Tar Heels Hold Off Syracuse, But Letdown Late Sends Clear Message: Finish What You Start
CHAPEL HILL - For 30 minutes, North Carolina looked every bit the part of a team ready to run Syracuse out of the Smith Center. The ball was moving, the defense was locked in, and the Tar Heels had built a commanding second-half lead that had the crowd exhaling and the bench smiling. But with just under 10 minutes to play, the energy shifted - and not in UNC’s favor.
What should’ve been a statement win turned into a scramble to hold on. The Tar Heels still walked away with the victory, but the mood afterward wasn’t one of celebration.
It was one of correction. This wasn’t about surviving a scare.
This was about letting a dominant performance slip into something far more precarious - and knowing it shouldn’t have.
“We got too comfortable,” sophomore guard Jonathan Powell said bluntly. “We were up big, and we went away from the things that put us in a position to be up.”
Powell wasn’t questioning the team’s talent. He was calling out the shift in habits - the kind of details that separate good teams from great ones.
UNC had been sharp and connected while building its lead. Then, as Syracuse turned up the pressure, the Tar Heels drifted away from the formula that got them there.
“No matter how much we're up,” Powell added, “staying consistent, the little things that got us that lead in the first place.”
Head coach Hubert Davis didn’t downplay the final stretch either. In fact, he leaned into it.
When asked what his team could learn from the closing minutes, Davis didn’t chalk it up to a cold spell or a fluke run. He saw it as a breakdown in execution - and a teachable moment that carries weight.
“I put a lot of stock in it,” Davis said. “We always talk about finishing possessions, finishing halves, finishing games, and that's just unacceptable.”
The frustration wasn’t just about missed shots. Davis pointed to the full checklist: poor shot selection, sloppy ball handling, defensive lapses, unnecessary fouls, and missed box-outs. Syracuse cut the lead all the way to six, and Davis made it clear that wasn’t just a run - it was a warning.
“We have stretches of brilliance,” he said, “and then we’ll go stretches where we’re making multiple mistakes consecutively. That’s something we have to work on and get better at.”
Center Henri Veesaar echoed that sentiment. He described the second-half letdown like a switch being flipped - one that UNC couldn’t turn back on fast enough. The Tar Heels came out of halftime with energy and purpose, extended the lead, and then - just like that - eased up.
“We kind of let go,” Veesaar said. “Kind of felt like the game was a little bit over.
They started making shots, and we kind of got in a panic. We didn’t stay calm.
It shows that you can’t ever let off the gas.”
To his credit, Veesaar didn’t sugarcoat it. He credited Syracuse for turning up the heat and pointed out that UNC didn’t respond with the poise or discipline the moment required.
“They ramped up the pressure a lot,” he said. “You’ve got to play through contact.
And the other part is just getting to the right places. When they start pressuring, your nerves get there.
Just stay calm. Go to your spots.
Trust what’s working. Don’t make anything up on your own.
Just trust the plan.”
Still, Veesaar saw value in the scare. With the calendar flipped to February and the ACC race tightening, every possession starts to matter more. And every lapse becomes more costly.
“It’s a good learning experience,” he said. “If the game was a little bit closer, they could’ve come back and won.” He called it “a lot of learning material” - the kind of tape that sharpens practice habits and raises the urgency.
Freshman Caleb Wilson kept it simple. His takeaway? Focus - or lack thereof.
“We should have just kept focused,” Wilson said. His message echoed the locker room’s tone: glad to get the win, but fully aware of what almost slipped away. “It’s always big to get a win in the ACC,” he added, “but we can’t let that happen again.”
Wilson pointed to execution - or more specifically, the lack of it - as the root of the problem. UNC didn’t just relax. They stopped doing the things that had worked so well to build the lead.
“Poor execution offensively and defensively,” he said. “Not being detailed and not sticking to what we did to start the game.”
That’s the kind of honesty you want to hear from a young player. And it’s the kind of mindset that suggests this team knows what it’s chasing - not just wins, but complete performances.
“We still won,” Wilson said. “It’s something to learn from. It’s always on to the next.”
Luka Bogavac brought up another key point: response time. When Syracuse started to swing the momentum, UNC didn’t adjust quickly enough. The urgency, especially after missed shots and defensive breakdowns, just wasn’t there.
“We took a lot of time to react,” Bogavac said. “We should be faster. That will be the key for us in coming games.”
And that, ultimately, is where Davis kept his focus. Not on the scoreboard, but on the standard. The win counts - but so do the warning signs.
“Your focus should be real on what’s in front of you,” Davis said.
In February, with March looming, that focus can’t waver. Because no matter how big the lead, if the habits slip, the game won’t stay comfortable for long.