UNC Basketball: Tar Heels defend home court in close win over Syracuse

UNC basketball program tops Syracuse in Chapel Hill, wins third consecutive game

Garrison Brooks scored a team-high 16 points to go along with 10 rebounds, his first double-double of the season and 13th of his career, and North Carolina beat Syracuse 81-75 in Chapel Hill on Tuesday night.

Brooks hit 5-of-12 shots for the game and 6-of-6 from the free throw line, while adding three steals, two assists and two blocks. The Tar Heels also got a 15-point, 12-rebound double-double from sophomore center Armando Bacot, his third of the 2020-21 campaign and 14th of his young career. Bacot was an efficient 7-for-13 from the floor, and didn’t commit a single turnover despite playing big minutes against the Orange.

https://twitter.com/UNC_Basketball/status/1349207172291313675

UNC freshman reserve guard R.J. Davis poured in a dozen points off the bench, hitting two of his six three-point attempts and all four shots at the foul line. Six other Tar Heels got into the scoring column, led by Kerwin Walton’s nine. Junior guard/forward Leaky Black recorded a team-high seven assists while struggling through a 1-for-7 shooting night.

The Tar Heels hit less than 40 percent of their shots from the floor, and 5-of-24 (20.8 percent) from beyond the arc. They did, however, connect on 18-of-23 at the charity stripe, and outrebounded the Orange by 17. They also took better care of the ball than they have most of the season (15.9 turnovers per game), committing just 11 miscues for the game.

Syracuse was led by Quincy Guerrier, who scored 23 points on a 9-for-18 shooting performance, and a team-high 11 rebounds. Junior guard Buddy Boeheim added 18 points, four rebounds and three steals, while Alan Griffin gave the Orange 16 points and seven boards. The Orange fall to 7-3 on the season (1-2 in ACC play), and currently sit at 11th-place in the Atlantic Coast Conference standings.

North Carolina, now 8-4 overall and 3-2 in conference play, prepare for a Saturday afternoon game against the 5-2 Florida State Seminoles in Tallahassee.

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