UNC basketball escapes Syracuse with 72-68 ACC win over Orange behind 21 from Pete Nance
The surprise to North Carolina players after Joe Girard III’s 3-pointer with 1:23 left gave Syracuse just its third lead of the game, did not come from the fact that they would win.
UNC coach Hubert Davis said he saw calmness and confidence in the Tar Heels, despite watching the Orange (13-8, 5-4 ACC) rally from 10-point deficit to take the lead. They were, however, a bit amazed by exactly how it happened.
Girard’s errant in-bound save right to a stunned Pete Nance for a layup helped the Tar Heels escape the JMA Wireless Dome with a 72-68 victory over the Orange on Tuesday night.
“I was definitely super surprised that I got it,” said Nance, who added “It was headed out of bounds and Girard saved it right to me. I think that’s just the story of the night, just not giving up and knowing that the game’s never over.”
When Girard’s basket put the Orange ahead 69-68, Armando Bacot dumped the ball off to Nance making a backdoor cut. He was going up for a dunk when he was fouled by Jesse Edwards. Nance made the first free throw, but missed the second, sending a scramble for the loose ball.
UNC forward Leaky Black was the first to grab it, but lost it as he bumped into Bacot. As the ball rolled toward the baseline, Girard attempted to save it to Mounir Hima and instead threw it straight to Nance, who made a layup to give the Heels the lead for good, 69-68 with 17.7 left.
“We just were composed, I don’t think at any point we thought we were going to lose -- even when we got down with like a minute left,” said Bacot, who had 18 points, eight rebounds and four assists.
UNC guard R.J. Davis, who caught an elbow from Judah Mintz early in the second half and sat out for four minutes, again found himself defending Mintz as he sped toward the basket with time winding down.
Mintz appeared to catch Davis with another elbow that caused a cut near his eye as he tried to maneuver the ball from his right to the left. Mintz was called for a charge, but Davis stayed down on the court before being helped back to the locker room. The foul on Mintz was elevated to a flagrant-1 foul and Love made the free throws to seal the game for the Tar Heels.
“His willingness to stick his body and sacrifice his body out there, it’s a difference maker for us,” said Hubert Davis, who added that R.J. Davis just had a cut around his eye, but was otherwise fine.
Nance may have been the biggest difference maker for the Heels. When the Orange took a 63-62 lead, which completed their comeback from down 56-46, it was Nance who had a spin move and scored in the paint to re-take the lead.
Nance scored a game-high 21 points, making just the second time he’s surpassed 20 points this season and it was his first game in double figures this calendar year after missing the better part of four games with a back injury. He was aggressive offensively for the Heels (15-6, 7-3 ACC) all game against the Syracuse zone he’d knew he’d have opportunities to score against.
“I think just trying to make quick decisions, when you turn there’s kind of a lot there and a lot to read in a small amount of time,” Nance said. “But I was just trying to make the best decision that I can and get the right shot for the team.”
More often than not, Carolina got the right shot. The Heels had 20 assists on 26 field goals, which was a season-high percentage of assists on made baskets. They were disciplined in attacking the heart of the zone, getting the ball to Nance in the high post or Black.
Carolina dissected the Syracuse zone in the first half and got a lot of quality shots. But after shooting 51 percent from the field in the first half, Carolina missed its first five shots from the field in the second. It took getting out in transition to find a rhythm again.
“It’s just a zone and sometimes it gets flat and they started really taking away the baseline pass to me,” Bacot said. “(Syracuse center)Jesse Edwards did a good job of affecting everything in the paint. So it got tough but we just stuck in there.”
It was especially a good sight for Love, who entered the game shooting just 26 percent from 3-point range and he’d connected on just three of his last 22. The first half against the Orange, Love showed no signs of a slump, connecting on his first three shots, all from 3-point range and all in catch-and-shoot plays.
Love had 15 points, on 4-for-7 shooting, and tallied five assists.
“I felt like the shots that Caleb took tonight were good shots and once that first one went in, I know he was ready to go,” Hubert Davis said.
Black was too. He locked up Girard for most of the game when he was defending him. Girard only attempted two of his nine 3s with Black defending him, because his length was such a problem for the 6-foot-1 guard. That’s why it was a bit out of character for Black to leave his feet on a pump fake, allowing Girard possibly the cleanest look he’d had all game with 1:23 left.
Fortunately for the Heels, trailing late didn’t shake them despite the Orange only having led for 1:41 of game time.
“They played a great game really,” Bacot said. “Just like we stuck in there, they stuck in there too. We went on a lot of runs and, at the end, we really just got lucky.”
This story was originally published January 24, 2023 at 11:36 PM.