Tag: Syracuse

UNC basketball program on longest winning streak in two seasons

The UNC men’s basketball team didn’t have the best season last year. This year, Carolina’s atop the ACC and winners of its past six games.

The UNC men’s basketball team’s win over previously-undefeated Oklahoma last month was impressive, but it was just one win.

What we didn’t know, however, is that victory would start the Tar Heels’ current hot streak.

After dominating Syracuse in a 103-67 Saturday afternoon ACC clash yesterday, Carolina is now winners of its last six contests. UNC currently holds the ACC’s top spot and is keeping pace with Florida State (four) and Duke (eight), who are both on multi-game winning streaks.

Louisville comes to Chapel Hill on Wednesday, Jan. 17 for a 9 p.m. tip-off. Unless Carolina completely forgets how to play basketball, this should be an easy victory.

To compare just how dominant the Tar Heels have been this year, they’re on their longest winning streak since the 2021-2022 campaign, when they won six straight heading into the ACC Tournament Semifinals. That was the same year UNC made an improbable run to the NCAA Tournament Championship, where it built a 15-point halftime lead before Kansas staged a comeback for the ages.

Carolina’s longest winning streak last year came early on, when it beat UNCW, College of Charleston, Gardner-Webb, James Madison and University of Portland. There was hope UNC would stage a late-season run to make the NCAA tournament, but an ACC Tournament loss to UVA all but ended that hope.

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UNC Basketball vs. Syracuse: Game preview, info, prediction and more

Despite its somewhat-new history, UNC-Syracuse basketball games have always proven to be entertaining. The two schools play on Saturday.

On Saturday afternoon inside the Dean Dome, two college basketball heavyweights will battle each other in a crucial ACC matchup.

UNC, in the midst of a 5-game win streak and fresh off a comfortable win against rival NC State, will be hosting Syracuse for a 12 p.m. tip.

This is the most balanced Carolina (12-3, 4-0) team I’ve watched in recent memory. It’s not just one player – like Cole Anthony – trying to do all the scoring. Instead, you’ll have RJ Davis raining threes one night, Armando Bacot recording yet another double-double, or Harrison Ingram dominating the boards in an all-around defensive effort.

The Tar Heels are winning a lot of games this season, particularly since we entered the New Year, thanks to their defense. UNC held a ranked Clemson team to 55 points last Saturday, then a high-scoring NC State team to just 54 points Wednesday night.

Offense is there every night for Carolina, but defense has impressed the most.

Even with former star sharpshooter Joe Girard transferring to Clemson in the offseason, Syracuse is doing just fine. The Orange (11-4, 2-2), who have several quality wins (LSU, Colgate, Oregon) under their belts, are coming off a 10-point road victory at Boston College.

Judah Mintz, an ACC Player of the Year candidate, leads Syracuse offensively with 18.5 points per game. JJ Starling, Chris Bell and Maliq Brown all average double figures, but only two more players average over five points per game.

The Orange have scored 80 points in five of their past seven games, meaning UNC’s defense will have another tough task.

Let’s take a deeper dive into what you should look out for Saturday.

Tar Heels jump one spot in latest NET rankings

Fresh off a comfortable win over NC State Wednesday night, the UNC men’s basketball team made a minisicule jump in the latest NET rankings.

All is looking good in Chapel Hill right now.

The UNC men’s basketball team is 12-3, undefeated atop the ACC and in the midst of a 5-game winning streak. Carolina just took down one of its in-state rivals, NC State, in a comfortable victory on Wednesday night.

It’s not the high-flying offense that has the Tar Heels playing their best basketball – it’s the newly-found, shutdown defense.

UNC’s held opponents to under 60 points in three straight games, all the more impressive against a 3-point happy Wolfpack squad and a ranked Clemson squad. Carolina played some challenging non-conference games, dealing Oklahoma its first loss and holding off a late charge from Top-10 Tennessee.

Because of all this, the Tar Heels climbed one spot to ninth in the latest NET rankings.

Unlike last year, when UNC would typically lose to strong teams, it’s taking care of those juggernauts in 2023. Carolina did drop games to Kentucky and Kansas, but look better than both teams since.

The Tar Heels get a chance to continue asserting themselves as a legit ACC threat on Saturday afternoon, hosting the Syracuse Orange at 12 p.m. ET. While beating Syracuse (73rd in NET) might not boost UNC’s ranking much, it’ll certainly help in terms of ACC Tournament positioning.

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ACC women’s basketball leaders as of Jan. 7

Guess who’s leading on Notre Dame’s behalf?

ACC play officially is in full swing. Now, we’ll really get to see what the teams are made of as they start to play each other. As that happens, we’ll get to see which players stand out the most. It might be too early to distinguish that right now, but we at least have an idea.

Here’s who continues to stand out in the conference at the moment:

ACC men’s basketball leaders as of Jan. 7

No Notre Dame players.

ACC play officially is in full swing. Now, we’ll really get to see what the teams are made of as they start to play each other. As that happens, we’ll get to see which players stand out the most. It might be too early to distinguish that right now, but we at least have an idea.

