Lucas: Syracuse Rapid Reactions

By Adam Lucas

1. Carolina couldn't get enough stops against a red-hot Syracuse team and lost, 86-79, to drop to 11-3 in the league. Harrison Ingram had a 14-point, 10-rebound double-double, but on the same night Virginia took a league defeat, this felt like an unfortunate loss. As you read this, they're still storming the court in upstate New York.

2. Around the time J.J. Starling banked in a 30-footer very late in the shot clock in a one-point game midway through the second half, it started to feel like one of those games. Syracuse shot the ball extremely well all night and finished at an unbelievable 62.5 percent from the field for the game. In this game, the Orange had two of the three best shooting halves against the Heels all season. How good was Syracuse offensively? Carolina hit a solid 12-for-27 from three...and lost.

3. Those three-pointers, though, also hid an issue Hubert Davis is sure to mention. Because of the perimeter barrage, the Heels went to the free throw line just 11 times and were outscored at the line even before they were forced to foul in the end game. Syracuse was whistled for just five second half fouls; the Heels never got into the bonus in the final 20 minutes. Armando Bacot had his fourth straight double-double with 14 points and ten boards but took only four second half shots.

4. Although it probably felt like Syracuse was doing most of the damage from the three-point line, the game essentially turned on Carolina's inability to stop them inside the arc. The home team went 22-for-31 from two-point range. Most of those two-point baskets were created by the SU guards, whom the Tar Heels never figured out how to consistently guard.

5. As if that wasn't a big enough issue, the Heels twice failed to secure missed Cuse shots in the final two minutes of a four-point game. Misses were scarce enough that it was essential to grab those two loose balls. The Tar Heels simply didn't execute well enough in the closing minutes of a close game; the Heels committed four turnovers in the final 2:02. It's hard to win that way.

6. If you've watched any Carolina-Syracuse games over the last decade, you know the formula: when the Tar Heels get the ball to the ACC logo at the free throw line, they're very effective. It occasionally worked again on Tuesday night, creating a scoring chance for Harrison Ingram early. The Tar Heels then tweaked the plan just slightly, putting Elliot Cadeau in the middle of the zone, where he was twice able to find a teammate for a wide open three-pointer in the first half and then located Armando Bacot for an easy hoop in the second half.

7. Cadeau had some very impressive minutes as a pure point guard in that game. Sure, he made a three-pointer. But even after taking a scary early fall, his passing was extremely impressive. He wasn't even credited with an assist on one of his best passes, when he found Cormac Ryan across the top of the Orange zone for a jumper in the second half. In addition to his work against the zone, Cadeau was key to establishing the Tar Heel tempo (UNC had a 15-2 edge in fast break points) and had a gorgeous bounce pass to RJ Davis in transition for a three-point play in the second half (that also wasn't credited as an assist). Cadeau now has 31 assists in the last six games.

8. Carolina survived a torrid Syracuse first half to earn a tie at halftime. The Cuse shot 63 percent from the field in the first 20 minutes, the second-best shooting half against the Heels this season. But UNC did just enough to stay close, including going 7-for-13 from the three-point line in the first half, to go into the locker room tied at 42. At the time, it seemed like they couldn't get much hotter. That was incorrect.

9. An important storyline of the final three minutes before halftime: Carolina had both Ingram and Davis in the game with two fouls, but had Seth Trimble and Jae'Lyn Withers at the table to check in for them. But there were no dead balls over the final three minutes. Davis and Ingram played a foul-free final three minutes, however, avoiding what could have been a disastrous third foul.

10. The Tar Heels got a boost from the return of Trimble, who had missed two games with an upper body injury. The sophomore guard had shown marked improvement just before his injury, including a 10-point performance against Duke and a three-steal showing at Georgia Tech.

11. Trimble was part of an improved bench performance in the first half. It started as soon as Ingram was saddled with two quick fouls, as Withers entered and immediately scored on a hard cut to the rim. The UNC reserves had nine first half points (including five from Jalen Washington, who was very important in the first 20 minutes) after scoring just one total in Miami. The rotation was much tighter in the second half, as Washington made an early appearance in relief of Bacot and Trimble played five minutes. Otherwise, Hubert Davis went exclusively with his starters in the second half.

12. Cormac Ryan had one of his best scoring games as a Tar Heel, hitting an early three-pointer to set the tone and scoring 13 first half points to go with his three early assists. Ryan was 3-for-6 from three in the first half but cooled off in the second, when he hit just two for six from the field. His 18 points were his most against an ACC opponent this year, but he's likely to rue a couple plays in the final two minutes when the ball got away from him.

13. Although the schedule overall gets more favorable from here--four of the final six are at the Smith Center--the remaining road games get even tougher. The remaining ACC road opponents, Virginia and Duke, are a combined 26-2 at home this season.

14. Syracuse is now 4-13 against the Tar Heels since joining the ACC. It has now been since 2019--a stretch of six opportunities--that the Tar Heels last went out of state in back to back ACC road games and won both halves of the double.

Players Mentioned

Armando Bacot

Elliot Cadeau

RJ Davis

Harrison Ingram

Cormac Ryan

Seth Trimble

Jalen Washington

Jae'Lyn Withers

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