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CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — Fresh off a much-needed 86-72 win over Notre Dame that snapped a four-game losing streak on Saturday, Syracuse traveled to Chapel Hill to face No. 14 North Carolina. The matchup marked the start of a stretch in which SU will play six Quad 1 games over its final nine contests.

The Tar Heels entered the game ranked No. 25 in the NET Rankings, while the Orange slotted in 72nd. Syracuse’s results thus far have put its March Madness resume in “Not Close” territory, per EvanMiya, making every contest — but especially the Quad 1 ones — pivotal.

The Orange began the game with a 2-0 lead, but never led the rest of the way. UNC used a late first-half “kill shot” to build its lead to 14 at halftime before that number skyrocketed to as many as 32 in the second half.

While SU cut that to 10 to end the game, it was another disappointing Quad 1 loss. Third-year head coach Adrian Autry is now 4-22 in such games throughout his tenure at the helm.

Here are some observations from Syracuse’s (13-10, 4-6 Atlantic Coast) 87-77 loss against No. 14 North Carolina (18-4, 6-3 Atlantic Coast):

SU makes things interesting late

Despite trailing 72-40 with 9:56 remaining, SU cut its deficit down to 10 at the 1:26 mark after forcing a turnover and Nate Kingz drained a 3-pointer. The Orange then forced another turnover on the inbound, and Kingz again drew nylon to make it 82-75.

After nearly forcing a 10-second violation, SU fouled Seth Trimble, who split his pair from the free throw line. J.J. Starling then drove down the lane and scored, making the score 83-77.

The Orange fouled Jarin Stevenson in the backcourt with 39 seconds remaining, and he made both of his free throws. Starling again drove to the rim, but he missed and UNC corralled the rebound. It led to Trimble getting to the charity stripe, where he put the game away with 27.9 seconds remaining as the score blossomed to 87-77.

Once again, Starling tried driving to the rim but missed. The Tar Heels secured the rebound, and the Orange let them dribble the clock out.

Slow start, end of first half “kill”

Winning conference games on the road — no matter how good a team you are — is difficult. It’s even more difficult when you begin the game shooting 4-of-16 from the floor while missing all three of your 3-pointers in the process.

That’s exactly what the Orange did throughout the first nearly 12 minutes Monday night. If not for Donnie Freeman, it could’ve been even worse. Even with SU’s shooting struggles, it trailed just 17-12 at the 9:34 mark after Freeman drained a pair of free throws.

From there, though, Henri Veesaar canned a 3-pointer before Kiyan Anthony missed one on the other end. Off the rebound, UNC pushed the pace, leading to Jonathan Powell drawing nylon from deep. It forced Autry to call a timeout, but Naithan George traveled after receiving the inbound pass, turning the ball over to UNC. Powell capitalized, slamming home a dunk to extend the Tar Heels’ run to eight.

Freeman prevented a “kill shot” by scoring from the mid-range, cutting the score to 25-14 at the 8:14 mark. Thanks to George (he finished with 15 points and four assists), rattling six points and dishing two assists, the second to Freeman on a 3-pointer, the Orange cut the deficit to 29-23 three and a half minutes later. A minute later, Syracuse cut UNC’s advantage to five after Kingz got inside for a deuce before Jarin Stevenson and Akir Souare traded baskets.

It all went downhill from there.

Out of the media timeout with 3:05 remaining, Freeman headed to the bench. After Wilson split a pair of free throws, Sadiq White Jr. missed an inside look. North Carolina’s Seth Trimble then made a 3.

The Heels proceeded to force a shot clock violation, and then Derek Dixon converted on an and-1 to make the score 41-29 with 1:24 remaining. Freeman reentered the game, but turned the ball over on his first possession. It led to an easy Wilson transition score.

Following a miss from Kyle late in the shot clock, Hubert Davis called a timeout before Powell canned a triple. It gave North Carolina a “kill shot” with a 12-0 run, though Freeman made a 3 at the buzzer to cut the score to 46-32 at halftime.

