Tag: Syracuse

Notre Dame nearly completes 29-point comeback against Syracuse

No shame to be had after this one at all.

No coach in any sport at any level will say a loss was a moral victory. If one exists though, Notre Dame certainly had one against Syracuse. On a day the Orange honored legendary coach Jim Boeheim, the Irish should have been a patsy. Instead, they made the Orange earn every bit of their 88-85 victory.

This one should have been over early when the Irish (10-17, 5-11) trailed the Orange (18-10, 9-8) by 29 points late in the first half. But the Irish ended the half on a 9-0 run, culminating in a buzzer-beating 3-pointer by [autotag]Julian Roper II[/autotag]. It proved to be a precursor to what was to come.

The Irish got hot from the field in the second half and cut the deficit to four with eight minutes left. The Orange built that lead back up to 10, and it looked like that was it. Except it wasn’t.

With the deficit still at nine and 2:11 to go, [autotag]Braeden Shrewsberry[/autotag] and Roper hit back-to-back 3s to bring the Irish within three. Burton rebounded an Orange miss, and the Irish called a timeout to draw up a play that would tie the game.

A Shrewsberry 3 was short off the rim, and Chris Bell got the rebound and was fouled before hitting two free throws to put the Orange up five. [autotag]Markus Burton[/autotag] then made a layup, and after Quadir Copeland missed a one-and-one, Burton had one more chance to send the game to overtime but missed a long 3. That ended a valiant comeback attempt in which the Irish scored 56 second-half points.

All five Orange starters scored in double figures with Judah Mintz’s 21 points leading the way. Bell scored 18 points, including four 3-pointers, and former Irish guard JJ Starling had 14 along with Maliq Brown.

Burton had perhaps his best collegiate game with 28 points on 10-of-20 shooting along with eight assists. Shrewsberry scored all 18 of his points in the second half on six 3-pointers, and [autotag]Tae Davis[/autotag] had 12 points and seven rebounds.

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Follow Geoffrey on Twitter: @gfclark89

ACC women’s basketball leaders as of Feb. 18

One Notre Dame representative is here.

The ACC is in its final few weeks before its tournament. If any team lying in the weeds is going to make a move, now is the time to get moving. Otherwise, they might as well just sit back and let the teams that deserve it more grab the best positions. Speaking of the best, here are the best statistical players in the conference:

ACC men’s basketball leaders as of Feb. 18

No Notre Dame players.

The ACC is in its final few weeks before its tournament. If any team lying in the weeds is going to make a move, now is the time to get moving. Otherwise, they might as well just sit back and let the teams that deserve it more grab the best positions. Speaking of the best, here are the best statistical players in the conference:

What went wrong in UNC’s loss to Syracuse

A look back at UNC’s Tuesday night loss, taking a closer look at what went wrong for the Tar Heels.

The UNC men’s basketball program suffered their second road loss of the season after a ridiculous shooting performance by Syracuse.

A lot went wrong in the Tar Heels 86-79 loss to Syracuse, starting on the night of the week the game took place. UNC has had a bad stretch of Tuesday night games, going 0-3 the last three weeks when the game falls on that day. All three losses came against teams that the Tar Heels were heavily favored, which ended in upset (Georgia Tech, Clemson, and Syracuse).

Outside of bad luck Tuesdays, the biggest problem UNC faced was trying to stop the Orange’s insane shooting performance. Syracuse finished with 63% from the field, the highest % against UNC since 2015, when Pitt shot 64.5% to beat the Tar Heels 89-76.

Another glaring issue is UNC against the zone, yes the same zone that hindered the Tar Heels in their loss against Clemson. Zone defense has become the kryptonite for UNC offense as teams are preventing [autotag]RJ Davis[/autotag] from getting going, utilizing the zone to force the ball out of his hands.

Despite having four players score in double figures, the cold shooting streaks made a significant difference in the outcome, with zone defense playing a huge part.

Panic has started to show for UNC fans as once a strong ACC lead is now tied with rival Duke. The other issue is that teams will likely keep throwing zone defense at the Tar Heels, hindering their half-court offense.

UNC played better than what the overreaction might’ve called for. They finished with 19 assists (second highest this season) and shot an efficient 47.5% from the field. However, when a team shoots lights out like Syracuse did, it’s hard to overcome, no matter how well every other aspect of the game went.

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Syracuse has historic shooting night in win over UNC

Syracuse had a historic shooting night in the upset win over North Carolina on Tuesday night, earning a big home win.

Being a ranked team and going on the road is no easy task in college basketball but that’s especially the case this season. And the latest team to find that out was North Carolina.

The No. 7 Tar Heels stumbled on the road again on Tuesday night, falling to Syracuse 86-79. While North Carolina was able to battle back in the second half and even take a one-point lead, Syracuse had the answer and grabbed the lead for good down the stretch.

