North Carolina’s offense has its fair share of issues, but when it gets a chance to run it becomes dangerous.

To counter that, Jim Boeheim laid out two major things Syracuse needed to do in order to stave off an upset.

His first goal was simple: Get back on defense. The next was just as easy to say, but harder to do.

“Rebound the basketball.”

“I just thought we did a really good job, our best job on the boards all year, really,” the head coach said.

The No. 2 Orange (16-0, 3-0 Atlantic Coast) out-rebounded the Tar Heels 41-35 to keep UNC (10-6, 0-3) at bay and pick up a win in front of the 32,121 that made up the largest on-campus crowd of the season.

Jerami Grant paved the way with an eight-rebound first half and finished with a double-double of 12 and 12. Rakeem Christmas followed suit and grabbed eight rebounds of his own, as did C.J. Fair.

North Carolina’s strength lies on the interior with James Michael McAdoo and Brice Johnson, but on Saturday they couldn’t hang with SU’s frontcourt.

“It was our will to go get it and I think it’s easier to rebound when they take shots from the inside instead of if you shoot 3s, it’s going to be a long rebound,” Fair said. “The majority of their offense is get the ball inside and we were able to cover that.”

The Tar Heels entered Saturday’s game making fewer 3s per game than all but two teams in the country, but also ranked 33rd in the country in rebound margin. Syracuse played UNC to its weakness — North Carolina made just two 3s — but also outworked the Tar Heels at their own game.

“Rebounding is a big part of success in any game, and for us to get the job done on the boards against a good rebounding team it shows a good sign for us,” Fair said.

The Orange’s success on the boards let it get out in transition, guard Tyler Ennis said, but it was just as important in getting SU second chances.

In the first half, Ennis missed a layup, but Christmas got his hand on the ball to keep it in the air. The ball fell to Ennis who was able to put it back for two points. Syracuse actually shot a worse percentage than UNC, but attempted nine more field goals.

“It helps everybody,” Ennis said, “so that’s got to be our main focus: Getting stops, first of all, and then rebounding.”

Published on January 11, 2014 at 5:51 pm

Contact David: dbwilson@syr.edu | @DBWilson2