On Tuesday night, Syracuse surprised No. 7 North Carolina 86-79. Judah Mintz scored 25 points, including 16 in the second half, and JJ Starling scored 13 of his 23 points in the second half.
After missing its first ten shots in the second half, North Carolina (19-6, 11-3 Atlantic Coast Conference) fell behind 52-43. However, with 7:16 remaining, RJ Davis’ basket gave North Carolina a 65-64 lead. However, the Orange (16-9, 7-7), who lost 103-67 at Chapel Hill last month, was not going to back down.
With less than seven minutes remaining, Starling made a desperate 3-point bank shot to give the Orange back the lead, 67-65. After a Harrison Ingram jumper with less than three minutes remaining, Starling added another three-pointer to give Syracuse a 76-69 lead. Mintz had previously led the Orange with a layup, a jumper, and two foul shots.
Syracuse won by a narrow margin with to late-game foul shots.
Syracuse’s last victory over a Top 10 team came in an overtime triumph over then-No. 1 Duke at Cameron Indoor Stadium in 2019. Prior to Tuesday’s game, the Orange had lost 16 straight games against AP Top 10 teams, with an average margin of defeat of just under 16 points.
Chris Bell contributed 13 points and Maliq Brown scored 14 points and six rebounds for Syracuse on Tuesday.
Davis scored 19 points to lead North Carolina. Armando Bacot and Harrison Ingram each had fourteen, while Cormac Ryan had eighteen.
