The Syracuse Basketball Team Couldn’t Keep Up With UNC In 85-68 Loss

It was a tough ask for the Syracuse basketball team last night and the game played out that way. UNC was just too big and too daunting.

Dominated on the glass. Dominated in transition. That’s how ESPN color analyst Jay Bilas described the game with about four minutes to go.

He summed it up perfectly.

For much of Monday night against No. 9 North Carolina, the Syracuse basketball squad hung tough. The Orange spotted the Tar Heels sizable leads on many occasions, but it found ways to claw back.

In the end, though, UNC just had too much firepower, downing SU, 85-68, in Chapel Hill, N.C. North Carolina improves to 17-3, 5-1 in the ACC. Syracuse falls to 11-8, 3-3 in conference competition.

The ‘Cuse missed some opportunities here and there to possibly steal this contest, which would have represented the Orange’s first road triumph of the 2016-17 campaign. The Tar Heels, meanwhile, have yet to suffer a home setback.

UNC is now 9-4 all-time versus SU, including 4-0 at the Dean Smith Center.

This rematch of last March’s Final Four gave North Carolina head coach Roy Williams his 800th

More from Inside the Loud House

• Syracuse Football: Cuse boils Purdue, turns attention to Army on Saturday
• Syracuse football only team in country with top-5 scoring offense, defense
• Syracuse Basketball: 4-star Elijah Moore not in top 100, and I don’t get that
• Syracuse basketball 4-star west-coast recruit, in new rankings, into top 20
• Syracuse basketball is hitting D.C. market hard in pursuit of 4-stars, 5-stars

career victory, and it played out similarly. Both battles resulted in 17-point wins for the Tar Heels. UNC shredded the 2-3 zone, outrebounding SU by 20, including 18 boards on the offensive glass.

Syracuse got killed in transition, second-chance and paint points. Enough said.

Senior Isiah Hicks (20 points), Junior Justin Jackson (19 points) and Senior Kennedy Meeks (15 points) absolutely out-muscled their Orange counterparts inside. The ‘Cuse had no answers for these three studs.

On a positive note, sophomore Tyler Lydon had a terrific performance. He shot 11-of-14 from the field and 3-of-5 from downtown, finishing with 26 points and seven rebounds.

Graduate transfer Andrew White III and freshman Tyus Battle chipped in 15 and 13, respectively.

Syracuse actually shot decent: 44 percent from the field, 42 percent from 3-point range and 86 percent from the charity stripe. And SU held UNC to 29 percent from downtown. Unfortunately, it didn’t matter.

Williams and Orange head coach Jim Boeheim, collectively, have three national titles, tons of Final Four appearances and nearly 1,800 victories (regardless of what the NCAA says). On Monday night, Williams bested Boeheim once again.

Still, we captured the national championship over Williams-led Kansas in 2003. I’ll never stop reminding myself of that.

North Carolina is the highest-ranked outfit that Syracuse has suited up against to date this season. The Tar Heels are virtually impossible to beat on their home floor, so the loss isn’t all that surprising.

The dilemma is that the ‘Cuse has not one marquee win on its resume. Boeheim said at his post-game press conference that this is as well as his boys have performed on the road this winter. But getting crushed on the boards like they did made the outcome inevitable.

Grad transfer John Gillon struggled, going 1-of-7 from the field while collecting four points and six dimes, along with committing two turnovers.

His quickness has become something of a liability, as he too often drives the lane and tries to score against much bigger, taller defenders. He is also spending way too much time dribbling around the perimeter.

I don’t know if giving sophomore Frank Howard more run is the answer, but Gillon can’t seem to figure things out when he faces off with the crème of the crop in the Atlantic Coast Conference.

To have any legitimate shot at nabbing victories over top-25 teams heading down the stretch, particularly with a short rotation, every Syracuse player has to show up. That includes the two point guards, as well as Battle, Lydon, White, senior Tyler Roberson and freshman Taurean Thompson.

SU has basically a full week of practice before it hits the road on Saturday, Jan. 21, to clash with No. 15 Notre Dame, the only ACC squad without a conference defeat.

Next: Syracuse Basketball Recruiting Update: Top Target Bamba Trims List

A tall order, without question. Let’s hope Boeheim and his staff can make the necessary adjustments to pull off the upset in South Bend.