Jim Boeheim acknowledged a crowd of 26,811 with a brief and seemingly forced wave. The pitch of their roar had overtaken a public address announcer that was able to introduce his name for the first time in 32 days. It was the beginning of a night that was — whether he liked it or not — dedicated to him.

“Same as always,” Boeheim said, before repeating himself. “… It’s not something new for me.”

Syracuse played an inspired game in front its 40-year head coach who returned from a nine-game suspension. It outrebounded a team that outrebounds its opponents by 10 a game. It took a six-point, second-half lead on a team that, on paper, may have been better at every position. The Carrier Dome felt a high that it hadn’t at any previous point this season, but it was a “same as always” result and storyline for the Orange (10-7, 0-4 Atlantic Coast), dropping its fourth consecutive conference game in an 84-73 loss to No. 6 North Carolina (15-2, 4-0).

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MORE COVERAGE

• Dajuan Coleman plays season-high 27 minutes in loss to Tar Heels
• What we learned from Syracuse basketball’s 84-73 loss to No. 6 North Carolina
• Trevor Cooney shines and Michael Gbinije shrinks in loss to UNC

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Nothing was different for Boeheim, a man that has coached 1,315 games but joked he’s coached 100 fewer, a subtle jab at the NCAA vacating wins. And for Syracuse, despite the hype and hoopla of a game that set Saturday night apart, it was a similar late collapse that put SU in its deepest conference hole in 19 years.

“We just want to win, period, at this point,” Michael Gbinije said. “Having these back-to-back losses, it’s not a fun environment to be in. It hits us … We talk about it a lot.”

Syracuse and North Carolina traded leads 16 times on Saturday. It was the Tar Heels that had started out with a 27-20 lead. When the Orange had scored, the crowd reacted to each like it was a game-winning shot. But 14 minutes in, UNC was on a 10-0 run, powered by eight points in the paint.

Trevor Cooney created space by fading away on a corner 3 to start the SU response. Then he hit a pull-up jumper. And even though his long-range jumper missed, an offensive rebound from Dajuan Coleman and a 3-pointer by Malachi Richardson erased SU’s six-minute and 13-second scoring drought.

At the next dead ball, Cooney, who finished with 27 points, flexed his arms at his sides. It was like this every time UNC made its run. The Tar Heels went up 44-38 early in the second half. But Richardson stared down Theo Pinson after the UNC guard tripped trying to defend his perfect 3-pointer.

It was pure emotion and adrenaline that kept Syracuse afloat, players said after the game. And it seemed to be never-ending.

“We wanted to win this game bad,” forward Tyler Roberson said. “… We really needed this one.”

North Carolina owned the paint, though, and it owned the high post. That led to easy points, including six Tar Heel dunks, each seemingly more thunderous than the last. The Tar Heels broke down Syracuse for 12 makes in each of its final 13 attempts from the field.

The Orange had cut the lead to six points on a Gbinije three-point play and Tyler Lydon had made a body-diving block in transition on Marcus Paige. But a Justin Jackson layup proved it only delayed the inevitable.

Syracuse had answered every run. It played, at times better than the better team. But just like Syracuse has seen a second-half lead slip away in each of its first three conference losses, it happened again to finish the fourth.

With 1:13 to play, Boeheim sat in his chair, his hand rotating between a place to rest his chin and a tool to scratch the back of his ear. The same fans that greeted him with undying devotion had begun streaming out before the night was complete.

He got up with five seconds left, and waited for the result to be official before walking to shake Roy Williams’ hand, the victor on a night defined by his return.

“A long way to go,” Boeheim said, unprompted, before he left his press conference. “We’ll be fine.”

Published on January 9, 2016 at 10:12 pm

Contact Sam: sblum@syr.edu | @SamBlum3