The Carrier Dome rocked.

In the waning minutes of Wednesday night’s game, Syracuse and North Carolina each swung like prize-fighters trying to topple the other. The crowd roared. The student section filled to the top of the second deck. North Carolina had to call a timeout and Syracuse players themselves stared into the season-high crowd of 27,165 people and asked them to get just a little bit louder. So, they did.

It wasn’t enough.

Syracuse (18-10, 7-8 Atlantic Coast) fell to No. 10 North Carolina (22-7, 11-5), 78-74, because the Tar Heels overwhelmed the Orange on the offensive glass and from behind the arc.

Here are three fast reactions from the game.

Howard misses last bucket

Frank Howard pulled up from deep 3-point range, guarded by UNC’s Joel Berry, with about 12 seconds to go and the Orange trailing by two. He had a chance to give Syracuse its first lead since 3-2 and play the hero on the night where he posted 23 points.

But Howard missed strong and the ball bounced up high. Center Paschal Chukwu couldn’t get there, and Berry ended up with the ball. When the Orange gave him the obligatory foul, he hit both free throws to ice the game and the crowd fell quiet.

Wanted: Big man

Nothing seemed to work.

Boeheim has seen Roy Williams’ North Carolina team plenty of times before, and he knew the Tar Heels would come to the Dome and try to play bully ball. He knew UNC ranks second in the nation in offensive rebounding percentage (38.9), per Kenpom.com. He knew he had to do some sort of damage control. And it seemed, for the first time since at least early December, all personnel were available. Syracuse has not been able to play both its centers, Paschal Chukwu and Bourama Sidibe, equal minutes because of injury.

Boeheim cycled through the centers — Chukwu, Sidibe, even going small by playing 6-foot-9, 180-pound Marek Dolezaj down there — but none seemed to effectively stop UNC. North Carolina picked the Orange’s zone apart with its ball movement as the Tar Heels’ star, Luke Maye, and its biggest player, Sterling Manley, rotated constantly between the high and low post. UNC attacked through the high post and Manley and Maye seemed unafraid to shoot jumpers from there, or dish it to the low-block big, or find a moving perimeter shooter. Or, most dangerously, pass from the short corner to a cutter, which the Orange seemed unable to stop all night.

All of this stressed the Orange’s usually disciplined zone and forced the forwards, namely Dolezaj and Moyer, to rush out to contest perimeter players, breaking down Syracuse’s defense further and creating mismatches.  

Boeheim tried to ride the successful spurts, but a lot of it went like this: Midway through the second half, Chukwu was out-rebounded on the defensive glass and then UNC’s Cameron Johnson backed him down and just out-muscled him. Boeheim, watching with his chin in his right hand, didn’t look at Sidibe sitting next to him, but he slapped his knee and motioned him to the scorer’s table.

Achilles heel

It was there. Syracuse had the ball, the crowd was on its feet and, at 74-74, the Orange had a chance to take its first lead since 3-2. Battle missed a jumper, but Chukwu still secured the rebound. There was hope for the Orange.

But then moments later, Chukwu fumbled the ball away and Joel Berry hit a tough layup to give the Tar Heels back the lead it had felt familiar with all night. It’s the one UNC had protected still because of its electric first half.

Even though the Orange did a decent job in keeping the nation’s second-best offensive rebounding team off the glass, it had no answer for UNC’s smoking shooters. UNC hit 16-of-29 shots in the first frame (55.2 percent) and raced out to a 41-32 lead that would’ve been larger had Oshae Brissett not nailed a triple at the buzzer before the half ended. Big man Sterling Manley, who UNC only plays about a quarter of the time, particularly dominated SU inside. He drew fouls and converted the opportunities en route to eight points, which tied for a team high at the time.  

When the Orange tried to claw back, it was never enough to break the tie and fully overcome the lead North Carolina had built.

Published on February 21, 2018 at 9:16 pm

Contact Sam: sjfortie@syr.edu | @Sam4TR