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Syracuse 87, UNC 71
Submitted by rpickeral on 11/20/2009 - 20:28
NEW YORK -- After beating Ohio State on Thursday night, North Carolina coach Roy Williams said he believed his Tar Heels could be a very good basketball team -- he just wanted to come sooner than it was.
Judging by the sixth-ranked UNC's 87-71 loss to Syracuse in the championship game of the 2K Sports Classic on Friday, it's going to take a while longer.
The sixth-ranked Tar Heels (4-1) tried to fight back 20-point second half deficit at Madison Square Garden, but lacked the firepower and poise to take it all the way.
It marked UNC's first loss of the season, and it will have to adjust fast: three of its next six opponents are ranked in the Associated Press top 25.
Carolina led 39-37 at halftime. But Syracuse opened the second half with a 22-1 run that gave it a 59-40 lead. UNC sophomore Tyler Zeller buried his team's first field goal of the half - on a short jumper - with 12:02 left before Syracuse' Kris Joseph gave his team it's biggest lead of the game, 62-42, on a 3-pointer.
UNC didn't fold. It countered with a 18-6 run - including six points by senior Marcus Ginyard, four from freshman Travis Wear, and a 3-pointer by David Wear -- to cut the Orange's advantage to a manageable 68-60 with about seven minutes left.
But Syracuse immediately came back with a 13-2 run of it's own. The chants of "Over-rated!" began with about three minutes left.
And it was hard to blame the crowd.
Ed Davis and Ginyard led the Tar Heels with 15 points apiece, but the Tar Heels shot 38.1 percent while allowing five Syracuse players to finish in double figures.
The match-up marked the first time UNC had played the Orange since Nov., 1987 - and the first time UNC coach Roy Williams had matched up with Syracuse coach (and friend) Jim Boeheim since the Orange beat Williams' Kansas team in the national title game in 2003.
Syracuse, unranked in the Associated Press poll but looking like it deserves to be, opened the game with an 11-2 run, but the Tar Heels used two 3-pointers from junior Will Graves and seven points from Davis to counter with a 13-1 run to take a 15-12 lead.
But Wes Johnson, a transfer from Iowa State and the Orange's leading scorer, scored 10 points in a row for his team to give it back a 22-20 lead.
The Tar Heels trailed, again, by as much as 31-22 when Scoop Jardine buried a jumper. But Carolina ended the half with a 17-6 run - culminating with an alley-oop layup from Larry Drew II to Davis.
About the blogger
Robbi Pickeral has covered ACC sports for The News & Observer since 2003. She can be reached at robbi.pickeral@newsobserver.com.Want to post a comment?
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Comments
They've just got...
Sat, 11/21/2009 - 18:38 — UNC1998some growing up to do. I'm not too upset about this. I'm having trouble even paying attention to basketball at this point. UNC will mature as the season progresses.
Carolina vs Syracuse
Sat, 11/21/2009 - 07:52 — jaytee103It is crystal clear to all Tar Heel fans. We need a POINT GUARD. It would be an injustice and patently unfair to compare DREW II to LAWSON I, but comparison is inevitable. Drew plays as though he is unsure and tentative. He is still playing like the back-up and not THE point guard. An outside shooter on the order of ELLINGTON or GREEN would be great too!
I recall ...
Sat, 11/21/2009 - 10:04 — gvillegatrLawson getting off to a slow start as a freshman as well and his (outside) shot was atrocious until last year. what Drew II lacks at the moment is obvious ... his wheels!
Syracuse was able to knock
Sat, 11/21/2009 - 04:19 — mad_maxSyracuse was able to knock down open shots and looked much more comfortable on offense than OSU did the night before. It's very early in the season right now, but it's apparent that UNC is very beatable right now. You can't just walk out there and beat 'em because they have a lot of talent, but a good effort from a good team is gonna beat UNC at the moment. I know I'm not opening any eyes here, but they have got to stop turning the ball over so much. Looks like Carolina has a lot of solid freshmen, but they have got to figure out how to replace Lawson. I know they want to go really fast, but I'm not sure the guys they have in right now can go that fast. Obviously the strength of this team is in the frontcourt, so they are either going to have to adjust their gameplan to that, or the guards are going to have to get better over the next couple weeks...and that may very well happen since they have so many young players.
