Last January, an exhausted Quentin Hillsman sat on Syracuse’s team bus after a road victory over then-No. 6 North Carolina and called it the biggest victory in program history.

On Thursday night in the Carrier Dome press room, Hillsman sat down at a table of microphones after the No. 25 Orange (16-7, 6-4 Atlantic Coast) once again upset the Tar Heels (18-5, 5-4), this time ranked No. 13, and called SU’s 61-56 win in front of 564 fans this season’s biggest victory.

“We needed a Top 25 win,” Hillsman said. “We knew the urgency of getting this win, and (getting it) is great for our season. It’s a win that we had to have.”

Treading water with a 5-4 conference record and holding an 0-7 record against Top 25 opponents, Hillsman fell just shy of calling Thursday’s game against the Tar Heels a must-win.

The coach said Wednesday that teams need eight conference wins to feel comfortable about making the NCAA tournament. With that mindset, the Orange needed three wins in its final seven games.

And with no victories over a ranked opponent this season, the Orange needed a resume booster for the postseason.

“We haven’t been able to beat a Top 25 team, so for us to get this win tonight was big for us,” SU point guard Alexis Peterson said. “We knew how important this game was. We never gave up and we continued to play with a sense of urgency.”

Much like the Orange held close in most of its other seven games against Top 25 opponents this season, Thursday night was no different. Syracuse and North Carolina were tight in the first half, trading turnovers back and forth.

North Carolina shot 8-of-25 in the first half and turned the ball over 14 times. The Orange didn’t shoot much better — 9-of-36 — but held a 29-19 halftime lead.

With the Orange hanging on to a four-point, 41-37 lead with 11 minutes to go in regulation, Hillsman took off his jacket and geared up for the final stretch.

Similar to its other games against Top 25 opponents this season, SU’s opponent took a late lead after SU led for most of the second half. UNC guard Jessica Washington hit a 3 from the right corner to give the Tar Heels a 50-49 lead with 5:18 to go, quieting a surprisingly loud Carrier Dome crowd.

The Orange had compensated for shooting so inefficiently, but that was running out.

“You’d think when you hold a team to 27 percent you should win the game,” North Carolina head coach Sylvia Hatchell said.

But on the ensuing possession, Peterson broke an 8-0 UNC run and hit a jumper to give the Orange a 51-50 lead — its last of the night. SU power forward Taylor Ford then drained a 3 to extend SU’s lead to 57-50.

“Down the stretch we had a chance to fold, and in the past we’ve kind of given games away in the last couple minutes of the game,” Hillsman said. “I thought our kids really buckled down and got some stops, got some key rebounds, and made some shots.

“In our previous games, it was turnovers and we weren’t getting shots.”

After last January’s victory over UNC, Hillsman spoke about the importance of RPI and Atlantic Coast Conference tournament seeding. On Wednesday, the coach spoke about getting into the NCAA tournament.

And a day later, the Orange took a step in that direction while crossing a ranked win off SU’s list in the process.

“We had to have this win,” Hillsman said. “We talked about getting a Top 25 win, and for our season, we knew coming into this game this was going to be a major, major part of the rest of our season, getting this ‘W’ at home.”

Published on February 6, 2015 at 12:37 am

Contact Josh: jmhyber@syr.edu