The game before the first Duke game has not been kind to North Carolina of late. In it’s past six contests before the Duke game leading up to the game against Syracuse, the Tar Heels were 1-5 with the one win being an overtime road win against Louisville. The five losses were mostly to not great teams including Pittsburgh (twice), Georgia Tech, and Clemson (back before Clemson was top of the league Clemson).
So one would look at the double digit win against Syracuse and think at least they didn’t
lose right? If it were only that simple. Here are three things learned from North Carolina’s home win over the Orange.
The Tar Heels were humming like a well-oiled machine…
With about three minutes to go in the first half, North Carolina led Syracuse by only five points. They then went on a tear over the next 13 minutes of game time as they turned a five-point lead into a 32-point blowout. The Tar Heels started the run with a 12-3 spurt to end the half (Syracuse’s only points came on a bank shot three at the end of the half) and then built on it from there. The ball was flying around the arc as players were hitting wide open threes and the bigs were slamming home easy dunks and layups. With just under 10 minutes to play the Orange had eight points in the second half and Donnie Freeman was held in check with no points after scoring 18 in the first half (including that aforementioned banked in 3 to end the first half). At this point the question wasn’t if the Tar Heels would win, but by how much and how much rest could Hubert Davis give his starters.
…Until the wheels fell off
But then something odd happened. Syracuse went on a run of their own, outscoring North Carolina 37-15 and getting the score as close as six with just under a minute to go. During this run, Syracuse hit 11 of 12 field goals at one point while the Tar Heels went 2-10 with both makes coming from Henri Veesaar layups/dunks. North Carolina also turned the ball over six times and fouled the Orange six times leading to eight free throw attempts (they hit six of them). Yes, the Tar Heels won, but it was definitely not the site fans (well at least the ones still in attendance and watching at home) wanted to see as North Carolina gets ready to face a much tougher challenge in Duke on Saturday.
Henri Veesaar takes the double-double lead
The Tar Heel center may be the quietest double-double machine I have seen in quite sometime. They just kind of sneak up on you. Like against Syracuse, Veesaar finished with 17 points and a game high 11 rebounds and while he had several dunks, he didn’t seem to be dominant. It was his second straight double-double and his 12th on the season, giving him one more than freshman Caleb Wilson who has had a double-double in his past six contests (though he came close tonight finishing with 24 points and nine rebounds). Whether sneaky or not, the North Carolina front court is not one to mess with.
