Syracuse Loses Heartbreaker to North Carolina

The Orange falls to the Tar Heels in the JMA Wireless Dome.

Mike McAllister | Jan 24, 2023

Syracuse Loses Heartbreaker to North Carolina /

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Syracuse Orange

Syracuse fell to North Carolina 72-68 in the JMA Wireless Dome Tuesday night. With the loss, the Orange falls to 13-8 (6-3) on the season. Next up is a road game at Virginia Tech on Saturday.

Mistakes by Syracuse and the officials took center stage in the final minute. Syracuse held a 68-66 lead after a Joe Girard three pointer with 1:23 left. After the Orange got a critical defensive stop, a Judah Mintz floater in the lane rimmed out giving North Carolina the chance to tie. Armando Bacot got the ball in the lane and passed to a cutting Pete Nance who was fouled by Jesse Edwards to prevent the dunk.

Nance made the first free throw but missed the second. The ball bounced around and was going out of bounds but Girard dove to save it. His save attempt ended up as a pass right to Nance for a go ahead layup with 21 seconds remaining.

Mintz then went the length of the court to try to give Syracuse the lead back, but was out of control on his drive and called for a charge. The officials, however, called it a flagrant one for leading with his elbow despite the fact that his elbow swung over as part of a normal basketball play. The flagrant meant North Carolina got two free throws and the ball.

After one of two free throws were made, Judah Mintz was called for a foul on the in-bounds pass despite Caleb Love clearly shoving him to the ground before the pass. It should have been an offensive foul and Syracuse's ball down three with 10 seconds left. Instead, North Carolina iced the game at the free throw line.

The game was a tight one throughout even though Syracuse did not lead until the second half. The Orange committed 16 turnovers, which led to 21 Tar Heels points. Another key aspect was the free throw discrepancy. North Carolina had 23 attempts compared to just three for Syracuse despite the Orange scoring more points in the paint (38 to 34).

Nance led all scorers with 21 points. Girard finished with 18 to lead Syracuse along with five assists and four rebounds, but turned it over six times. Chris Bell had 15 points on 6-9 shooting to go along with four rebounds. Mintz added 17 points, two assists and three steals.

Syracuse outshot North Carolina by percentage, 50.9% to 44.8%. Syracuse outrebounded North Carolina 35 to 30.

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Published Jan 24, 2023

MIKE MCALLISTER

Title: Publisher All Syracuse Education: Roberts Wesleyan College Location: Syracuse, New York Expertise: Syracuse basketball, football and recruiting. EXPERIENCE Mike McAllister has been covering Syracuse basketball, football and recruiting for more than a decade. Mike's career started with his own free blog as a way to vent following sporting events. Shortly thereafter, a network of basketball sites called Coast 2 Coast Hoops asked him to run their Syracuse site. That site was called Nation of Orange, and Mike quickly established it as a go-to for Syracuse fans. After running Nation of Orange for several months, a position with the Syracuse site on the Scout network became available. After one year as the recruiting expert with Cuse Nation, he was named the publisher. Mike oversaw the transition from Scout to 247Sports, and ran the site on that network for years. Presented with the opportunity to join one of the biggest names in the sports journalism industry, Sports Illustrated, Mike jumped at the chance. All Syracuse was started from scratch by Mike and the Fan Nation team. It has now become a staple for Orange fans of various sports. Mike has broken news on recruiting, Syracuse basketball and football team information and has established himself as the top recruiting inside in the market. He has appeared on local radio shows, television broadcasts, national radio shows and much more. Mr. McAllister has a Bachelor of Science Degree in Accounting and Information Management from Roberts Wesleyan College.