Trevor Cooney coolly made two free throws to pull Syracuse within three points of North Carolina with 3:08 left on the game clock. They were his 26th and 27th points of the contest. But they were also his last.

For nearly 37 minutes, the fifth-year senior sprinted around screens, squeezed through holes and threw all kinds of jumpers through the rim. Deep 3s. Step-backs off the dribble. Layups while twisting his body in traffic.

It was, by all accounts except the final score, Cooney’s night. But while the shooting guard shined in Syracuse’s (10-7, 0-4 Atlantic Coast) 84-73 loss to No. 6 North Carolina (15-2, 4-0) in the Carrier Dome on Saturday night, Michael Gbinije shrunk. Cooney scored a season and game-high 27 points, making 10-of-21 shots and 5-of-12 of his attempts from 3 in 39 minutes. Gbinije matched a season low with 10, shooting 3-of-13 and 0-for-6 from deep in 37 minutes. Six of Gbinije’s points came in the final 1:50 of regulation, when the Orange faced a two-possession deficit and had little hope of fighting back into the game.

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MORE COVERAGE

• Syracuse falters down the stretch, again, in Jim Boeheim’s return against No. 6 North Carolina
• 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

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On a lot of nights against a lot of teams, the Orange could win a game in which one guard feasts and the other fades into the wings. But not against the Tar Heels and their high-octane offense, which topped 80 points for the 13th straight game. SU needed its best, or something close to it, from both Gbinije and Cooney to turn an upset bid into a much-needed conference win.

Instead it got a lopsided backcourt performance that helped tilt the scoreboard in North Carolina’s favor.

“Well for us to win, (Gbinije) has to play well,” SU head coach Jim Boeheim said, making his return from a nine-game suspension. “… He just has to keep playing. He’ll be all right. He’s had a lot of good games this year. His shot looks good, it was there, just the ball didn’t go in.”

Cooney made a season-high five 3s, and the first one foreshadowed a good shooting performance.

With the shot clock winding down two minutes into the game, Cooney used his body to create space and hoisted a one-handed, off-balance shot that banked off the glass and through the net. Those were the first of 13 first-half points that helped Syracuse play UNC to a 33-33 tie after 20 minutes despite being out-scored 20-8 in the paint.

Gbinije walked into the locker room with zero points and five missed shots, all from beyond the arc.

“Maybe we can bring the ball up a couple times and have him go off the ball a little bit,” Cooney said of how he and Malachi Richardson, who finished with 16, could help Gbinije score more. “I mean it’s tough to do. He’s doing a great job. He’s just fighting, he’s playing hard. That’s all you can ask for.”

For at least 17 more minutes, it looked like Syracuse could pull out a win without the production of its best player.

With under 10 minutes left, Cooney walked down the sideline toward the Syracuse bench and smirked at his teammates. He was one away from a season-high 19 and carrying the Orange offensively. On defense he was pestering North Carolina’s guards into errant passes and heading an all-out effort to stop the ball from getting into the paint.

A minute later, after he hit a mid-range jumper and the Tar Heels turned it over on the other end, Cooney walked the same trail along the sideline. Except now he was screaming and veins were popping out of his arms and neck. He threw his arms into the air, asking a sell-out crowd to pump more noise into the Dome.

Then he hit a 3 from the top of the key and the crowd one-upped his request, filling the stadium with a collective roar that was soon silenced by an Isaiah Hicks dunk with 8:15 to go.

North Carolina’s quick answer to Cooney’s personal 5-0 run spelled out the theme of Syracuse’s night: Not enough.

But it wasn’t Cooney who didn’t pull his own weight. It was the Orange’s best player, leaving his team wanting and needing more.

“It’s just one night,” Gbinije said. “I don’t plan on having any more 0-for-whatever from the 3-point line like today. Just have to move on.”

Published on January 10, 2016 at 12:05 am

Contact Jesse: jcdoug01@syr.edu | @dougherty_jesse