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Syracuse entered Tuesday night’s matchup with North Carolina without winning at Chapel Hill in school history. UNC had dominated the head to head in this series, winning nine of the last 10.

Buddy Boeheim scored 18 first-half points, including a personal 8-0 run at the end of the first half to get Syracuse to a tie. But he was held scoreless in the second half as the Orange turned to Quincy Guerrier for offense. In a back-and-forth affair, the Orange stumbled on offense in the final minutes and could not secure enough rebounds to match-up with one of the most physical frontlines in the country.

Here are three takeaways from Syracuse’s (7-3, 1-2 Atlantic Coast) second-consecutive ACC loss, 81-75, to North Carolina (7-4, 3-2 ACC):

North Carolina dominates the interior glass

One reason that the Tar Heels have dominated the recent history of these two teams is their advantage on the glass. The Tar Heels had nine offensive rebounds in the first half and finished with 24 in total. The Tar Heels are the third best offensive rebounding team in the country, per KenPom, and the Orange struggled to match up inside.

Playing without Bourama Sidibe who is still battling knee soreness following meniscus surgery, Syracuse’s small frontline lost the rebounding battle, 48-31. Many North Carolina possessions were initially well-defended by the Orange’s 2-3 zone and resulted in subpar shots that missed. But Armando Bacot, Garrison Brooks and Day’Ron Sharpe are three of the best forwards in the nation on the glass, and they piled up plenty of points in the paint.

“They’re just so big inside, we’ve just got to keep battling them down there,” head coach Jim Boeheim said to Matt Park at halftime. “They’re the biggest, most physical team in the league”

While Guerrier was the Orange’s best rebounder and tallied 11 rebounds, it was a numbers advantage for the Tar Heels the whole game. Marek Dolezaj’s foul trouble forced Boeheim to turn to Jesse Edwards for extended minutes in the first half, but Boeheim went back to Dolezaj with 10 minutes in the half to avoid the game getting away from the Orange early.

On one play early in the second half, UNC’s Leaky Black took a long, contested 3 that missed long and a bit right, but Bacot was able to tip the offensive rebound to himself, put a spin move on Dolezaj and hit the layup. The Tar Heels tallied seven offensive rebounds in the first half, and nearly matched that number with six more in the first four minutes of the second half.

Buddy Boeheim’s hot first half fades away in the second half

One key storyline to start the Orange’s season has been their inability to shoot the ball from beyond the arc. All three of the players they rely on for 3-point shooting — Alan Griffin, Joe Girard and Buddy — are shooting worse in 2020-21 than they did in the year prior. While Buddy had a red-hot first half, the rest of the Orange still did not make enough shots from beyond the arc to keep pace with UNC’s dominance of the interior.

In an 8-0 run before the half, Buddy hit a pull-up jumper off a screen and then back-to-back 3s to tie the game at 40.

Even with North Carolina throwing different looks at him and extra attention, Buddy couldn’t miss in the first half. In the second half, he couldn’t make. The junior guard went 0-for-3 from the field and 0-for-2 from 3 as Guerrier became the focal point of the Orange’s offense.

Quincy Guerrier’s interior presence shines against UNC’s physical front

Without Sidibe, Guerrier would be the Orange’s best chance of competing with the Tar Heels on the frontline. Guerrier has had a breakout sophomore campaign for the Orange this year, but he needed to prove it against more physical teams.

Following the Rutgers defeat, Boeheim said he felt Guerrier wasn’t crashing the boards hard enough for offensive rebounds, and that he spent too much time outside the paint. When the Orange lost to Pittsburgh, it was Guerrier’s foul trouble that kept him off the court in the second half while the Panthers dominated the glass.

Guerrier had to stay out of foul trouble and challenge the Tar Heels’ forwards. While UNC mounted plenty of offensive rebounds and still dominated the glass, Guerrier’s performance kept the Orange in the game while the shots were not following.

He finished with 23 points, 11 rebounds and five blocks as the Orange came up just short down the stretch in the defeat. He frustrated Sharpe, Brooks and Bacot and altered enough shots to prevent easy lay-ups.

Published on January 12, 2021 at 11:15 pm

Contact Anthony: amdabbun@syr.edu | @AnthonyDabbundo