Akir Souare opposite the timeout. Souare picked up a pair of fouls as High made three of four free throws to give Carolina a 30-22 lead. Freeman was called for a foul on Stevenson, which was at least clean up top and an unpopular call with the Syracuse crowd. Stevenson missed a pair, authorizing a Chik-fil-A promotion. The dome faithful responded in kind. George stopped the bleeding with a mid-range jumper and Betsey nailed a three to trim the deficit.
North Carolina held a 33-28 lead going into the break. The Tar Heels shot 12-28 from the floor (42.9%) including 5-11 from three (45.5%). Syracuse shot 12-29 from the floor (41.4%) including 1-8 from three (12.5%). North Carolina was 4-9 from the free throw line in the first half while Syracuse was 3-4.
Out of the break Starling went on a scoring spree for Syracuse. He scored on the first possession out of the half while Stevenson did the same for Carolina. Then Starling answered with a floater. Luka Bogavac made one of two free throws. Starling scored at the rim once more. George made a pair of free throws to knot the game at 36.
Kingz, who was unfavorably switched onto UNC’s bigs, picked up his third and fourth foul before the first media timeout. White came in to replace him at the 16:04 mark. Kingz would not return until 6:55 left in the game. Scores by Veesaar and Bogavac had North Carolina ahead 40-36 at the media break.
Freeman was held scoreless in the first half, but George got him going on a fastbreak lob for his first points that brought the dome crowd to its feet. Starling drive after an out-of bounds under resulted in an and-one. He’d miss the free throw. Then a steal by Kyle, who somehow tight roped the sideline and stayed in bounds, went coast-to-coast for a throwdown that tied the game at 44 that sent the dome into a frenzy. That was as close as the game would get the rest of the way.
Out of the timeout, Carolina ripped off an 8-0 run, scoring easily to start the run on a lob to High. Trimble striped Starling on one end and threw down a dunk on the other end and then followed it up with a floater. Veesaar capped the run when drove left and cocked back a raucous one-handed slam for a dunk. Adrian Autry called timeout with 9:49 remaining. Anythony checked in, making his first appearance of the second half.
After Kyan Evans was whistled for a foul on Freeman, the struggling Syracuse star Freeman called for a technical foul.Trimble inexplicably missed both technical free throws. Evans was then called for a foul on Anthony, who made both free throws following the Kyan-on-Kiyan crime. Betsey was then called for a foul after blocking a shot on High. There appeared to be no contact on the replay. High made one of two.
Carolina opened up a 10 point lead following a three point play from Trimble. A High corner three threatened to put the game out of reach as Carolina reopened a double-digit lead.
After both teams did their part to increase the foul count, North Carolina began to pull away down the stretch after Bogavac and Veesaar buckets pushed the lead to a dozen with under four minutes to play.
Syracuse pressed in the final four minutes, but to no avail. Betsey three cut it to ten but the Orange never seriously threatened in crunch time. Fans began to file to the exits with 2:23 remaining and “Tar-Heels” chants began to breakout in the dome as North Carolina won going away.
After an aggressive foul late, Freeman and a pair of North Carolina players exchanged words, resulting in double-technical fouls. That was Freeman’s second technical foul of the game, resulting in an ejection. Freeman’s jersey was swapped out from No. 1 to No. 53 in the second half.
Orange alumns
Scoop Jardine, Dion Waiters, Baye Keita, Tyus Battle and Elijah Hughes were all in attendance for Syracuse-North Carolina. Rudy Hackett and Jim Lee had their jerseys retired at halftime, also honoring the 1975 Final Four team.
Next up
Syracuse will have one week in between games as it takes on Wake Forest on Saturday, Feb. 28. That games tips at 5:45 p.m. ET from LJVM Coliseum and airs on the CW Network.
