Syracuse falls short in its comeback attempt against North Carolina in Chapel Hill

Syracuse men’s basketball (13-10, 4-6 Atlantic Coast Conference) led in just the first 29 seconds during its 87-77 loss to No. 14 North Carolina (18-4, 6-3 Atlantic Coast Conference). The Orange brought a 32-point deficit down to just six with under a minute to go, but it wasn’t enough to get it done.

After SU forward Donnie Freeman saw himself on the bench to begin the game against Notre Dame last Saturday, the sophomore reclaimed his spot back in the starting lineup Monday night. Freeman topped all scorers on the night with 23 and had a team-high 8 rebounds on the night, but head coach Adrian Autry wanted to see the ball in his hands more.

“Donnie is a talented offensive player,” Autry said, “He can score inside and out and we have to try and do a better job of trying to get him the ball in certain places.”

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Despite the talent SU had on its side, UNC had a lot of its own. Tar Heels forward and projected lottery pick in the NBA Draft, Caleb Wilson, led the team in scoring with 22 and 7-foot center Henri Veesar put up his 12th double-double of the season.

The junior from Estonia created problems for the Orange in the paint all night. Coach Autry credited his and the rest of the UNC squad’s toughness in the paint to the reason SU started slow.

“Carolina set the tone with their physicality on defense inside and in the paint scoring,” Autry said.

The ‘Cuse surrendered the final nine points and trailed by 14 at the end of the first half. The Orange never recovered, giving up a 26-8 run in the first 10 minutes out of the break, putting them down 32, the largest deficit since they trailed by 35 against now No. 7 Iowa State in Las Vegas.

However, Autry’s squad quietly battled back and found themselves down seven after guard Nate Kingz caught fire late.

While the redshirt senior gave ‘Cuse fans hope, the comeback was promising, but still a bright spot in a dark cloud to Coach Autry.

“I thought we showed some heart and kept fighting,” Autry said, “we were down big so we have to learn from this and move forward and get better.”

The deficit was too much to overcome as the Tar Heels knocked down their final four free throws, eliminating the hopes yet again of fans who thought a comeback was within reach.

With the loss SU drops one spot to 11th in the ACC. The Orange get four days to prepare for another battle against a ranked opponent. The ‘Cuse take on No. 18 Virginia Saturday at noon. WAER’s coverage begins at 11:30am with McClurg Remodeling Countdown to Tipoff on 88.3 FM and at waer.org.