Syracuse fans storm court after upset victory over North Carolina
Syracuse put together a big performance on offense to keep pace with North Carolina Tuesday night. That effort paid off in the end for the Orange, who bounced back from a loss to Clemson to knock off the Tar Heels at home, 86-79.
Syracuse shot 62.5% from the floor in the victory, led by 25 points from Judah Mintz and 23 from J.J. Starling. While North Carolina got its share of shots off, outshooting the Orange 61-48, the Tar Heels struggled to match SU’s intensity and came up short in its quest to avoid a second loss in three games.
It marked Syracuse’s first AP Top-10 win since January 2019, and that was a reason for the SU faithful to celebrate by storming the court.
The two teams were all tied up at 42-42 at halftime after North Carolina erased a 10-point lead. The Tar Heels briefly took a lead late in the first half, but could never get back out in front in the second half as Syracuse continued to ride the hot hand to get to 7-7 in conference play.
It’s been an up and down go through ACC play for Adrian Autry’s group, which entered Tuesday with three losses in its last four games. But the Orange flipped the script after the last matchup against North Carolina, which the Tar Heels won 103-67 – giving Autry a signature victory in his first season after taking over for Jim Boeheim.
For North Carolina, Tuesday’s loss marked its third in its last five games. The Tar Heels managed to sneak out a victory over Miami on Saturday, and that came after an 80-76 loss to Clemson last week. Cormac Ryan led the charge for UNC with 18 points while RJ Davis came in right behind him with 17.
During the tough stretch, Hubert Davis stressed the need to avoid looking ahead, and he had confidence his group was going to do that.
“We have a mature group,” Davis said. “Understanding that, in our first matchup, we were at home. We played really well and they didn’t play particularly well. Those things happen.”
Davis also added he didn’t want the Tar Heels to take Syracuse lightly even though the Orange entered Tuesday under .500 in league play.
“We understand that Syracuse is a really good basketball team and, as I said before, are even better at home. They’ve got some of the better players in our conference,” said Davis.