Kadary Richmond and Jesse Edwards play important roles in Syracuse’s victory over North Carolina (quick hits from Donna Ditota)

Syracuse, NY – After a difficult trip that included encounters with great skilled men at Duke and Georgia Tech, Syracuse returned home to the Carrier Dome to face … a stable of great skilled men from North Carolina.

At least this time, the game took place at home.

Syracuse lost at the start of this game (what else is new?), Was substantially outdated and still had a 34-28 lead in the break. Orange built an advantage in the second half, then resisted a big UNC push in the final minutes. Final score: SU 72, UNC 70.

Here’s what happened:

Syracuse made 3-point shots. That was the tangential story of the first half. (We will address the other issue in the first half soon.) North Carolina has been struggling – really struggling – to make 3-point shots this season. Heels were ranked No. 292 nationally in this category by entering the game.

And in the first half against Orange? UNC shot from 0 to 10 on the 3-point line. The Heels finished 4 out of 20 there, the last couple coming in the final furious minutes.

Syracuse started game 2 to 10, but then Orange, in general, and Buddy Boeheim, in particular, heated up. Boeheim scored 17 points at the break. He was 5-to-9 on the 3-point line. In the end, Boeheim scored a 26th game. He had 6 of 13 on the 3-point line.

Syracuse needed – really needed – to do 3s against Carolina because of how much the Heels dominate from the inside. And Orange delivered a 7-to-17 in the first half of that distance. SU surpassed Heels 24-6 on the 3-point line, even after going 1 to 10 in the second half. Which brings me to my second point:

North Carolina is a wonder on the charts. It is fascinating to see them work on the offensive glass. The Tar Heels are huge and they come after the teams on the waves. UNC is the best offensive rebound team in the country, and this is not a good match for a team like Syracuse, which has struggled for years to end defensive possessions with a rebound.

UNC at one point Monday led the battle for recovery, 18-3. At one point, Armando Bacot had eight rebounds, compared to the US grand total of 3. North Carolina cannot shoot, but it can and does ferociously track errors. Recovery margin: UNC 53-33.

We keep talking about Kadary Richmond. And for good reason. No one on this Syracuse team can do what they do with the ball in their hands.

He made his mistakes against UNC. He turned it over a few times. He committed an accusation. But he also impacted the game a lot with his ability to reach the rim with his dribbling. He dropped passes. He swarmed for snipers. He recovered. Most importantly, he put the ball in the position of his teammates to score. He ended Monday with nine assists.

And to continue the conversation about Richmond, he had four steals in the game. Orange in general seemed to hinder the UNC in several parts of the competition. The Heels were careless with the ball and SU overcame them by an impressive 26-6 points on turnovers. UNC committed 19 turnovers.

But Richmond hobbled off the court with 3:51 to go and sat in a chair with an ice pack on his right knee. Therefore, this is certainly a situation to be monitored.

SU radio guy Matt Park reported before the game that Quincy Guerrier suffered a knee injury in the loss to Georgia Tech. He wore a very significant bandage on his left knee.

He played 15 minutes in the first half and, although he hit just one wrong shot (on the offensive side), he drained two shots from 3 points.

He missed out at the start of the second half, but then reappeared in full force. His hitting a Boeheim missed 3 gave him 12 points for the game and a reason to scream (we heard it on TV!). He finished off an excellent pass by Kadary Richmond in the transition. He scored with 18 points, grabbed six rebounds.

Jesse Edwards. The second-year big guy was crucial to Syracuse on Monday against all that UNC size and length. He played 11 minutes in the first half before leaving with three fouls. He’s been there so long that he at least has a chance to challenge those giant UNC guys. And in those 11 minutes, he caught five rebounds.

He was even better in the second half, surrounding himself inside and hitting the ball – even leaving his area to track errors. His game allowed Marek Dolezaj to move forward and helped Orange with their defensive problems in the rear. And he made some points as well.

He missed with 6:11 left, ending with eight rebounds, six points and four steals.

This and that: Syracuse almost ruined the game in the final minutes. Two crucial turns and a pair of UNC 3s came too close. A great defensive rebound by Joe Girard from Caleb Love missed the free throw with 11.4 seconds left and sealed the shot. … The 3 points at the end of Buddy Boeheim’s half pushed him to over 1,000 points in his Syracuse career. … UNC turned 10 times in the first half against SU and Orange overcame Heels 12-4 in turnover points. … Marek Dolezaj again encountered problems. He received his room at 10:14 from the end of the game and had to occupy an SU seat. He finished with eight points, five rebounds and five assists. … Alan Griffin struggled to do anything on Monday. Yes, he made some bad shots. But he also lost a few easier ones. He scored his first bucket with just under 4 minutes remaining on a pass from Dolezaj. It was 1 to 10 on Monday. … Armando Bacot had 18 points and 15 rebounds.

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