And it was actually a historic shooting night for the Orange against North Carolina.

Syracuse shot 62.5 percent from the field in this game including 47.1 percent from the three-point line. That shooting percentage was the second-highest against North Carolina in the post-Dean Smith era. Yeah, that’s right…..

The only team better was Pitt who shot 64.9 percent from the field back in 2015.

While UNC really couldn’t stop the driving into the paint, Syracuse still shot the ball really well from the field. They made open and contested looks including a dagger three on a bank shot from about 28 feet out with UNC leading by 1.

It didn’t matter what UNC tried on defense, it was one of those nights for Syracuse and sometimes you have to tip your cap. Let’s just hope this doesn’t carry over for UNC and they can amp up the defense with a month to go before the NCAA Tournament.

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Social media reacts to UNC’s rollercoaster loss to Syracuse

Social media reacts to UNC’s inability to stop Syracuse’s onslaught, continuing their bad stretch of Tuesday’s games.

The UNC men’s basketball program traveled North, taking on Syracuse, and it was deep waters early for the Tar Heels.

UNC’s trend of unlucky Tuesdays continued, with Syracuse getting off to an insane start from the field. The Oranges shot 63.2%(12-19) from the field and 57.1%(4-7) in the first 13 minutes of action grabbing a double-digit lead. However, UNC was able to weather Syracuse’s storm, going on a 17-6 run to retake the lead.

UNC got hot shooting 55.6%(15-27) from the field and 53.8%(7-13) from three in the first period. A large part of the Tar Heels’ offensive success came from their transfers, with [autotag]Cormac Ryan[/autotag] and [autotag]Harrison Ingram[/autotag] combining for half of the UNC first-half points.

The two Tar Heel’s names flooded social media, grabbing the spotlight as college hoop fans reacted to their fiery start. The first half ended at 42 a piece, with both teams having a piece of the momentum heading into the locker room.

The second half started in more disarray for UNC, starting 0-8 from the field. It was becoming more apparent that an upset could be on the horizon and the overreaction was all over social.

The roller coaster game continued, with the Tar Heels eventually regaining the lead despite Syracuse shooting 62% with under seven minutes left to play. That lead didn’t last long as the Oranges kept pouring it on. The Tar Heels were able to keep the game close, but the unbelievable shooting was too much, giving UNC their second road loss of the season.

The Tar Heels will be back in action Saturday as they welcome Tyler Nickel and Virginia Tech back to Chapel Hill. Before we get too ahead, we take a look at the social media reactions to UNC’s rollercoaster loss.

How to watch Tuesday’s UNC vs. Syracuse basketball game

Here’s how you can watch Tuesday’s matchup between the UNC basketball program and Syracuse.

The UNC men’s basketball program will travel north for a Tuesday night matchup against Syracuse.

The Tar Heels ride into this matchup with all eyes on them as they were able to avoid losing two games in a row. Instead, UNC escaped the Miami Hurricanes late game surge Saturday, moving to a 6-1 record on the road.

These two teams met in early January, which saw the Tar Heels victorious 103-67 in Chapel Hill. UNC’s early defensive efforts played a large role in the win, holding Syracuse to 29% from the field in the first half.

UNC is in a great position to sweep the Orange in the regular season, and after nearly falling apart against Miami, they will be motivated to finish this one strong.

Let’s take a look at how to watch this ACC Tuesday night game.

UNC-Syracuse, RADIO, AND STREAMING INFORMATION

WHAT: North Carolina (19-5, 11-2 ACC) vs. Syracuse (15-9, 6-7 ACC)

WHEN: Tuesday, Feb. 13 at 7:00 p.m. ET

LOCATION: JMA Wireless Dome, Syracuse, New York

TV: ESPN (Watch and stream the game live on ESPN)

SATELLITE RADIO: SiriusXM (81 or 193)

WEBSITE: WatchESPN

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ACC women’s basketball leaders as of Feb. 11

Guess who represents Notre Dame here.

We’re getting into the first full week of February now. It doesn’t seem like we already should be at this stage of the season, but we are. It’s another reminder for ACC teams that haven’t made their moves yet that the clock continues to tick. If they don’t, they’ll be put in their place by players like these conference statistical leaders:

ACC women’s basketball leaders as of Feb. 4

Guess which leader represents Notre Dame.

We’re getting into the first full week of February now. It doesn’t seem like we already should be at this stage of the season, but we are. It’s another reminder for ACC teams that haven’t made their moves yet that the clock continues to tick. If they don’t, they’ll be put in their place by players like these conference statistical leaders:

ACC women’s basketball leaders as of Jan. 28

Guess who represents Notre Dame on this list.

We have reached the point in the season where the calendar flips to another month. The contenders and pretenders slowly are starting to distinguish themselves from each other. February will separate the pack even further. Until that happens, here are the major statistical leaders in the ACC: