Syracuse basketball and Elijah Hughes have stunned North Carolina in the ACC Tournament. Here are the shocking details and what’s next!
Syracuse basketball isn’t finished just yet in the ACC Tournament. Thanks to a thrilling performance from Elijah Hughes over North Carolina, the Orange remain very much alive!
Syracuse got off to a red hot start and led by as many as 21 points in the first half vs North Carolina. Elijah Hughes after missing the second half vs Miami in the regular-season finale didn’t appear to have any setbacks in this contest.
After struggling to convert deep recently, Hughes put the Orange on his back making multiple triple tries to put his squad up early and often in the second round of the ACC Tournament.
It also helped that the 2-3 zone was tight and compact forcing the Tar Heels into some critical errors. Although to be honest, UNC was just missing shots early.
Speaking of the first stanza, due to some early foul trouble to Marek Dolezaj and Bourama Sidibe, Jim Boeheim was forced to go to Quincy Guerrier. It proved to be a good decision as Quincy showed intensity on the glass and flexed his physicality on both ends of the floor.
After starting off smoking hot, Syracuse got into a lull in the middle of the first half, but finished strong on a 15-0 run to close the stanza. The Orange led 43 to 22 at the halfway point over a stunned Tar Heels crowd in Greensboro.
To think that over a week ago these two teams faced off and it was a completely different result. The Orange were outrebounded, outplayed from deep, and out-assisted. In this game, Syracuse simply outhustled the Tar Heels from pillar to post and took the game to UNC.
One Syracuse player that has truly evolved is Bourama Sidibe. In the game vs UNC, he became the first Orange player since Rick Jackson in 2010-11 to have six straight 10+ rebound games in a row.
After losing two out of its last three games heading into conference tournament play, optimism was at an all-time low for Orange fans. When the news broke that Syracuse was set to play North Carolina, arguably one of the hottest teams in all of college hoops it seemed like a horrible matchup on paper.
But the Orange were able to shut up the doubters and more importantly create some momentum and confidence heading into the next round of the ACC Tournament.
This team knows that its’ only chance at the NCAA Tournament is by winning the conference tourney and earning the automatic bid. Defeating North Carolina was the first step in its path to controlling its own destiny.
By the way, an interesting fun fact from the television broadcast on Wednesday night: with the win over the Tar Heels Syracuse improved to 7-0 in the second game vs a repeat opponent this season.
Also, the Orange snapped a nine-game series winning streak by North Carolina with a convincing 81 to 53 win.
Up next the Orange will continue their run in the ACC Tournament vs the Louisville Cardinals with tip-off scheduled for 9:00 p.m. on Thursday, March 12.