North Carolina vs. Syracuse: Game preview, TV schedule, prediction

The North Carolina Tar Heels are riding a five-game winning streak and are back on the road against a Syracuse Orange team that is trying to survive on the bubble.

TV Schedule: Wednesday, Feb. 21, 2018 at 7 p.m. ET on ESPN

Arena: Carrier Dome, Syracuse, New York

The North Carolina Tar Heels have been all over the place this ACC season. The last time UNC had consecutive road games they fell to Florida State and Virginia. That sparked a five-game winning streak. Then came a three-game skid, but wins over Pitt and Duke sparked another great run.

Syracuse on the other hand is trying to stay above water. One week they’re in the Tournament and the next week the Orange are on the wrong side of the cut line. With a win over Louisville on Feb. 5 gave Syracuse a much-needed victory, but then they fell to North Carolina State. The Orange bounced back this past weekend with another much-needed win over Miami.

It’s been Jim Boeheim’s job to drive college basketball fans and bracketologists nuts. It’s always tough to determine what to do with them. The one thing that Syracuse has going for them is that the ACC has been great in recent years so they have opportunities to pick up good wins and their losses aren’t always bad.

During the three-game losing streak, North Carolina had a lot of questions around them. All three teams lit up the Tar Heel defense and North Carolina had serious issues trying to find depth outside of Joel Berry II and Luke Maye.

One of the two guards were thought to be the guys who were going to step it up for UNC, but it’s actually been the senior forward. Theo Pinson does a little bit of everything. He averages just under double-figures for the season, but has been above 10 the past three games. He only contributed 4 against Duke, but he grabbed seven boards and dished four assists.

Pinson knew that one of the biggest problem surrounding UNC was that they were getting beat up inside. Maye is a double-double machine, but he can’t be the only guy.

Sterling Manley and Garrison Brooks are both taller than Maye, but the freshmen bigs aren’t getting the job done.

Kenny Williams and Cameron Johnson are going to produce. They have to ability to hit from deep, but it’s hard to get second chance opportunities when no one is grabbing a board.

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Syracuse on the other hand has no depth to speak of. They are led by three really good guys. Tyus Battle leads the country in minutes per game at 38.7. Battle averages almost 20 points per game and just over two three-pointers per game. Franklin Howard is not too far behind in minutes per game at 38. He averages 15 points and 5 assists per game. Finally there’s Oshae Brissett who’s just under 38 minutes per game averaging 14.7 points and nine boards.

When those three guys are clicking the Orange win a lot of games. The problem though is that they can’t always just rely on guys who play almost every minute of every game. All three of the guys average under 45 percent from the field. In fact, no one else has hit over four three-pointers this season for Syracuse.

Everyone knows that their zone is always going to give opponents fits. Syracuse has not allowed a team to score over 75 points since Florida State defeated them in OT on Jan. 13. Most recently, they held Miami to almost 20 points under their season average. They were able to hold every Hurricane under 35 percent from shooting downtown.

Syracuse needs their offense to click in-order for the 2-3 zone to mean something. Battle does have the ability to go off in any game, but that doesn’t always have to be the case. He only had 13 against Miami while a fourth scorer, Marek Dolezaj found double-digits. It was only the fourth time all season he did that, but lately when he shoots well from the floor, Syracuse has success.

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The North Carolina Tar Heels don’t have scoring depth, but they have actual bodies to play. Syracuse has reached the point where only two guys come off the bench for them. The two guys who do come off the bench for the Orange are big guys so that will be something they have going for them.

UNC will want to start knocking down three-pointers early. They need to get hot to start the game against this zone. I have no doubt that Syracuse will stay in it all game. With the way the Tar Heels play defense and the capabilities of Battle, the Orange will put up a great fight. However, with the amount of bodies North Carolina can throw at Syracuse, the Heels should be able to out shoot them in the long run.

One last note, I have enjoyed this matchup ever since Syracuse has joined the ACC. I went to college for a few years with a buddy who loves the Orange so we had some good times getting into it whenever UNC plays Cuse.

Prediction: North Carolina: 75 Syracuse 70