By ADAM ZAGORIA
NEW YORK — Syracuse needed to get on a little run here at the ACC Tournament in order to facilitate its NCAA Tournament chances.
Instead, the No. 11-seeded Orange were knocked out by No. 6 North Carolina, 78-59, in the second round at Barclays Center and will now sweat out yet another Selection Sunday. The Tar Heels advance to play No. 3 Miami in the quarterfinals at 9 p.m. on Thursday.
Syracuse is 20-13 overall, but 9-11 against ACC opponents. They own road wins over Miami and Louisville, the former being an NCAA Tournament lock and the latter helping its case here with a win over Florida State earlier Wednesday.
Entering the day, ESPN’s Joe Lunardi had Syracuse among his “First Four Out.”
“Every coach in the country thinks his team is a Tournament team,” Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim said. “Our RPI was 42 going in today. With that RPI and that strength of schedule, that’s pretty good. We won at Miami, we won at Louisville, we won four or five road games. It just depends on what the Committee decides. There’s a whole group of teams that are almost a coin flip. But this team’s played very well and I think we’re competitive with anybody. We’ll see what they decide.”
He added: “We’re going to play next week, we’ll be ready.”
“They’ve played unbelievable all season long, and hopefully Sunday they’ll be rewarded for it,” UNC coach Roy Williams said of Syracuse.
Now Boeheim and his players must wait four days to see what the Selection Committee decides.
Theo Pinson led the Tar Heels with 16 points, 11 rebounds and 6 assists, Kenny Williams had 17 points and Cameron Johnson and Luke Maye scored 13 apiece.
Oshae Brissett led the Orange with 20 points and 10 rebounds, Tyus Battle scored 15 points on 4-of-21 shooting and Frank Howard scored 12 on 4-of-18.
“These guys fought as hard as you could ask them to fight,” Boeheim said. “I’m very proud of this team.”
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