SYRACUSE, N.Y. — North Carolina responded Saturday afternoon, taking down Syracuse 77-64 inside the JMA Wireless Dome. The win improves the Tar Heels to 21-6 on the season, and 9-5 in the ACC.
Henri Veesaar Leads Heels In Return
North Carolina starting center Henri Veesaar returned for the Tar Heels on Saturday following a two-game absence tending to a lower-extremity injury.
Veesaar announced his return in a big way, leading all Tar Heel scorers with 19 points, shooting 9-of-13 from the floor, playing 26 minutes in his first game back in the lineup.
Veesaar was officially listed as a game time decision two hours prior to tipoff, before it was announced that the seven-footer would, in fact, be available for the Tar Heels and would be starting after taking part in UNC’s pregame warmups.
Second Half Run To Separate
After the Orange tied the score at 44-44 with 12:07 to play, North Carolina responded by outscoring them 33-20 the rest of the way to set up the double-digit victory.
In the Feb. 2 meeting between the Tar Heels and Orange, Syracuse ripped off a 37-11 second half run to make a would-be blowout into a much tighter game.
Saturday afternoon, it was the Tar Heels who got the best of the Orange down the stretch. North Carolina held Syracuse to 13-of-30 from the floor in the second half (43.3 percent).
Freeman Frustrated
In the second matchup between these two teams, the Tar Heels did a much better job limiting Syracuse’s Donnie Freeman, holding the Orange forward to nine points on 3-of-8 shooting.
In the Feb. 2 matchup, Freeman punished the Tar Heels, leading all scorers with 23 points. Saturday afternoon, Hubert Davis threw a variety of different looks at Freeman to frustrate Syracuse’s leading scorer, who was ejected with 1:44 to play after picking up his second technical foul of the game.
Up Next
The Tar Heels head back to Chapel Hill for a quick turnaround to host No. 21 Louisville Monday night at 7 p.m.