Syracuse vs. UNC: Score and Twitter Reaction from 2015 Regular Season

Syracuse's first ever road game against North Carolina (17-4, 7-1 in ACC) didn't exactly go according to plan.

Although the Orange (14-7, 5-3 in ACC) fought hard for the majority of the game, the No. 13 Tar Heels overcame 20 turnovers to secure a 93-83 win at the Dean Smith Center on Monday.

Despite the sloppy play, this was a balanced effort for North Carolina as four different players finished with at least 17 points. This includes guard Nate Britt, whose 17 off the bench represented a career high.

Eric Bossi of Rivals.com suggested that the team would like to see more performances like this from Britt going forward:

Forwards Kennedy Meeks and Brice Johnson also had 17 in the win, while guard Marcus Paige led the way with 22 points, including 4-of-7 shooting from three-point range.

Guard Trevor Cooney had 28 points in the loss for Syracuse, although he needed 26 shots to reach this mark. Rakeem Christmas had a much more efficient 22 points and 12 rebounds on 6-of-12 shooting. ESPN's Jeff Goodman took notice of the center's progression:

Of course, the big story was the lack of depth, as the Orange received zero points off the bench. Once the starting five got into foul trouble and ran out of energy, the Tar Heels were able to pull away. 

Fans were certainly treated to an exciting game, as neither side was able to take more than a six-point lead until the final two minutes. 

Syracuse got off to a hot start mainly due to the aggressive play of Cooney, as ESPN's C.L. Brown noted:

At the same time, Bret Strelow of The Fayetteville Observer noted that North Carolina's carelessness with the ball made things tougher than they needed to be:

This issue only seemed to worsen as the game continued. Lauren Brownlow of Fox Sports described the embarrassing end to the first half:

Matt Miselis of USA Today gave his impression of the half from a Syracuse perspective:

Despite all of this, the Tar Heels went into intermission down only five points, 40-35.

At the start of the second half, North Carolina emphasized getting the ball down low, with Johnson and Meeks combining for the team's first 12 points. ESPN's Myron Medcalf liked what he saw in the sophomore big man:

UNC jumped out to a quick lead, but the two sides battled back and forth on the scoreboard for the rest of the second half.

It was hard not to be impressed by Syracuse's ability to come through in the clutch every time it seemed like the Tar Heels would pull away, as Brent Axe of Syracuse.com pointed out:

Big shots from both sides kept the game exciting as Christmas, Meeks and Paige all continued to make buckets for their teams. Meanwhile, the outside shooting of Britt also gave UNC an added dimension it's not used to, as Bleacher Report's Brian Pedersen alluded to:

North Carolina had just a 74-72 lead during the final television timeout, but improved defense down the stretch and clutch free-throw shooting helped the squad pull away.

As the lack of depth for the Orange became more noticeable, UNC was able to close out a 10-point win that was not as close as the game would indicate.

Both teams came into the day dealing with a short bench due to injuries. Syracuse used seven players in the game after just six played last time out against Miami, a problem heightened by the season-ending injury to forward Chris McCullough.

North Carolina was without wing Theo Pinson after the freshman broke a bone in his foot. A few other players on the roster were dealing with minor injuries as well, further limiting the Tar Heels on Monday.

Forward J.P. Tokoto explained how this affected the mindset on the court, via John McCann of The Herald-Sun:

"

It all comes down to playing smart. You may show that you’re trying to be less aggressive because you’re thin on the bench, but, at the same time, you can’t back off and just let them do what they want to do. So you still have to play smart. You have to pick and choose your battles, pick and choose when you need to be aggressive when you can.

"

Fortunately for the Tar Heels, "smart" led to "effective" as they pulled out a quality home win. Of course, head coach Roy Williams also had more players at his disposal than his counterpart.

Things get much tougher ahead for North Carolina with a road game at No. 10 Louisville on Saturday before returning home to face No. 2 Virginia on Monday. Managing just one win in that three-day stretch would have to be considered an accomplishment.

On the other hand, Syracuse gets a chance to bolster its record with a relatively easy stretch against former Big East foes Virginia Tech, Pittsburgh and Boston College.

After a solid start to the conference season, the Orange have a chance to put themselves in a favorable position with a few more wins.

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