Cole Anthony felt the game cede to his rhythm. One possession after he hit a 3-pointer, North Carolina’s star guard saw the space in Syracuse’s 2-3 zone as he dribbled past halfcourt. He often did on Saturday afternoon. With 14:50 left in the contest, Anthony rose again. 

“Let me just get it up,” Anthony said to himself as he watched one of his seven 3-pointers fall. 

Pregame, fans identified Anthony by his shoes. The eventual top-NBA draft pick and a celebrity row of Tom Brady and Jimmy Fallon attracted a crowd around the court. The pomp surrounding Saturday afternoon’s game outmatched the consequence. But by the time North Carolina (12-17, 5-13 Atlantic Coast) finished its 92-79 stomping of Syracuse (16-13, 9-9), it was Anthony’s shooting that will be remembered. He dazzled with 25 points and seven assists, connecting on seven of UNC’s season-high 11 3-pointers. 

The Tar Heels entered with a 28.8% from 3, one of the worst in the country. In the first half, they followed suit (2-for-12). Then Anthony (34.4%) took over in the last basketball game in the Carrier Dome before renovations. He sent SU to its fourth loss in six games, further cratering any NCAA Tournament hopes and injecting doubt in its National Invitational Tournament chances. 

“That’s what he is,” Joe Girard III said of Anthony. “It seemed like he never missed.”

The first half reveled in extremes. Girard opened with a 3 from the corner. After the first media timeout, Anthony switched onto him in UNC’s man-to-man defense and the two each drew an offensive foul on the other. Anthony at first dissected the Orange’s 2-3 zone with his passing. He dumped passes into the high post, facilitating North Carolina into an early lead. 

Anthony moved defenders with his eyes as he kept the ball moving along the perimeter. He didn’t hit his first shot until 9:01 remained in the first half. He swung the ball from the corner, watched the defense rotate away and called for it back. As he hit a step-back 3, SU head coach Jim Boeheim called a timeout. Quincy Guerrier walked to the bench and Boeheim pointed past him to where Anthony shot from.

“That zone, it has its benefits but at the end of the day it’s hard to focus on one dude,” Anthony said. “I’m gonna hit them. I like to shoot.” 

Garrison Brooks and Armando Bacot worked the Orange’s interior defense to mixed results. UNC ran high-low action from the post and forced Marek Dolezaj into three fouls. North Carolina turned 13 offensive boards into 22 second-chance points. Sidelined for the remainder of the half, the Tar Heels opened a 16-point lead. The defense crumbled from the inside out as blue jerseys eventually found space around the arc. 

A Buddy turnaround jumper alleviated a six-minute scoreless stretch in the first half, and he then drove for a layup. Syracuse formulated its own 9-0 run with Anthony on the bench, and Elijah Hughes started winning one-on-one matchups. Buddy took advantage of the 6-foot-3 Christian Keeling, leading the Orange with 22 and showed no signs of an ankle injury that kept him out of the second half against Pitt on Feb. 26. Bourama Sidibe, who had a double-double at halftime and finished with 17 points and 15 boards, cleaned misses.

But when Anthony returned in the second half, so did UNC’s lead. He scored eight points in the first six minutes in a variety of ways. After a deflected pass on one possession, Anthony skirted around a throng of white jerseys for a lay-in. With UNC ahead by 13, he baited in the defense and assisted a Keeling corner 3. He knew that with Syracuse’s high-pressure, the corners would be open more often than not. And, following season-long trends, forwards were too late.

“You have to be able to pressure (Anthony),” Boeheim said. “… We just couldn’t get there. We couldn’t get to him.”

The margin hovered in the mid-teens for the remainder of the game. At one point, the crowd missed a Hughes free throw as Fallon temporarily turned the SU pep band into The Roots. Meanwhile, Anthony kept scoring and the deficit ballooned. Syracuse implemented a full-court press and it was broken repeatedly. 

Any other year, this result would’ve been customary. UNC had beaten the Orange in eight-straight heading into Saturday. Yet, the 2019-20 Tar Heels are “the least gifted team” Roy Williams has ever coached at North Carolina, he said on Jan. 7. Then, the most talented player to step on Jim Boeheim Court this season played like it. 

Syracuse finished its home-ACC slate with a 4-6 record, wasting opportunity after opportunity at resume-boosting wins. Saturday seemed like a proper send-off. If nothing else, the crowd caught a glance of celebrity. 

“We gotta keep going,” Hughes said postgame. “One breath at a time, one play at a time, one game at a time. That’s all we can really do at this point.” 

Published on February 29, 2020 at 6:22 pm

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