ACC Basketball: Coby White goes off for 34 points as UNC beats Syracuse

Coby White and Tyus Battle played lights out for their respective teams in this primetime ACC Basketball matchup but UNC defended home court.

The Syracuse basketball team (18-10, 9-6 ACC) needed to come out strong if they were going to have a chance to beat a surging North Carolina basketball team (23-5, 13-2 ACC) late in the season.

The Orange jumped out to a 5-0 lead to start the game thanks to Frank Howard and Tyus Battle. Their biggest lead of the first half was eight, 15-7, at the 16:37 mark.

The Tarheels chipped away at the Orange lead cutting it to one, 19-18 with 12:37 remaining. Coby White, Cameron Johnson, Nasir Little, and Luke Maye led the charge for the Tar Heels keeping the game close for the most part.

The Orange grabbed another lead after two three-pointers hit the bottom of the net from Elijah Hughes and Buddy Boeheim. The score was 39-33 at this point.

North Carolina basketball drove the lane, drew fouls and made their free throws. As a result, the Tar Heels were only down by three, 46-43, at halftime. They were 19-of-21 at the free throw line and that’s what kept them in this game despite shooting 37 percent.

Syracuse’ Elijah Hughes had 15 points along with the Tarheels’ Coby White. Howard and Battle combined for 14 points, 10 assists, and six rebounds to finish the first half. White hit two threes in the second half to help tie the game and converted an and one opportunity that gave them a five-point 54-49 lead.

Now the Tar Heels were starting to take control and a 12-0 run got the crowd excited in Chapel Hill and the Orange players were frustrated.

63-58 was the score under 12 minutes to go in the game after a Coby White three ball clanked off the rim and fell in. Syracuse basketball started a run of their own trying to regain the lead. Battle was a man on a mission. He scored 17 of his 23 points in the second half with eight minutes left.

It was anyone’s game under seven minutes to go and White reached 32 points after he drained a three and took a fast break opportunity to the house for a dunk. His efforts gave North Carolina basketball an 81-73 lead coming out of a Syracuse basketball timeout.

The Tar Heels largest lead was 10, 83-73 and they looked to be in the driver seat with four minutes left.

The Tarheels were able to win this game by getting to the line, converting those opportunities and causing two Syracuse players to foul out. The 93-85 win was North Carolina basketball’s fourth in a row. They also outrebounded the Orange 46-25.

White finished with 34 points on 9-of-14 shooting and six made threes in addition to four rebounds and three assists. Battle finished with 29 points, five rebounds and five assists for the Orange.

The Tar Heels go on the road on Saturday to begin March. They look to win their fifth straight game against the Clemson Tigers (16-11, 6-8 ACC) at 6 pm on ESPN.  The Orange have the Wake Forest Demon Deacons (11-16, 4-11 ACC)  up next Saturday at noon on ACC Network.