Here’s who continues to stand out in the conference at the moment:

How to watch Thursday’s UNC-Syracuse women’s basketball game

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

The UNC women’s basketball program will host Syracuse on Thursday night, as they look to pick up their second consecutive conference win.

UNC kicked off ACC play with an 82-76 win over the Clemson Tigers. Despite posting a 1-0 record last week, UNC slid out of the AP top 25 surprisingly. The team that replaced them in the rankings is Syracuse, making this game even more crucial for a team win.

The Tar Heels schedule gets challenging playing No. 16 Notre Dame, No. 22 FSU, and No. 17 Louisville in the upcoming weeks. There’s no denying that the ACC will be a dogfight in conference play, with many programs in the conference having championship-worthy rosters.

If UNC wants their respect in the loaded conference it starts with a win against Syracuse. UNC will have the coke court advantage, where they have a favorable 7-1 record in Carmichael Arena.

Let’s take a look at how to watch Thursday’s game.

UNC-SYRACUSE , RADIO, AND STREAMING INFORMATION

WHAT: North Carolina (9-4, 1-0ACC) vs. Syracuse (11-11, 1-0)

WHEN: Thursday, Jan. 4 at 6:00 p.m. ET

LOCATION: Carmichael Arena, Chapel Hill, NC.

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

SATELLITE RADIO: SiriusXM (81 or 193)

WEBSITE:  WatchESPN

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Notre Dame’s Risch out for season; still no updates on Miles, Citron

Tough break for the freshman.

There’s a lot of excitement surrounding [autotag]Hannah Hidalgo[/autotag], who just won her sixth ACC Rookie of the Week award. That means it’s easy to forget that Notre Dame has another freshman guard. However, [autotag]Emma Risch[/autotag]’s season already is over.

Risch, who hasn’t played since Nov. 29 at Tennessee, has been sidelined for the season because of upcoming hip surgery according to [autotag]Niele Ivey[/autotag]. However, she is expected to retain her entire college eligibility:

Between Risch’s news and no updates on [autotag]Olivia Miles[/autotag] or [autotag]Sonia Citron[/autotag] either, it really raises the question on how much longer the Irish can survive having a shorthanded roster. The New Year’s Eve loss at Syracuse that began ACC play had to be a sobering experience for everybody, and one has to wonder if that game would have played out differently with a healthier group.

Risch’s season ends having averaged 4.6 points and 3.1 rebounds over seven games. Her best game was a 16-point, five-rebound outing Nov. 21 against Chicago State. Here’s hoping for a speedy recovery for her.

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ACC women’s basketball leaders as of Dec. 31

Guess who’s leading and representing Notre Dame?

We would like to wish you and your a Happy New Year. We continue to explore new ways to make this site a wonderful place to visit, and we can’t wait to share them with you. The fact that you keep coming back here motivates us to do better.

Here are the ACC’s major statistical leaders as we begin 2024:

ACC men’s basketball leaders as of Dec. 31

No Notre Dame players.

We would like to wish you and your a Happy New Year. We continue to explore new ways to make this site a wonderful place to visit, and we can’t wait to share them with you. The fact that you keep coming back here motivates us to do better.

Here are the ACC’s major statistical leaders as we begin 2024:

Notre Dame falters in ACC opener against Syracuse

Not the start to conference play the Irish wanted.

Notre Dame is on a mission to prove it’s the class of the ACC. However, Syracuse had other ideas in Sunday’s conference opener at the JMA Wireless Dome.

The Orange showed from the opening tip that they were not going to be bullied by the Irish, who stayed in the game throughout. The valiant effort was not enough as the Irish lost, 86-81, ending their nine-game winning streak.

A game that featured 10 ties and 10 lead changes was as back-and-forth as one might expect through the first three quarters. The Irish (9-2, 0-1) took a four-point lead into the fourth, but the Orange (11-1, 1-0) held them scoreless through the first four minutes of that quarter and took a lead they wouldn’t relinquish.

While the Irish were within two with two minutes to go, Dyaisha Fair showed off her specialty by hitting back-to-back 3-pointers to extend the deficit to eight. Fair would go on to make five throws in the final minute to help ice the game for the Orange.

Fair scored 14 of her 27 points and picked up three of her six steals in the fourth quarter. Alyssa Latham recorded a double-double of 21 points and 12 rebounds and also had three steals before fouling out. Georgia Woolley had 10 points to overcome eight turnovers.

Despite the Orange often giving her a taste of her own medicine, [autotag]Hannah Hidalgo[/autotag] still had a career-high 32 points along with seven steals and six assists. [autotag]Maddy Westbeld[/autotag] scored 16 points, and [autotag]Anna DeWolfe[/autotag] added 15.

The Irish were outrebounded, 45-33, which contributed to 18 second-chance points for the Orange. That factored into the final score as much as anything else.

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Follow Geoffrey on Twitter: @gfclark89