UNC Nearly Loses Enormous Lead, But Still Beats Syracuse in Chapel Hill

Syracuse cut what had been a 32-point UNC lead in the second half down to as little as six points, but the Tar Heels held on to beat the Orange 87-77 at the Smith Center Monday night. It’s Carolina’s fourth win in a row.

Caleb Wilson led the Tar Heels with 22 points, missing out on his 12th double-double of the season by one rebound. Henri Veesaar did record a double-double with 17 points and 11 rebounds, pulling ahead of Wilson with his ACC-best 12th of the season.

“People talk about their scoring and their rebounding,” said head coach Hubert Davis afterward, “[but] they check a number of boxes. They’re really good passers. And the chemistry between them has been there since they met… it feels like they’ve played together three or four years.”

UNC led by as many as 17 points late in the first half on the strength of a 12-0 run to blow open what had been a 34-29 game. The Tar Heels led 46-32 at halftime, with the Orange only stopping the run thanks to a buzzer-beating three-pointer from Donnie Freeman.

The Tar Heels then blitzed the Orange to open the second half, pushing the lead to 20 points inside of four minutes, then ballooning the advantage to a game-high 32 points at 72-40 with 9:56 remaining. The 32-point lead was UNC’s largest in an ACC game this season. From the time Syracuse got within 34-29 to the 9:56 mark of the second half, the Tar Heels outscored the Orange 38-11.

But the Orange clawed their way back – slowly at first (the score was 80-60 with 3:48 left) and then pushing hard with a 9-0 run in the span of just 51 seconds to pull within 82-75. It was 83-77 with 42 seconds left before UNC finally put the game away with four straight made free throws. During the Orange’s furious push, they outscored the Tar Heels 37-11 over a span of less than nine minutes of game time.

“That’s something that we have battled all year,” Davis said. “Our ability to stay on point. On script. And that’s something we need to fix now.”

UNC is now 8-0 against Syracuse at home, with all eight wins coming at the Dean Smith Center. Monday’s win improves Carolina to 18-4 overall and 6-3 in ACC play. The Tar Heels will be back in action when they host No. 4 Duke at the Smith Center Saturday at 6:30 p.m.

Featured image via Todd Melet. For a full photo gallery of the game, click here.

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