Donnie Freeman stands out in startling lineup return

As opposed to shockingly sitting on the bench to start SU’s contest against Notre Dame on Saturday, Freeman was jumping on the court ahead of tipoff as “Jump Around” blared around the Dean E. Smith Center. With most of the Orange struggling to start offensively, Freeman kept them afloat by scoring 10 of SU’s first 14 points.

All of those field goals came off isolation scores. SU registered just seven assists throughout the game after registering 21 against the Fighting Irish, its second most this season. Freeman also did a good job getting to the charity stripe in the early-going, and finished 5-of-6 from the free throw line.

The sophomore forward kept his scoring going by knocking down two 3-pointers and a turnaround jumper to close the half with 18 points. It accounted for more than half of the Orange’s scoring.

Despite the strong first half, it took Freeman nearly 10 minutes as the score went awry in the second half to get back on the board when he split a pair of free throws. Shortly, he barreled his way toward the rim for a score in transition to get to 21 points.

Freeman’s next points came with 2:30 remaining, and he didn’t score again from there. The forward finished 8-of-14 from the floor with 23 points.

Caleb Wilson, Henri Veesaar dominate down low

Wilson and Veesaar entered Monday as the third and fourth-highest-ranked players in the ACC by EvanMiya’s Bayesian Performance Rating. They also entered the game as the two tallest players on the court, as SU’s tallest players are William Kyle III, Freeman and Akir Souare at 6-foot-9.

UNC began the game taking advantage of that discrepancy, having the 7-foot Veesaar operate from the post to feed an isolated 6-foot-10 Wilson down low. North Carolina scored on big-to-big feeds from Veesaar to Wilson, a freshman phenom who is a projected top pick in the 2026 NBA Draft, for its first four points. A made pull-up jumper then gave Wilson UNC’s first six points.

From there, SU had trouble staying in front of Wilson, as he scored his next five points after drawing fouls and getting to the free-throw line before. He then scored his next field goal on a layup in the final minute of the first half. While Wilson had 13 first-half points, Veesaar took just five shots, making one from inside the arc and one after Kyle gave him a lot of space beyond the arc.

To begin the second half, Wilson made a jumper before Veesaar scored on a second-chance opportunity for North Carolina’s first four points — which offset J.J. Starling’s scoring to start the half. From there, Wilson missed an inside look, but got his own rebound and tipped it in while getting fouled before converting the free throw for an and-1.

Those sequences essentially summed up Wilson Veesaar’s domination down low. Wilson finished with 22 points and nine rebounds, while Veesaar notched 17 points and 11 rebounds. Overall, the Tar Heels also out-rebounded SU 41-31.

Offensive woes

Kingz registered a career-high 28 points while making five 3-pointers, tied for his single-game season-high, in Syracuse’s win over Notre Dame. The performance showed that the Oregon State transfer is becoming the 3-point threat SU envisioned.

Naturally, it took over 29 minutes for Kingz to attempt his first 3-pointer versus UNC. He missed, while the Orange were trailing 69-40. Kingz finished the game with eight points while attempting just three 3s — two of which came in the final two minutes. SU was 6-of-18 from beyond the arc, while the Tar Heels were 8-of-18.

As mentioned above, Syracuse also struggled moving the ball. The Orange’s seven assists were tied for their fewest in a game this year. Opposed to some other stretches where SU has struggled offensively, turnovers (10 vs. UNC) weren’t necessarily a problem today.

While the once blowout helped George reach 15 points and Anthony get to 10, SU scorers not named Donnie Freeman drastically struggled throughout the game. Beyond Kingz faltering, Kyle, White and Tyler Betsey were all held scoreless. In the end, the Orange finished shooting 29-of-65 (45%) from the field to North Carolina’s 27-of-56 (48%).

Published on February 2, 2026 at 9:25 pm
Contact Justin: justingirshon@gmail.com | @JustinGirshon