By Adam Lucas
1. Whew. Carolina got the win it needed over Syracuse, going overtime to take an 88-79 victory.
2. Tremendous, wonderful, excellent, fantastic coaching move by Hubert Davis at the end of regulation. With Syracuse holding the ball and the lead with 15.9 seconds left, the Tar Heels inserted Puff Johnson in place of Caleb Love to play defense. That enabled them to put Johnson on the red-hot Cole Swider, who had been torching Love, and switch Leaky Black back to Buddy Boeheim. Black forced a Boeheim turnover, Carolina got possession, and eventually forced overtime.
3. Approximately five minutes before that, the Tar Heels had switched Black on to Swider, who was in the midst of a career night. Syracuse promptly went hard at Love with Buddy Boeheim, who scored a couple baskets down the stretch.
4. Other than that, it was a very old school Carolina win over Syracuse. The Tar Heels dominated the offensive glass, getting 16 offensive boards on 41 missed shots, and likewise owned the second chance points category, 18-6. Carolina carved up the zone through the middle, handing out 21 assists on 28 baskets. Seven of those assists came from Black on senior night, with five from RJ Davis.
5. A whopping nine of Armando Bacot’s rebounds were offensive. Four offensive boards came from Leaky Black. And how about this? Bacot, who was foul-prone early in his college career, finished a very physical game with zero fouls in 42 minutes.
6. Bacot finished with yet another double-double, scoring 17 points to go with his 18 rebounds. That ties him for the most double-doubles in a single season in Tar Heel history with 23, equaling the mark set by Brice Johnson. Bacot did this one with brute force–his three-point play in the second half through contact was enormous, and he also outwrestled everyone under the rim for a key defenive board late in regulation.
7. Puff Johnson continues to provide Carolina energy off the bench. Johnson’s two boards in the first half were offensive and he is always around the ball. Other than Ryan McAdoo, who started the game for senior night, Johnson was the only reserve to play in the game.
8. Terrific crowd in the Smith Center for senior night on a Monday. The crowd was loud and into the game from start to (lengthy) finish. The student section this year, as Hubert Davis has noted, has been terrific. Carolina is now 6-0 against the Orange in the Smith Center, and 11-3 against Jim Boeheim’s team since they joined the ACC.
9. In all the big plays, don’t forget RJ Davis and Brady Manek. Davis nailed five three-pointers and was the steadying hand when the Tar Heels were wobbly. Manek made the right decision every time he was faced with a pass-or-shoot decision in the middle of the Cuse defense. He had 22 points to go with his five rebounds, three assists and zero turnovers.
10. With a weeknight Senior Night–which traditionally has seen fans be in a hurry to get to their cars–the Tar Heels made some tweaks to the evening. The usual pregame activities were held, including honoring the families of the senior players and managers, plus jerseys for each player and photos with Hubert and Leslie Davis. But instead of postgame speeches, the senior players addressed the crowd through videos that ran during timeouts over the course of the evening.
11. Keep in mind that senior speeches were actually a Roy Williams import from Kansas and weren’t part of Carolina’s senior day festivities prior to his return. Not every player relishes the idea of taking the microphone in front of thousands of people, which made this year’s format make more sense for this year’s seniors. The seniors still had the opportunity to say exactly what they wanted to say on video without having to do it live.
12. Carolina has locked up a double bye in the ACC Tournament and, at worst, will be the 4 seed in Brooklyn. They’ll get a chance to play for more on Saturday.