North Carolina builds huge lead over Syracuse, then holds on to win (Donna Ditota’s Quick Hits)

Chapel Hill, N.C. - Big Monday!

Is now a good time to reveal Syracuse has never won a game in the Dean Dome?

Technically, it’s the Dean E. Smith Center. People were appealing to fans outside the building to sign petitions to “Save the Dean Dome.” There is a campaign to decide the aging building’s fate.

But for now, this is where No. 14 UNC plays.

Oh, and for those of you wondering (and for some reason had not heard) Donnie Freeman was back in the starting lineup after his one-game hiatus.

First half: UNC 46, Syracuse 32. Final: UNC 87, Syracuse 77.

It got really ugly really fast in the second half. The Orange lost by 31 against Iowa State earlier in the season. This one felt just as bad.

Until UNC imploded down the stretch. The Heels led 72-40 until SU went on a 35-10 run.

BTW, the last time Syracuse played here? UNC won 103-67 on Jan. 13, 2024.

1/56

Here’s what happened:

Remember when Syracuse assisted on 21 of its 32 field goals?

Yes, that was just a couple days ago, when the Orange shared the ball, ran through its offense and made everything look much easier than it looked Monday here.

SU shot 11-of-25 in the first half of this game. It had two assists on those buckets - both from Naithan George, one after he lobbed it to his old friend Akir Souare.

Sure, every team defends differently. The Heels were doing a lot of switching. The Orange, it seemed, wanted to take advantage of some of those switches.

But what it mostly meant was a lot of dribbling. So much dribbling. So much one-on-one. And then usually a bad shot.

Kiyan Anthony (who was shooting 27.8% from 3 in ACC games) missed a 3-pointer with SU trailing 20-12. That led to a Jonathan Powell transition 3. Suddenly, the Orange trailed by 11.

The Heels rank dead last in ACC-only games in defending the 3-point line. Teams were shooting 42.1% from that distance against UNC.

Syracuse came to Chapel Hill with two guys - Nate Kingz (43.8%) and Tyler Betsey (53.1%) tearing it up from that distance in conference games.

Kingz was coming off a career-high 28 in SU’s win over Notre Dame.

Neither of those players attempted a 3 in a combined 24 minutes of first-half action.

Kingz was 2-for-3, those makes coming late in the second half. Betsey was 0-for-1 in the game.

If you came to this game hoping to catch a glimpse of Donnie Freeman vs. Caleb Wilson, you were in luck.

Wilson is a projected lottery pick. Freeman is Syracuse’s most obvious pro. The two guarded each other for stretches of the first half, though there was a lot of defensive switching going on.

Freeman scored 18 first-half points, including a fadeaway bank at the first-half buzzer. He was 6-for-9 overall, 2-of-4 from 3 and 4-of-4 from the line. He also grabbed six rebounds. He often found himself one-on-one with a UNC guard and took advantage of those matchups.

Wilson played two fewer first-half minutes than Freeman. He scored 13 on 4-of-7 shooting. He did not make a 3 and was 5-of-6 from the line. He grabbed a couple boards.

At any rate, we were treated here to two long, tall, skilled offensive players at power forward, if you’re into that sort of thing.

Syracuse coach Adrian Autry apparently didn’t like what he saw from Freeman on the defensive/rebounding end early in the second half.

Freeman disrupted a Wilson shot in the lane, but Wilson got his own rebound, put it back and was fouled by Nate Kingz on the play. Sadiq White immediately replaced Freeman in the lineup.

It wasn’t long before Freeman was re-inserted into the game.

Final numbers:

Freeman: 23 points, 8-of-14 overall, 2-of-4 from 3, 5-of-6 from the line, eight boards.

Wilson: 22 points, 6-of-14 overall, 0-of-1 from 3, 10-of-13 from the line, nine rebounds.

It got ugly really fast in that second half.

With 14:44 left in the game, the Tar Heels led 63-38.

Yes, 63-38.

Syracuse was not only missing shots, it was airballing shots.

And again, the ball movement and passing was noticeably absent. The two assists Syracuse had in the first half? With 14:03 left in the game, the Orange still had only two assists. It was midway through the second half before SU recorded another assist.

UNC started that half 7-of-12 from the field. SU was 4-of-14.

At one brief stretch, reserve Tar Heels guard Luka Bogavac scored nine straight points. He made two 3s, drove it, scored, was fouled and made the free throw. He was averaging 8.4 points in ACC play. For the entire game.

UNC is a terrific offensive team. They have a ton of weapons, including a big man who can step out and bury 3s. They are hard to guard.

To beat them, teams have to continue to score. And Syracuse was utterly unable to do that for the vast majority of the game.

The Orange inched closer in this game, when the Tar Heels got complacent with a huge lead. They led by as many as 32, then turned it over (SU scored 10 points on those mistakes) and missed free throws.

There were also a couple moments very late that Syracuse ran some offense. SU pressed. There was a frenetic feel to the end of this that was completely unexpected after North Carolina dominated the middle parts of this game.

JJ Starling (13 points) and Naithan George (15 points), did much of their scoring in the second half.

UNC outscored SU’s bench 29-16.

NOTES: UNC gave its students logoed bucket hats for this game. They were nice. At one point, the big scoreboards here showed Roy Williams in the stands wearing one of those hats. ... There was a somewhat underwhelming crowd here, size-wise. Was told the Heels are usually full, but the weather likely scared some fans away. (FYI, it was sunny and roads were bare today. The South and “snow.”)