6 takeaways from Syracuse's 86-79 win over North Carolina

In the first signature win of the Adrian Autry era, Syracuse upset No. 7 North Carolina, 86-79, on Tuesday evening.

Here are the key takeaways from the win.

Coming into the game against SU, hoop-math.com listed the Tar Heels’ defense as allowing 31.4 percent of all shots at the rim with opponents knocking down 53.9 percent of those attempts.

As a team, Syracuse shot 13-of-16 (81.3 percent) on attempts classified as lay-ups and a total of 26 shots inside or just on the edge of the painted area, making 19 (73.1 percent).

North Carolina, by comparison, was 13-of-21 on lay-ups and dunks and 3-of-12 on other shots in or just outside of the key. The difference in mid-range shooting went a long way toward deciding the winner, a rarity in the modern game.

The Orange played a lot of 2-3 zone in the second half. Late in the game it helped take North Carolina’s star power center Armando Bacot out of the offense.

The Tar Heels shifted their focus to 3-point shooting in an effort to rally and Bacot worked the mid-range area, but only as a passer and rebounder, not even looking at the rim, much less shooting the ball.

Bacot’s last shot attempt came with 7:52 remaining in the game.

While playing the zone certainly helped in the second half, SU did not provide a vintage version of the defense. North Carolina missed several wide-open 3-point attempts, including three by Cormac Ryan.

SU’s first 10-point lead of the first half came at 21-11 just over seven minutes into the action.

The Orange shot 9-of-16 (56.3 percent) over the remainder of the half, but allowed North Carolina to close the session on an 11-for-15 streak, including an 8-of-10 span that erased the last Syracuse 10-point advantage.

While there was plenty of grousing in the JMA Dome about the officiating even though Orange still shot 25 free throws to North Carolina’s 11. While that disparity looks great on paper, 14 of those foul shots came in the final 1:37 of play.

The six guys are the six guys. Mounir Hima saw 1:02 of playing time in the first half around under-eight media timeout, then played the final 5:25 of the half when Brown picked up his second foul. Kyle Cuffe Jr. did not play for the third straight game.

The basketball program offered some clarity on Peter Carey’s health, noting in a release before tip-off that he is in concussion protocol and would miss his second consecutive game.

The Orange (15-9, 6-7 ACC) will begin a two-game southern swing on Saturday when they visit Georgia Tech. The Yellow Jackets (10-14, 3-10) are part of a three-way tie in the cellar of the conference and will face one of the other teams in the basement on Wednesday when they play at Notre Dame. While Tech has struggled this season, two of their three conference victories are at home over Duke and North Carolina.

Miles Kelly paces Georgia Tech in scoring at 14.8 points per game and 3-pointers made on the season at 49. Baye Ndongo adds 11.9 points per game while also leading the squad in rebounding (8.0 per game) and blocks (1.2 per game). Kowacie Reeves Jr. is also in double digits at 10.5 points a game while making 42 3’s on the season at a 39.6 percent clip.

Saturday’s action in Atlanta is slated to get underway at 5:30pm and the game will be televised by the CW.

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