North Carolina Faces Syracuse In Their Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament Opener

The last time North Carolina and Syracuse met was back on February 21st when North Carolina escaped the Carrier Dome with a 78-74 win.

This time around though Syracuse will be looking for revenge while North Carolina will look to stop their two -game losing skid or avoid a third straight loss in the second round of the ACC Tournament.

North Carolina comes into the Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament with a record of 22-9 while finishing the regular season with a record of 11-7 in conference play "according to http://goheels.com/schedule.aspx?path=mbball with their most recent loss coming to rival Duke on Saturday March 3rd in Durham..

 With No. 5 Duke trailing its fiercest rival and struggling to match the magnitude of the moment, coach Mike Krzyzewski had a simple message for his team. "according to http://goheels.com/news/2018/3/3/mens-basketball-basketball-at-duke.aspx?path=mbball

No pressure — and no set plays, either. "according to http://goheels.com/news/2018/3/3/mens-basketball-basketball-at-duke.aspx?path=mbball

"Take the pianos off your back, quit playing with all the pressure in the world, get a smile on your face," Krzyzewski said. "Just play." "according to http://goheels.com/news/2018/3/3/mens-basketball-basketball-at-duke.aspx?path=mbball

Marvin Bagley III had 18 of his 21 points in the second half along with 15 rebounds, and No. 5 Duke erased a 13-point deficit in the second half and beat No. 9 North Carolina 74-64 on Saturday night. "according to http://goheels.com/news/2018/3/3/mens-basketball-basketball-at-duke.aspx?path=mbball

Grayson Allen added 15 points in his final game at Cameron Indoor Stadium, and Gary Trent Jr. had 13 points — including three 3-pointers in the final 10 minutes — to help the Blue Devils (25-6, 13-5) clinch the No. 2 seed in the Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament. "according to http://goheels.com/news/2018/3/3/mens-basketball-basketball-at-duke.aspx?path=mbball

Duke was 8 of 15 from 3-point range in the second half — the Blue Devils made just 1 of 10 from that distance in the first half — and outrebounded North Carolina 24-13 after halftime. "according to http://goheels.com/news/2018/3/3/mens-basketball-basketball-at-duke.aspx?path=mbball

"They kicked our butts in the second half," UNC coach Roy Williams said. "according to http://goheels.com/news/2018/3/3/mens-basketball-basketball-at-duke.aspx?path=mbball

Cameron Johnson scored 16 points for the Tar Heels (22-9, 11-7), while Kenny Williams and Luke Maye each had 13. Three weeks after they rallied from a double-figure deficit to win the rivalry's first game, it was the Blue Devils' turn to flip the script. "according to http://goheels.com/news/2018/3/3/mens-basketball-basketball-at-duke.aspx?path=mbball

Duke trailed by 11 with 14 1/2 minutes to play, but once the pressure started to fade, the ACC's top offense finally found its rhythm. "according to http://goheels.com/news/2018/3/3/mens-basketball-basketball-at-duke.aspx?path=mbball

"I'm not going to call any plays," Krzyzewski said he told his team. "If you hit, cut, everybody touch the ball, you see a play to make, you make the play. And get comfortable in the game. And they did that. You could see them do that." "according to http://goheels.com/news/2018/3/3/mens-basketball-basketball-at-duke.aspx?path=mbball

The Blue Devils hit four 3s in 4 1/2 minutes to erase that deficit, and that came early during the 25-10 burst keyed by six 3s that put them ahead to stay."according to http://goheels.com/news/2018/3/3/mens-basketball-basketball-at-duke.aspx?path=mbball


BIG PICTURE
North Carolina: The Tar Heels had a chance to spoil Duke's Senior Night for the third time in their last four regular-season-ending visits to Cameron, and sweep their fiercest rivals. Instead, after too many missed shots at inopportune times, they'll enter the postseason on a two-game losing streak. "according to http://goheels.com/news/2018/3/3/mens-basketball-basketball-at-duke.aspx?path=mbball

"Played a little timid, and it's hard to win games like that — playing timid," guard Joel Berry said. "according to http://goheels.com/news/2018/3/3/mens-basketball-basketball-at-duke.aspx?path=mbball

Duke: This very well might have been the final game at Cameron for a good chunk of the starting five, with Allen — the team's lone senior — surrounded by three potential one-and-done freshmen and Krzyzewski acknowledging in the leadup to the game that "it's the last game probably for a few of our other kids, too." The offense came alive just in time to send Allen — and maybe the others — out the way they wanted."according to http://goheels.com/news/2018/3/3/mens-basketball-basketball-at-duke.aspx?path=mbball


KEY STATS
North Carolina, which tied a program record with two turnovers in the previous meeting on Feb. 8, had much more trouble taking care of the ball in this one. The Tar Heels had 14 turnovers and the Blue Devils turned them into 15 points. "according to http://goheels.com/news/2018/3/3/mens-basketball-basketball-at-duke.aspx?path=mbball


