Syracuse basketball faced off against the #16-ranked North Carolina Tar Heels without their freshman sensation, Caleb Wilson.
Despite the Tar Heels missing Caleb Wilson, they rolled past the Orange 77-64 while holding Syracuse basketball to a poor shooting night.
Wilson has been out for the past three games due to a fractured hand, and coming into Saturday’s game, their big man, Henri Veesaar, was a game-time decision. Head coach Hurbert Davis said Friday was Veesaar’s first time practicing since his injury, while being on limited reps.
Veesaar went through warm-ups and shootaround fine, and was eventually available to play his first game back since Feb. 10. North Carolina’s previous game without Veesaar and Wilson was a blowout loss to NC State, 82-58.
In his first game without Wilson, he was matched up with one of the best shot blockers in college basketball, William Kyle III. Kyle physically competed against Veesaar throughout the game, however it was not enough. The Tar Heels’ big man finished with a team high of 19 points on 9-for-13 from the field and three blocks.
“He played 25 minutes, a little bit more than I wanted to play him,” Davis said. “He kept saying that he felt good, and so it was nice to have him back in the lineup.”
At the 12:00 minute mark, Syracuse basketball had tied the game after Kyle’s fastbreak dunk off of an inbound steal. But that was the last moment of jubilation for the fans at JMA Wireless Dome. The Tar Heels would go on an 8-0 run in under three minutes, and never looked back diminish the Orange hope.
“We couldn’t score,” head coach Adrian Autry said. “I thought that was the biggest difference. That was when we had a couple of breakdowns defensively where they really made us pay, and that kinda separated their lead, and it was a struggle to get going offensively the whole second half.”
Syracuse basketball struggled shooting, as they shot 42% from the field and 17% from the three. Donnie Freeman had a tough game, as he finished with nine points on 3-for-8 shooting from the field. He was ejected with 1:44 left in the game after getting his second technical foul.
“He [Donnie] was frustrated; it was a physical game,” Autry said. “It was an important game for us, emotions were high, we were trying to compete…It was a frustrating game day for him and frustrating day for us.”
In a game that seemed promising for Syracuse basketball, with Wilson out and Veesaar questionable coming into the game due to injury, the Orange could not take advantage. The Tar Heels even struggled from the free throw line, shooting 54% on 24 attempts, but it did not matter.
The only bright spot for Syracuse basketball was J.J. Starling’s game-high 22 points.
The Orange drop back to back games to the two ranked ACC opponents in Duke and North Carolina, and their hopes of tournament chances are pretty much gone with the team record now at 15-13.