Orange, Tar Heels Square Off At Dome Saturday

Game Details: Saturday, Feb. 15, Syracuse, N.Y., 6 p.m.
TV: ESPN
Live Coverage: Stats
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Syracuse (11-14, 5-9 ACC) is back home at the JMA Wireless Dome on Saturday for a clash with North Carolina (14-11, 7-6 ACC). The contest between the Orange and Tar Heels will tip at 6 p.m. and air live on ESPN.

Setting The Stage
On Tuesday, Syracuse was defeated by Miami at the Watsco Center, 91-84. J.J. Starling led the Orange with 25 points while Eddie Lampkin Jr. turned in his 10^th double-double of the campaign, scoring a career-high 22 points to go along with a team-best 13 boards. Chris Bell added 14 points off the bench, 12 of which came in the opening period. Starling, Lampkin and Bell combined for 73-percent of Syracuse's points in the contest (61-of-84).

North Carolina enters Saturday's game having lost five of its last seven outings, including an 85-65 defeat at the hands of Clemson on Monday. Three Tar Heels reached double figures against the Tigers, led by RJ Davis' 18 points. North Carolina is 3-6 this season in true road games and has lost four straight away from home.

Hubert Davis is in his fourth season at the helm of the Tar Heels. Davis led North Carolina to the ACC regular season title and a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament a season ago. He is 92-42 with the Heels and took the program to the national championship game during his debut campaign in 2021-22.

The Syracuse-North Carolina Series
North Carolina leads the series against Syracuse, 17-7. However, the Orange won the most recent matchup between the teams, as Syracuse toppled No. 7 North Carolina at the Dome, 86-79, behind 48 combined points from Judah Mintz and Starling. North Carolina took the other meeting between the teams last season in Chapel Hill.

Syracuse holds a 3-5 mark against the Tar Heels in home games. Prior to the victory at the Dome last season, the Orange had lost three straight games against North Carolina.

Starling Starring
Starling has scored 25-plus points in consecutive games, as he tallied 28 in the triple overtime win over Boston College and 25 on Tuesday against Miami. He has reached 25 points on six occasions this season.

Starling surpassed 1,000 career points in Syracuse's victory at California earlier this month. The junior guard entered the night with 990 points and hit the 1,000 mark with a floater at the 15:09 mark of the second half. He finished that contest with 18 points. It took Starling 75 career games to reach the 1,000-point threshold, with the last 47 of those appearances coming with Syracuse after spending his freshman campaign at Notre Dame.

After missing seven games earlier this season due to injury, Syracuse's leading scorer has recorded double figures in 10 of his 12 appearances since rejoining the lineup. He is averaging 17.9 points per contest over that span.

Starling is averaging a team-best 18.6 points per outing on the campaign. His 38 points from the Orange's double-overtime victory against Youngstown State were a career high and the second most by any ACC player in a game this season.

Lampkin Climbs The Ladder
Against Pittsburgh on Jan. 25, Lampkin Jr. became the first Syracuse player to tally 23 rebounds in a game since Derrick Coleman did so against Villanova on March 10, 1990, at the Big East Tournament. Only two Syracuse players have grabbed more rebounds in a single game than Lampkin Jr. – Frank Reddout with 34 versus Temple on Feb. 9, 1952, and Dave Bing with 25 against Cornell on Feb. 8, 1966.

Lampkin's 23-rebound performance is one of the top 10 efforts on the glass in Syracuse history. Additionally, his 15 defensive rebounds versus the Panthers were the sixth most in a single game in Orange history, with the all-time Syracuse record sitting at 16. The 23 rebounds were also the most by any ACC player in a game since Armando Bacot also had 23 for North Carolina against James Madison on Nov. 20, 2022.

Against Duke last week, Lampkin Jr. hit another career milestone, as he became the second Syracuse player in as many games to surpass 1,000 career points, joining Starling. Lampkin Jr. reached the mark with a layup at the 2:05 mark of the first half. After spending the first four seasons of his career at TCU and Colorado, where he totaled the first 776 points of his career, he has notched 225 this season with the Orange. Lampkin Jr. reached 1,000 points in his 127^th career appearance, the last 23 of which have come with Syracuse.

Lampkin Jr. is averaging 11.3 rebounds over the past 15 contests and has posted a double-double in seven of the last 11 outings, which included Tuesday against Miami when he set a career high with 22 points and added 13 boards. For the season, Lampkin Jr. is averaging 10.4 points and 9.4 rebounds per game.

Crashing The Glass
As a team, Syracuse grabs 37.9 rebounds per contest, the fourth most in the ACC. The Orange boast a plus-3.3 margin on the season and have recorded double-digit offensive boards 15 times on the campaign, including in each of the last four games.

Three different Syracuse players have pulled down 10 or more rebounds in a game this season – Lampkin Jr. (13 times), Donnie Freeman (seven times) and Davis (one time). Lampkin is third in the conference in rebounding (9.4 per game) and has double-digit boards in 11 of the last 14 outings.

Scouting North Carolina
Davis, who is in his fifth year with the program, leads the Tar Heels in scoring with 17.4 points per game. He has made a team-high 53 3-pointers on the season and is No. 3 in the ACC in free throw percentage (87-percent). He averaged 20.5 points in two games against Syracuse last season.

Freshman Ian Jackson is second on the team with 13.3 points per game, with Seth Trimble (12.3) and Elliot Cadeau (10.4) also averaging double figures. Cadeau's 82 assists are the second most on the team behind Davis' 94. Trimble leads the Tar Heels with 5.4 rebounds per outing and 32 steals. Jalen Washington (27) and Ven-Allen Lubin (25) are pacing North Carolin in blocks and both average 4.8 rebounds per contest.

As a team, the Tar Heels are tied for No. 2 in the ACC in scoring (80.0 points per game) and rank No. 3 in field goal percentage (46.9-percent). North Carolina also ranks No. 7 in the conference in rebounding (36.7 per game).

Tickets
Syracuse men's basketball tickets are available online (cuse.com/tickets), by phone (1-888-DOMETIX) and at the Dome Box Office (Gate B).

For complete coverage of Syracuse men's basketball, follow the team on X (@Cuse_MBB) and Instagram (@cuse_mbb).

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Players Mentioned

Chris Bell

Donnie Freeman

Eddie Lampkin Jr.

Judah Mintz

J.J. Starling

Syracuse University Athletics