Absolutely right
Sat, 11/21/2009 - 10:55 — Heels20...except I'm not sure we need to change our offense. Rebounding and lack of hustle were also issues last night. Syracuse clearly wanted it more. Our guys can run, but they will have to go all-out every night. That will be easier to do because of our depth, but that also means that every one of those guys needs to show up to play every night.
Roy Boy has too many Toys
Fri, 11/20/2009 - 22:58 — unc1dmounc1dmo wrote on November, 20 4:58 PM:
Ol Roy......he got toooo many toys in the toy box..and no killer PG (Felton/Lawson) to take charge on the floor...the end result is "IN & OUT IN & OUT" dysfunction where there is no "go to 5" to stop the bleeding ...They escaped last night even with the wrong people touching the ball down the stretch...getting fouled..and clanking the free throw.... The 'Cuse is a much better opponent tonight........
====================================
OMG....They have NO PG...Drew is a back up..AT BEST...Graves/Watts need to go to bench and mop up duty .....They need to start and get Zeller alot of minutes to get him out of his tentative mindset... They need to get a "GO TO 5"...this in and out chaos.....will never work without a PG who can play at this level......
Starters (Zeller- Thompson-Davis-Ginyard-Drew..... First off the bench (Strickland-Henson-T Wear)....Strickland has to be given a chance to see what he can do at PG....this is a major problem!!!!!
let me do my best JPD
Fri, 11/20/2009 - 23:03 — gvillegatrrelax. the point of all this EARLY 12 man rotation is to FIGURE OUT the starting five before the ACC SEASON starts.
this IS NOT college football. you can afford many losses ans STILL WIN THE TITLE.
relax.
eerrrrrrrr
Fri, 11/20/2009 - 23:04 — gvillegatrUNC will not win a title. just sayin, though!
over-rated
Fri, 11/20/2009 - 22:37 — saltydawg14th best in the nation....what a joke! they will have a hard time coming in 4th in the ACC! they flat-out suck!!
lol
Fri, 11/20/2009 - 22:59 — gvillegatrtoo funny.
Backcourt has no site map!
Fri, 11/20/2009 - 22:10 — jeromfitzThe UNC backcourt didn't show leadership or consistency with passing, dribbling, pump faking, shooting, and defensive steals or stops. They just let Syracuse guards shoot the lights out and run it whenever they wanted. It's going to be a long season this year because I don't think Carolina may win games against rank teams like Michigan State, Kentucky and Duke this year. I can only say time to develope the basic stuff and go from there before you try to "hotdoggit". I not surprise of the lost but how many they lost by....someone collect pretty good at the sportsbook..
nice effort
Fri, 11/20/2009 - 21:14 — gvillegatron the attempted comeback. few more breaks and it would have come down to the waning moments. congrats to Syracuse. great game.
no leadership.
Fri, 11/20/2009 - 20:57 — gvillegatrI know i'm not the first one to figure this out, but these guys have zero leadership at the point. Strickland will be a bust. Drew II shows flashes but then looks dumb founded, too.
I may have to up my 7 or 8 losses to 10ish?? I dunno. i'll stay on the cliff for the time being. we just need a PG to play consistently and all bets are off ...................
anyone else notice
Fri, 11/20/2009 - 20:48 — gvillegatrHenson isnt getting much PT? he seriously needs to move in with a trainer.
unbelievable
Fri, 11/20/2009 - 20:46 — gvillegatrdid they hand Will Graves a license to shoot whenever he dam^ well pleases???
ha!
Fri, 11/20/2009 - 21:15 — gvillegatrhe never saw the court again (less than 5 mins to play now) after that barage of shots to start the destructive 2nd half.