The Syracuse Orange came back home to the Dome after losing to the Miami Hurricanes on the road, 91-84, while the Hurricanes were in 18th place of 18 schools inside the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC).
Their adversary, the North Carolina Tar Heels, came into Central New York on a four-game losing streak on the road, being on the wrong side of games against the Wake Forest Demon Deacons, Pittsburgh Panthers, Duke Blue Devils, and Clemson Tigers.
Out of a break in the action at the 11:40 mark, senior center Naheem McLeod went inside for two to get the Orange with one possession, down 13-10.
After coming in at the 14:14 mark for senior forward Jyare Davis, true freshman forward Petar Majstorovic scored on back-to-back field goals between the 9:58 and 9:36 marks to get Syracuse within one, behind 15-14.
Immediately following the media timeout inside eight minutes in the first half, junior forward Chris Bell tied things up for the Orange with a corner three to make it 19-all.
However, freshman guard Ian Jackson would answer right back with a three to elevate the Tar Heels back ahead, this time at 22-19.
After the 19-19 tie, North Carolina would go on a 12-2 run to give themselves a double-digit advantage, 31-21.
At the half, the Tar Heels led 42-34.
On 7-for-15 shooting from long range in the first 20 minutes, half of North Carolina's first-half points (21 of their 42) came from three-pointers.
Junior guard J.J. Starling's first field goal of the game came on Syracuse's first possession of the second half, with a tough right-handed shot on the right side of the basket.
But, as they did in the opening half, the Tar Heels would respond right back, with an alley-oop make by junior forward Ven-Allen Lubin, followed by threes by graduate forward Jae'lyn Withers, junior guard Seth Trimble, and Withers again to give North Carolina a 52-41 lead thanks to scoring on these their first four possessions of the latter half.
With a 1-for-2 performance at the line by sophomore guard Elliot Cadeau, the Tar Heels had scored on all of their first five possessions.
Later on, Starling would score eight of Syracuse's nine points to get the Orange within one possession, 60-57.
His old-fashioned three-point play right before the 10-minute mark would tie the game at 60.
After a couple free throws by graduate guard RJ Davis, Majstorovic would find graduate center Eddie Lampkin, Jr., inside for a dunk tie the game once again, this time at 62-apiece.
Jackson would respond by making his fifth three-pointer of the night, moving North Carolina ahead 65-62; this shot also got Jackson to 20 points in the contest.
Syracuse head coach Adrian Autry would take McLeod out and the Tar Heels would take advantage, scoring four field goals inside, giving them 10 total points with two of those field goals coming with a free throw, moving the Tar Heels ahead by seven, 75-68.
With 1:45 to go in the game, Starling stole the ball from Withers after Withers grabbed the defensive rebound. He would go up over his head at the rim for a field goal plus the free throw to get Syracuse within two possessions, with an 81-76 deficit.
Starling would be fouled at the 1:16 mark and go 2-for-2 to make it a four-point game, 82-78 North Carolina,
Lampkin would make both of his freebies with 58 seconds remaining to bring the Orange to a two-point game, down 82-80.
But, Cadeau went inside for an easy two to follow at the rim, giving North Carolina four points of separation, 84-80, with 39 seconds left.
Davis would then go 2-for-2 at the charity stripe to extend the Tar Heels out to an 86-80 advantage with 25.1 seconds on the game clock.
Lampkin would get a layup to make it 86-82 Tar Heels, and that would be the last score for the Orange.
Freshman guard/forward Drake Powell went 2-for-2 at the line for the final points of the night, giving North Carolina an 88-82 victory.
North Carolina improved to 15-11 overall, including an ACC record of 8-6.
With the loss, Syracuse falls to 11-15 overall and 5-10 in the ACC.
Jackson would lead all Tar Heels with 23 points, including going 5-for-10 from distance, followed by Withers with 19 and Davis with 16.
Lampkin led all scorers on both teams with 26 points. He would end with a double-double, thanks to his 11 rebounds.
Starling would end the night with 22 points, 20 of which were scored in the second half, and senior guard Lucas Taylor had 10 points for Syracuse.
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