North Carolina spoils Jim Boeheim Return

Story by Brian Armstrong

Photo By Ellen Burr

Syracuse, N.Y. -  On the night of Jim Boeheim's first game back from a nine-game suspension, Syracuse gave No. 6 North Carolina a terrific fight. But in the end, the Tar Heels pulled away to win 84-73, dropping Syracuse to 0-4 in ACC conference play.

"It was a great effort but it was a poor defensive effort in the last seven or eight minutes of the game," Boeheim said in his postgame news conference. "There is no excuse for that. We have to do better in those situations, and we will go back to work starting tomorrow and try to get better there.”

The Return

What was already one of the biggest games of the year received an extra dose of flavor with Boeheim's return before the largest on-campus crowd in the nation this season, announced at 26,811.

As he made the familiar walk entering the arena, a deafening roar erupted from the Orange fans.  Boeheim gave a wave to the crowd that took the cheers to another level. When his name was announced, the Syracuse fans stood and roared.

But when the game was over and his team had absorbed another loss, and Boeheim was asked about his emotions on this particular game, he was not about to go there. The response was classic Boeheim.

“Same as always," he said. "I’ve coached 1,200 games. Oh wait, I’ve only coached 1,100. Sorry, forgot that, but it’s not something new.”

The reference was to the 101 wins the NCAA vacated as part of his penalty.
 

First half: even opening play

In the first few minutes of the first half  the teams matched each other bucket for bucket. UNC (15-2, 4-0 ACC) made the opening basket and  Syracuse (10-7, 0-4) answered right back. 

North Carolina's Joel Berry drilled a three off the backboard to make the score 5-2. SU’s Trevor Cooney answered back with a banked three of his own off a circus shot with the shot clock ticking down to zero.

Scoring runs

When the score was tied up at seven, center Dajuan Coleman muscled inside, made a layup and was fouled. Coleman completed the three-point play to give the Orange a 10-7 lead.

Including Coleman’s three-point traditional play, Syracuse went on an 8-point run to lead North Carolina 13-7.

Carolina, down by six, outscored Syracuse 20-7 over the next eight minutes.  When the score became 27-20, it looked like the burst of energy from Boeheim’s return might have come to an end.

That was not the case.

Cooney, who led all scorers with a game high and season high 27, drained a three to cut UNC’s lead to four. He followed that up with another jumper to make it a one-possession game.

Syracuse took the lead, thanks to a three ball by Malachi Richardson finishing off an eight point run. The lead changed another three times in the last two and half minutes before UNC’s Brice Johnson tied the game up at 33 after he stole the ball from Michael Gibinje, who was trying to set up one last shot as the clock ran down.

Gbinije, the Orange's leading scorer, did not make a shot in the first half.

Second Half
 

North Carolina scored the first five points of the half until Cooney did what he did most of the night and buried it from deep, cutting the UNC lead to 38-36.

“I don’t think this game didn’t rank well offensively for any of us except Trev,” Gbinije said. “He was the only one consistently who could get it going.”
 

Keeping It Close
 

The lead changed nine times in the second half with three ties. North Carolina went ahead for good at 59-58 on two free throws by Isaiah Hicks with just over six and a half minutes to go.

The largest lead for either team for most of the second half was six, with both teams hitting that mark. Carolina opened it up with just over two minutes left in the game.

“I think our depth helps us because we can play fresh people," UNC head coach Roy Williams said. "They played six guys over 20 minutes, we played nine or 10, so we think over the course of the game our depth will always help us down the stretch.

 

 

Leading Scorers Struggle

The leading scorers for the season, Michael Gbinije and Carolina's Marcus Paige, struggled shooting from the floor.

Paige’s three in the beginning of the second half was the only the basket he would make all game finishing with only three points, over 13 below his season average.

Gbinije's stats were only slightly better. He finished with 10 points to maintain scoring double figures in every game this season but it was on 3-13 shooting. Gbinije started 0-9 from the floor. He had four rebounds and four assists, went 4-5 at the free throw line and turned the ball over three times in 37 minutes.

“He (Gbinije) isn’t coming off the floor," Boeheim said. “He can lay an egg, or have a heart attack out there he’s not coming off the floor.

While Gbinije struggled, his fellow graduate student Cooney carried the Orange scoring, making 10-21 from the floor including 5-12 from beyond the arc and making both his free throw attempts. Cooney played all but one minute of the game.

"You just want to win," he said afterwards. "I don't care what it is -- you just want to win. Everyone does. This is just a bad stretch and we have to learn from it.  We need to learn how to close games and get better. Every other game for us going forward is life or death."

 

Game Notes

This game marks the fourth straight time that Syracuse has entered the final minutes of the game with a chance to win and failed to pull out the victory. All of these games have been in the ACC.

“We just got to play harder and stay together,” said Coleman, who played 27 minutes, scoring five points and collecting seven rebounds, six off the offensive glass. “It’s tough because we know we can definitely play with them.”

Freshman Malachi Richardson scored 16 points for Syracuse and junior Tyler Roberson added 13 on five-for-five shooting and 3-4 free throws.
 

Syracuse won the rebound battle 35-33 but lost the battle in the paint on the scoreboard. The points in the paint strongly favored North Carolina 46-26.

North Carolina’s Johnson had 16 points with eight assists,which mostly came from passing the ball though a high-low post game to Isaiah Hicks, who came off the bench to lead UNC in scoring with 21.

“It’s gonna get there (ball to the high post)," Boeheim said. “We have to defend it once it gets there and we're not doing that right now.”

Freshman Frank Howard was back on the court against UNC after being ill which had caused him to miss the last two games. SU did not disclose what the illness was. He played five minutes and did not score.

Next

Syracuse will be looking to win its first conference game on Jan. 13 against Boston College. The Orange and the Eagles will be tipping off at 7 p.m.at the Carrier Dome. Syracuse is looking to avoid going 0-5 in conference play for the first time.

North Carolina returns home and play in state rival North Carolina State on Jan. 16 at Noon.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XuXNgC95ER4