North Carolina vs. Syracuse: Score and Twitter Reaction from 2016 Final Four

The North Carolina Tar Heels used a strong first half to hold on to an 83-66 victory over the Syracuse Orange on Saturday night in the second national semifinal game in Houston.

They will take on the No. 2-seeded Villanova Wildcats in the national championship game on Monday.

North Carolina celebrated its victory, in hopes of a sixth national title, via Twitter:

Senior Brice Johnson extended his North Carolina career with a 16-point, nine-rebound effort. Kennedy Meeks chipped in 15 points and eight rebounds, while senior point guard Marcus Paige was a steady leader with 13 points and three assists, including this beautiful touch pass for a dunk:

He also made one of the biggest shots of the game. After a 10-0 run by Syracuse to cut the lead to 57-50, Paige came down and nailed the team's first three-pointer in 14 attempts to push the lead to 10 with 9:28 left in the game.

CBS Sports' Jerry Palm noted the big shot: 

When Theo Pinson, who was shooting 28.3 percent from three-point range prior to Saturday's matchup, nailed a triple two possessions later, UNC led, 65-53. The Tar Heels were never ahead by fewer than 10 the rest of the way.

The action was back-and-forth early in the first half, as the two teams traded leads six times in the first 5:04.

Syracuse had the hotter hand early on, nailing five of its first nine shots, but it was just 1-of-4 from the free-throw line. Pat Forde of Yahoo Sports noted Syracuse's start as it led 13-12 around the 13-minute mark of the first half:

The score was the same at the under-12 TV timeout, and despite the fact UNC was in the game, it appeared the Syracuse zone was taking the Tar Heels out of theirs. They were just 6-of-18 (33.3 percent) from the field and had missed all eight of their three-point attempts.

Langston Wertz Jr. of the Charlotte Observer seemed to think the Orange had them right where they wanted them:

Johnson appeared to have UNC in a good spot with a ferocious putback dunk after a missed three-pointer.

However, he picked up a questionable foul call 32 seconds later at the 9:05 mark of the first half, sending him to the bench with two fouls in addition to his eight points and four rebounds.

ESPN Stats & Info noted how much Johnson (and Meeks) meant to their team:

Syracuse returned the favor in terms of fouls, as Michael Gbinije and Malachi Richardson each picked up their second fouls in a span of 20 seconds. Richardson's was on an and-1 that Meeks converted for a 21-18 Tar Heels lead.

CBS Sports' Seth Davis gave his thoughts on the game just prior to Meeks' free throw:

He appeared correct, as North Carolina finished the half on an 18-10 run and took a 39-28 lead into the break.

Sports Illustrated's Pete Thamel praised the Heels heading into the second half:

The shooting percentages switched from early on, as UNC was at 48.6 and Syracuse 35.5 after the first 20 minutes. The Orange helped balance out the Tar Heels' poor three-point shooting by nailing just three of 10 free-throw attempts. 

During the TBS halftime broadcast, Greg Gumbel noted North Carolina is 40-0 all time in the NCAA tournament when leading by at least 10 points at the half.

It turned out to be a telling stat.

The Orange started off well with a three-pointer from Trevor Cooney to cut the lead to 39-31, but they never got closer than seven the rest of the way. 

Johnson, Meeks and Co. were just too much for the Orange, who failed to become the first No. 10 seed to advance to the title game.

It was no shame to lose to the Tar Heels. Nicole Auerbach of USA Today pointed out an impressive stat for North Carolina about halfway through the second half:

Syracuse didn't want that to happen, and Richardson, the star of the Orange's Elite Eight game, tried to will his team back with a layup and big three-pointer to cut the lead to seven:

That's when Paige came up with his big shot to help lead the Tar Heels to their first national championship game since they won it all in 2009.

Cooney led Syracuse in scoring with 22 points, while Richardson added 17.

North Carolina, arguably the hottest team in the tournament, takes on a Villanova squad that beat the No. 2 Oklahoma Sooners by a Final Four-record 44 points in the earlier game.

The Wildcats missed just five shots in the second half and shot 71.4 percent overall, but the Tar Heels have yet to be challenged all tournament. They are too deep at every position and should be able to slow down Villanova enough to outlast it for the championship. 

Postgame Reaction

North Carolina head coach Roy Williams talked about his team's effort following the game, and for the most part, he liked what he saw, per the Associated Press.

"We had a brain lapse there for about three minutes in the second half, but other than that I thought we were really good defensively against a team that's hard to guard," Williams said.

Paige was a big reason that lapse didn't last long: He nailed the three-pointer that helped shift momentum back toward the Tar Heels. Williams was glad to see a shot from long distance finally go down, according to ESPN.com.

"I wanted somebody in a North Carolina uniform to make it," Williams said. "I got really excited because [Paige] had done so many good things and hadn't been able to make a shot."

For his part, Paige didn't take all of the credit, per ESPN.com.

"Their zone, it's almost, on paper, a nightmare matchup for us because we don't shoot it well from three," Paige said. "But we were able to get the ball inside, get it where we wanted to, get enough stops to win the game."

Syracuse head coach Jim Boeheim was short and to the point when discussing what went wrong with his team, according to ESPN.com: "We didn't have to play perfect, but we had to shoot better tonight," he said.

After a hard-fought victory, the postgame presser is much easier to handle, as Carolina Basketball shows:

It appears Williams wants his team to take this one in and have fun, but only for a little while, per ESPN.com.

"Enjoy the Dickens out of it until midnight," Williams said, "and then worry about that other team."