CHAPEL HILL, N.C. —  Syracuse (14-7, 5-3 Atlantic Coast) surrendered a five-point halftime lead and couldn’t keep up with No. 13 North Carolina (17-4, 7-1) at the Dean E. Smith Center on Monday night, losing 93-83.

Here are three quick takeaways from SU’s valiant fight but ultimate loss.

1. Cooney falls off a bit too much

Trevor Cooney carried Syracuse in the first half with 15 points by way of 6-of-12 shooting and a trio of 3s. His scoring from the outside negated a 1-for-5 first half from Rakeem Christmas and helped SU head into halftime up by five.

But in the second half, Cooney failed to connect from 3 as consistently. He finished the night 10-for-26 overall, 4-for-13 from deep and netted 28 points for SU. But Cooney wasn’t as consistent a scoring source in the second half as the Orange fell behind UNC and couldn’t come back.

2. Big bounce-back

Rakeem Christmas wasn’t himself in the first half.

The resurgent SU big man shot just 1-of-6 in the opening 20 minutes, but found his groove on the offensive end and never lost his groove from the free-throw line. The senior made all 10 of his foul shots and after missing his first attempt from the field in the second half, didn’t miss from the floor again.

He nearly leapfrogged Cooney to finish as SU’s leading scorer, but settled for a 22-point, 12-rebound night.

3. Too big

In the end, though, the Tar Heels’ frontcourt was too much trouble for Syracuse’s thin rotation.

Tyler Roberson fouled out with about two minutes remaining and SU was out-rebounded 42-27.

UNC forward Kennedy Meeks dropped 17 points and forward Brice Johnson also chipped in 17 points to go with his 11 rebounds. Meeks bullied Christmas around down low, gaining position with ease as the SU big man did his best to keep his hands straight up and avoid fouling.

It worked sometimes — the fouling part, but not the defensive part.

Published on January 26, 2015 at 9:12 pm