Syracuse men’s basketball battles ACC’s best, No. 7 North Carolina, on Saturday

Syracuse men’s basketball (11-4, 2-2 Atlantic Coast Conference) gears up for what could be its most challenging matchup of the season. The Orange hit the road on Saturday to face-off with No.7 North Carolina (12-3, 4-0 Atlantic Coast Conference) in hopes of coming away with a Quad-I victory.

SU pulled off a 69-59 win over Boston College on Wednesday in a game that caused some heart palpitations for the Orange faithful. Syracuse, at one point, was up by 19 in the first half before BC came roaring back in the second half to gain a one-point advantage. The Orange, however, stayed in the right headspace. Syracuse battled back and regained the lead late in the last frame to secure the win at home.

“We’re a tough group,” head coach Adrian Autry explained postgame. “We may not always be sexy, sort of speak, but we fight. We’re a tough group. We fight and we battle. That’s the group of guys I have and they’re competitors. I said this since day one, they love to compete, they’re fighters, and they love to play.”

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Despite the near Boston College comeback, Autry gave major props to his team’s scrappy defense after Wednesday’s ACC matchup. The Orange recorded a season high 17 steals and held the Eagles to 22 points in the opening frame (BC’s fewest points in a first half this season).

“That was probably one of our better defensive games that we had in the conference play this year and being able to hold Boston College to 59 points. I thought we did a really good job of battling (Quinten) Post and being able to hold him scoreless. I thought that was the difference in the game."

Well, tough defense is exactly what Syracuse needs against North Carolina. The Tar Heels average about 83 points per game, good for second most in the ACC. Quarterbacking the offense for UNC has been guard RJ Davis. The senior scores over 20 points a game which leads the conference.

Following Davis on the scoresheet is forward Armando Bacot. The senior tallies almost 15 points and 11 rebounds per game. Bacot also continues to cement himself as a top scorer amongst UNC legends. The Virginia native has recorded 2,027 career points, good for fifth most in North Carolina history.

The likely candidate to guard Bacot on Saturday is other Virginian, Maliq Brown. The sophomore has been on a tear as of late and has shown he can manage heavy minutes. On Wednesday, Brown scored 19 with eight boards in 34 minutes of action. Autry has been pleased with his young forward’s production.

“I thought Maliq was phenomenal,” Autry said postgame. “I was worried about the foul situation, and he did a good job of not getting into fouls. I thought he moved his feet. I thought he was physical. I thought he was quicker. He got four steals but he typically gets a little more than that. But no, I thought he was good.”

Brown understands the task at hand this weekend against some of the best players in the country. His mindset is to not expect anything to come easy and to just be ready for war.

“Just take it personal like every other matchup,” Brown explained about how his team needs to play against UNC. “Knowing that they’re definitely not going to let us come into their place and get an easy win so we just got to be focused and get this road win.”

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Nothing comes easy against conference foes, especially for Syracuse against North Carolina. The last time the Orange were victorious against the Tar Heels was during the 2020-21 season. Furthermore, SU has never won a game down in Chapel Hill, sporting an 0-6 record all time.

Syracuse has a chance to make history from inside the Dean E. Smith Center on Saturday. Make sure to tune into WAER’s broadcast starting with McClurg Remodeling Countdown to Tipoff at 11:30 a.m. followed by the game at noon.