COMFORT ZONE
The Tar Heels also set a program record under Williams by taking 33 3-pointers in the first meeting, and put up 31 more in this one against Duke's 2-3 zone defense. But they only made eight — three after halftime — and the most conspicuous stat line belonged to Berry, last year's Final Four Most Outstanding Player who finished 0 for 7 from 3-point range. "I don't like shooting 31 3s," Williams said. "That's not who we are." "according to http://goheels.com/news/2018/3/3/mens-basketball-basketball-at-duke.aspx?path=mbball


KEY STRETCH
Duke had missed 13 of its first 14 3s before Trevon Duval and Allen connected on back-to-back possessions near the 13-minute mark and made it a two-possession game. Then, after Johnson missed a 3-pointer, Bagley finished off a pretty feed from Duval for a dunk that pulled the Blue Devils to 46-43 and reclaimed the momentum for good. "Marvin went nuts there for a while and just put us on his back," Krzyzewski said. "according to http://goheels.com/news/2018/3/3/mens-basketball-basketball-at-duke.aspx?path=mbball


HE SAID IT
"Aliens crawled up in my guys' bodies in the second half, because this wasn't the North Carolina team I've seen all year." — Williams, on his team losing composure in the second half. "according to http://goheels.com/news/2018/3/3/mens-basketball-basketball-at-duke.aspx?path=mbball

Syracuse comes into their game with North Carolina with a record of 20-12 "according tohttp://cuse.com/news/2018/3/6/mens-basketball-cuse-holds-off-late-push-from-wf.aspx  haven played in the first round of the ACC Tournament Tuesday at the  Barclays Center defeating Wake Forest.

Freshman scored a career-high 20 points to lead 11th-seeded Syracuse (20-12) to a 73-64 win over 14th-seeded Wake Forest (11-20) Tuesday night in the first round of the New York Like ACC Tournament.


Sophomore Tyus Battle recorded 18 points with six boards and junior Paschal Chukwu finshed with 14 points, nine boards and three blocks. Junior Frank Howard produced 11 points, five rebounds and five assists and freshman Oshae Brissett added 10 points and grabbed nine boards. "according to http://cuse.com/news/2018/3/6/mens-basketball-cuse-holds-off-late-push-from-wf.aspx

How it was Decided
With Syracuse clinging to a 62-56 lead, Chukwu finished an alley-oop on back-to-back possessions and Syracuse hit seven foul shots down the stretch to seal the victory. "according to http://cuse.com/news/2018/3/6/mens-basketball-cuse-holds-off-late-push-from-wf.aspx

Game Summary
Syracuse jumped out to a 20-4 lead. Battle drained a jumper, Chukwu hit two free throws and Dolezaj added a bucket. Wake Forest made a two baskets, sandwiched around a Howard trey. Battle scored seven of the next 11 Orange points to cap the run."according to http://cuse.com/news/2018/3/6/mens-basketball-cuse-holds-off-late-push-from-wf.aspx

An 11-1 run pulled the Demon Deacons within four and Dolezaj made a layup to send Syracuse into halftime with a 30-24 lead. "according to http://cuse.com/news/2018/3/6/mens-basketball-cuse-holds-off-late-push-from-wf.aspx

Five points from Dolezaj and a 3-point play by Howard fueled an 8-2 run to open the second half and give the Orange a 12-point lead. Later in the half, Syracuse went on an 11-0 run off a 3-pointer by Howard, two layups from Chukwu and dunks by Dolezaj and Brissett to take a 56-37 lead with 8:12 remaining."according to http://cuse.com/news/2018/3/6/mens-basketball-cuse-holds-off-late-push-from-wf.aspx

Wake Forest went on a 14-2 run to trim the Orange lead to six with 1:24 to go. "according to http://cuse.com/news/2018/3/6/mens-basketball-cuse-holds-off-late-push-from-wf.aspx

Numbers of Note
Syracuse shot 23-of-42 (.528) from the field and 12-of-18 (.667) in the second half, while holding Wake Forest to 23-of-64 (.359) shooting. The Orange held a 34-30 advantage in rebounds and out-blocked the Demon Deacons 7-3."according to http://cuse.com/news/2018/3/6/mens-basketball-cuse-holds-off-late-push-from-wf.aspx

The victory gives Syracuse its first win at the ACC Tournament. The Orange are 1-3 in ACC Tournament play and look to become the first team to win first and second round games since the contest expanded to five days in 2014."according to http://cuse.com/news/2018/3/6/mens-basketball-cuse-holds-off-late-push-from-wf.aspx

Dolezaj entered Tuesday night's contest averaging 4.7 points per game. The Bratislava, Slovakia native topped his season average by 15.3 points."according to http://cuse.com/news/2018/3/6/mens-basketball-cuse-holds-off-late-push-from-wf.aspx

Tip-off is set for 9:00pm from the Barclays Center in Brooklyn New York. The game will be televised on ESPN2 or the ACC Network. "according to http://cuse.com/news/2018/3/6/mens-basketball-cuse-holds-off-late-push-from-wf.aspx