Another one lost in the final minutes
SYRACUSE, N.Y. — Coming off of its worst loss of the season on the road at Miami, Syracuse came out flat and dropped its second game in a row. The Orange returned home, and fell 88-82 to North Carolina on a snowy Saturday. Here are takeaways from Saturday.
They gave up too many open Threes
North Carolina has struggled immensely offensively during ACC play, ranking 14th entering this game in offensive rating. A shooting performance like Saturday could help them get back on track on that end.
Jackson drained five threes, including a few wide-open ones coming off the bench in the first half. With how much attention each Tar Heel guard demands, Syracuse struggled to recover after help, and paid the price.
The Heels made 13 of 28 attempts from long range, and seemed to have an answer for every run that the Orange threw their way.
There were too many costly turnovers
Not that Syracuse turned the ball over a ton on Saturday, in fact, it turned it over just 10 times, but the timing was costly.
Trailing 79-73 and after a crucial stop on the defensive end, the Orange went down the floor with a chance to cut the lead to one possession. North Carolina did a great job keeping Syracuse from penetrating, pushing all of the offense well beyond the three-point line on this possession, and when the defense collapsed on Starling after he finally broke the pressure, he coughed up the ball.
Ian Jackson ran down the court, and finished a layup, giving the Tar Heels a crucial four point swing.
Then, Eddie Lampkin lost the ball under the basket on the very next possession, and Syracuse had officially let a golden chance to cut into the lead pass by.
In the first half, Carlos turned the ball over a few times leading to easy run-out baskets for Jackson, who finished with 23 points.
The zone came through
I’ve documented Syracuse’s struggle with playing a zone defense this year, giving up scores on a very high percentage of possessions, hamstringing its ability to implement it, and that came up in the first half of this game. However, in the middle stages of the second half, the Orange went back to it, and it came through.
From the 15-minute mark until the under-12 timeout, which came with just 10:42 to play, the Orange only allowed one field goal, and it was a three-pointer by RJ Davis that needed every piece of a friendly roll to drop. During this stretch, Syracuse clawed back offensively, with JJ Starling making plays and getting to the line.
What was a double-digit deficit turned into a three-point game, and eventually, a tied ballgame a few minutes later.
The Orange were engaged, and defended the ball with urgency in the zone. Jaquan Carlos had a few of his best defensive possessions of the season, Eddie Lampkin and Petar Majstorovic both recorded blocks, one of which spurred on a transition opportunity, and Syracuse gave itself a chance down the stretch.
Syracuse played 25 possessions of zone against UNC, and allowed a score on just 40% of them, as compared to allowing a score on 52% of the 46 possessions that it played in man-to-man. The only other time this season that the Orange had any sort of sustained success with the zone was against Cal, when it allowed a score on just 27% of 36 possessions.
However, five of the nine made field goals against the zone came from beyond the arc, including a tiebreaking shot by Ian Jackson in the second half. This made it so despite the poor success rate, UNC scored 1.0 points per possession against the zone, significantly better than Cal’s 0.53.
Syracuse pounded the paint, but also got pounded
North Carolina doesn’t have much in the frontcourt, something that has been lamented all year, and the Orange went to work. Eddie Lampkin scored a career-high 26 points on 9-13 inside the arc, dominating a few different post matchups. Both Jalen Washington and Jae’Lyn Withers fouled out trying to guard Syracuse’s interior game.
The Orange attempted just 13 three-pointers, and got to the line 22 times, making 20 free throws. Altogether, it was a strong offensive showing – 1.17 points per possession – for Syracuse.
However, Lampkin had no answers on the other end for Withers and a few other matchups. Withers scored a season-high 19 points, hitting double figures for the first time in ACC play, hitting three triples and exploiting Lampkin inside as well. While Syracuse outscored UNC in the paint, 44-34, the paint efficiency was very similar, and with the Tar Heels’ shooting, the gap was bridged.
Metrics Update
Syracuse, now 11-15, sits at 127th in KenPom, the fourth-lowest mark in the ACC, ahead of Virginia Tech (148), Miami (178), and Boston College (206).