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CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — Judah Mintz just walked back.

He assumed Harrison Ingram, who had intercepted a Chris Bell pass off the ground and had a wide-open lane, was going to dunk it home.

Ingram bobbled the ball and missed. But Mintz still just watched. He looked at Ingram miss and Jae’Lyn Withers run right past him for the put-back as the Tar Heels took a 45-18 first half lead.

That play summed up a nightmarish Saturday afternoon for SU. No. 7 North Carolina (13-3, 5-0 Atlantic Coast Conference) handed Syracuse (11-5, 2-3 ACC) its worst-ever loss in the ACC, winning 103-67 — SU’s most lopsided defeat since a 39-point loss to DePaul in 2006.

“We just didn’t do a good job defensively, and that’s the bottom line,” said Syracuse head coach Adrian Autry. “We didn’t do a good job in any aspect.”

The game was over once Armando Bacot won the opening tip. From start to finish, the Tar Heels dismantled the Orange, beginning with a 52-point first half. UNC only continued the downpour with a 51-point second half, picking up its sixth win in a row. Whether it was the Syracuse zone or man defense, UNC easily scored and controlled the pace, the rebounding battle and the turnovers.

The Tar Heels, entering with the second-highest offense in the conference, finished 48.1% from the field while limiting the Orange to just a 36.5% clip. UNC recorded a season-high 58 points in the paint and a season-high 19 offensive rebounds, en route to dropping the most points it’s ever scored against Syracuse.

“Irregardless if they were in man or zone, those are the things we’re looking for in the offensive end and those are the things that we were able to consistently do,” UNC head coach Hubert Davis said on his team’s success inside.

Davis said he knew Syracuse was “limited” in the front court — center Naheem McLeod didn’t travel with the team and is out indefinitely with a right-foot injury. The go-to option for UNC was Bacot — one of five North Carolina players to score 2,000 career points — and made a couple of easy baskets in the post to start the game against Maliq Brown, who said that Bacot was getting into his spots. Later in the first half, he posted up on Brown, spun to his right and scored to put UNC up 28-12.

Earlier, as Cormac Ryan was at the free throw line, Jalen Washington subbed into the game for Bacot, a designed substitution for the surprise full-court press once Ryan made the free throw. Justin Taylor heaved an inbound pass, only for it to be picked off by Ryan, who scored an easy layup off the turnover.

The Tar Heels scored 16 of their first 19 points inside the paint, with seven different scorers. The other three points came at the free-throw line as a result of SU fouls to avoid easy buckets. Taylor said the Orange, especially when in the zone, didn’t do a good job boxing out, which led to offensive rebounds and simple baskets.

“Starting right from the beginning, I thought North Carolina was the tougher team,” Autry said. “This is the first time all year that we didn’t come off in the beginning.”

Syracuse would answer here and there. It often took low percentage shots, like a couple of Mintz’s drives that were blocked by the Tar Heels, or his awkward elbow jumper that was countered by a Seth Trimble corner 3. Benny Williams couldn’t get any buckets to fall in either. It was only Mintz, Bell and Quadir Copeland that could score, combining for 50 of SU’s 67 points.

SU also had sloppy first-half turnovers like Brown’s travel at the top of the key or when Ryan stole the ball from Bell on the ground, totaling 17 in the game.

The Tar Heels then started to click from beyond the arc, making five by the end of the first half. Elliot Cadeau dished a crosscourt pass to a wide-open RJ Davis in the right corner. Bell charged out toward Davis, who pumped-faked, creating enough separation to swish a 3 as Cadeau celebrated with 3-point goggles, looking at Davis.

That was preceded by back-to-back triples earlier in the half. Mintz’s elbow jumper missed, and Trimble scored a 3-pointer. Two UNC baskets later, Ingram drilled a 3 and Autry was forced to take a timeout trailing 34-16 — a deficit that quelled to 52-30 at halftime.

In the second half, Bell, similar to his 3-pointer in the first half, swished one from the left corner. The Orange had shortened the lead to 15, and the Syracuse bench had started to see some life. That was short-lived, though, as UNC countered with a 10-0 run, taking back control of the pace.

“Speeding us up led to easy buckets for them,” Taylor said.

Cadeau led the charge on the run. He scored a floater from inside the paint, drawing a questionable foul on J.J. Starling in the process. Cadeau missed the free throw, but Ingram grabbed the board before Cadeau scored on the second chance. The Tar Heels finished with 19 offensive rebounds.

Then, Ingram secured a defensive rebound after a Mintz miss. Cadeau led the transition, dishing a bounce pass to Davis, who was cutting along the baseline. Davis drew an Orange defender, leaving Bacot wide-open for a slam. After Mintz turned the ball over a miscommunicated pass attempt, Davis scored an easy 2, forcing Autry to call a timeout as UNC led 62-39.

Syracuse didn’t seem to want to hustle back on defense — a representation of the chances it had in this game. Davis found multiple ways to weave through the Orange defense for a basket. Bacot threw a long pass to Ryan who was just jogging on the other end for a 2. Then, Davis set up Withers for an alley-oop, increasing the lead to 35.

The success that UNC found down low only continued the second half. Bacot found more ways to score. Davis corralled an offensive rebound off a missed corner 3, and missed the put-back before Bacot scored. On the next basket, he scored a tip-in. Bacot, UNC’s all-time leader in double-doubles, finished with 16 points and 11 rebounds.

With 11:10 remaining in the game, the Tar Heels started the process of preserving their starters with a 35-point lead in hand. Bacot and Ryan exited the game while Davis left a minute later. Ingram had already been moved to the bench and soon UNC would have all of its starters off the floor.

Syracuse did the same for some of its starters, too. Mintz, Bell and Brown were on the bench for the game’s final five minutes, a move that typically means SU was in full control. But Saturday, the Orange were the recipient of their worst loss since 2006.

“It doesn’t get more simpler than that,” Starling said. “They played better basketball team wise. They played together, got open shots, and we didn’t.

“You just gotta move on.”

Published on January 13, 2024 at 2:28 pm

Contact Cole: colebambini@gmail.com | @ColeBambini