UNC Basketball: Tar Heels look to stay hot against Syracuse Orange

UNC basketball takes on Syracuse, looks to remain atop ACC standings

The North Carolina Tar Heels are one win away from clinching a top-3 seed and double-bye in the ACC Tournament. A win over Syracuse would give them that, and mark their 11th victory in the last 12 games. They’ve lost just once since a disappointing home defeat to Louisville in mid-January, and have worked themselves into a position to potentially grab a top seed in the NCAA Tournament.

The Tar Heels are coming off of a week in which they defeated two ranked opponents — No. 1 Duke and No. 16 Florida State — and now have just four very winnable games remaining on their regular season schedule. Their recent surge has been thanks in part to tremendous offensive efficiency, and increased intensity and effectiveness on the defensive side of the court.

Syracuse, on the other hand, just suffered its fifth double-digit loss of the conference season on Saturday against the Blue Devils. They’ve struggled mightily from an offensive standpoint, ranking near the bottom of the league in field goal percentage, three-point shooting and effective field goal percentage.

Keys to the game for Syracuse

The Orange will have to shoot better than they have recently when they face a North Carolina team that is ranked seventh nationally in adjusted offensive efficiency. The Tar Heels have scored less than 75 points only once (61 versus Virginia) since their January 12 loss to Louisville. Syracuse, however, hasn’t notched 75 points in any of its previous six games — three wins and three losses — and did so just once in the seven games prior to that.

Their defense has been good at times, but less than stellar on a number of occasions. It’s also been essentially negated in some games thanks to poor offensive rebounding and a high turnover rate.

Junior guard Tyus Battle is the team’s leading scorer, but, like most of the Orange, has been largely inconsistent this season. Just one Syracuse player is shooting 40 percent from the floor in ACC play, and that has made scoring quite difficult for the Orange through their first 14 conference games.

Keys to the game for North Carolina

Despite not shooting the ball tremendously well last week, the Tar Heels walked away with two big wins over top-25 teams. In two blowout victories, the Tar Heels shot just 9-for-40 from beyond the arc, but winning the rebounding battle and taking advantage of second-chance opportunities helped make up for the shooting woes.

They’ve also been outscoring opponents in the paint, and rebounding the ball very well on the offensive side of the court. If they can start knocking down their three-point shots again, the Tar Heels — who are third in the nation in scoring at 87.1 points per game — will be a very difficult team to outscore.

Couple that with their increased productivity on the defensive end of the floor, which is ranked 10th national in adjusted defensive efficiency according to kenpom.com, and North Carolina looks to be a tough out when March comes around.

Last meeting

Kenny Williams scored a team-high 17 points, and Theo Pinson added 16 points, 11 rebounds and six assists for North Carolina en route to a 78-59 blowout victory in the second round of the 2018 ACC Tournament. Junior starters Luke Maye and Cameron Johnson each added 13 points in helping the Tar Heels move on to the ACC quarterfinals against Miami.

Oshae Brissett scored a game-high 20 points for the Orange, while sophomore guard Tyus Battle added 15 points on a putrid 4-for-21 shooting performance. Junior guard Frank Howard had his struggles, too, scoring 12 points on 4-of-18 shooting, and committing seven of his team’s 12 turnovers.

What you need to know

What? Syracuse 18-9 (9-5) at UNC 22-5 (12-2)
When? Tuesday, February 26 – 9:00 p.m. EST
Where? Dean E. Smith Center – Chapel Hill, North Carolina
TV? ESPN
Radio? Tar Heel Sports Network
All-Time series? North Carolina leads series 11-4
Prediction? UNC 86, Syracuse 74