Syracuse men’s basketball (15-13, 6-9 Atlantic Coast Conference) fell 77-64 to No. 16 UNC (21-6, 9-5 Atlantic Coast Conference), despite the Tar Heels leading scorer Caleb Wilson being sidelined with a hand fracture. SU shot 17.6% from three point land, marking a new season low.
Despite entering as the favorite, @Cuse_MBB falls to 5-24 against Top-80 teams in KenPom under head coach Adrian Autry in its 77-64 loss to No. 16 @UNC_Basketball.@GriffinMarcy1 and @Hudson_Ridley had the call from inside the Dome. pic.twitter.com/pimfLZI3bF
— WAER Sports (@WAERSports) February 21, 2026
Among the poor shooting was Orange guard Nate Kingz. The redshirt senior connected from downtown in each of his last 16 games heading into the matchup, but couldn’t find the bottom of the net in the afternoon. Guard Nait George and forward Donnie Freeman also had no success shooting the three. The pair went a combined 0-8 and scored just 16 points total, which was a recipe for disaster to Head Coach Adrian Autry.
“We rely on those guys to make threes, to get some threes up as well,” said Autry, “and we just didn’t shoot the ball well from three and we had some open looks.”
Aside from the offensive struggles, the Orange still had a chance to win the game. The two teams were tied at 44 with just over 12 minutes to go, but the Tar Heels outscored the orange 33-20 from that point on. The collapse was a testament to the inability to make shots all night in Autry’s mind.
“One we tied the game, we just had a couple of shots that you got to make and we didn’t make them,” Autry said.
The only bright side for the cuse was forward Tyler Betsey. The sophomore shot 60% from range on 3-5 shooting and finished with 10 points.
.@Cuse_MBB forward Tyler Betsey has been sharp from deep.@Hudson_Ridley detailed the sophomore's three.
— WAER Sports (@WAERSports) February 21, 2026
📻@waer883, https://t.co/BG0Q3sGq3P pic.twitter.com/gGgtEuHEA0
The struggles didn’t all just come in the shooting; however, they came in the mental game too. SU forward Donnie Freeman picked up a technical foul with 9:18 to go in the second half after jawing with an official. As the game began to get more and more out of reach, the sophomore got into an altercation and got ejected for picking up his second technical of the game.
Donnie Freeman is ejected from the game/fouls out after picking up his second technical.
— Ashley Wenskoski (@AshleyWenskTV) February 21, 2026
"Syracuse basketball is just in a strange place right now," as Kevin Brown puts it on the broadcast: pic.twitter.com/T9Rz9ZJnxh
The nature of the second technical didn’t bother Autry too much, but the coach had some advice for the sophomore on the first.
“But you know the first one, you got to be more composed than that, but it was a frustrating day for him,” said Autry.
With the defeat, the Orange still sit 12th in the ACC. SU gets an entire week off until its next contest at Wake Forest – who sit half a game below the ‘Cuse – next Saturday at 5:45pm. WAER’s coverage with McClurg Remodeling Countdown to Tipoff begins at 5:15pm.
