ACC Basketball: Roy Williams earns 800th win in beat down of ‘Cuse

In an ACC basketball battle, North Carolina beat Syracuse on Monday night to give Roy Williams his 800th win.

The North Carolina Tar Heels are in sole possession of second place in the ACC after their beat down of the Syracuse Orange on Monday night.

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Roy Williams picked up his 800th win of his head coaching career at the Dean Smith Center, helping the Tar Heels knock off the Orange, 85-68. Williams joins Mike Krzyzewski, Jim Boeheim, Bobby Knight, Dean Smith, Jim Calhoun, Adolph Rupp, Eddie Sutton and Bob Huggins as the only coaches who have won 800 or more games in their careers.

Meanwhile, in the actual game, the Tar Heels dominated Syracuse on the interior. They received 20 points and eight rebounds from senior forward Isaiah Hicks, and another 15 points and 12 rebounds from big man Kennedy Meeks. Luke Maye had another excellent performance off the bench as he scored eight points, while Theo Pinson and Justin Jackson combined to grab 15 rebounds to help out the bigs in the absence of Tony Bradley (concussion).

After all that production on the glass, the Tar Heels won the rebounding battle by 20 (44-24).

North Carolina also used their balance to stunt the Orange. Joel Berry II only scored 10 points on 4-of-7 shooting, but UNC truly didn’t need him to be outstanding on Monday evening. Instead, Hicks, Meeks and Jackson (19 points) provided major lifts, and the bench scored 15 total points.

Tyler Lydon performed terrifically (26 points and seven rebounds) for Syracuse, but the Orange had no chance of keeping up with the Tar Heels’ depth. Jim Boeheim plays only six guys, and when John Gillon scores only four points on 1-of-7 shooting, they are unlikely to win too many games.

In the big picture, North Carolina has now won five straight games and are trailing only unbeaten (5-0 in league play) Notre Dame in the ACC standings. The Tar Heels have played like the best team in the league, bouncing back from their opening loss to Georgia Tech in stellar fashion.

If anyone is the current favorite to win the regular season title, I would go with the Tar Heels.

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On the other side, Syracuse has played a lot better as of late. While they lost by 17 points, this performance is nothing to be discouraged about considering the venue and how well the Tar Heels are playing. The Orange are 11-8 and 3-3 in the ACC, but ever since cutting their rotation down, they have played much more consistent basketball. The Orange have won all three of their home outings in league play, so now it’s time to rack up some wins away from upstate New York.