CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — With Syracuse’s comeback on life support in the second half, Tyler Lydon provided the same jolt he’d been delivering all game. The sophomore positioned himself near the top of the key and buried a long jumper, cutting SU’s deficit to 10 with about 11 minutes to go.

On his way back down the court, Lydon placed one finger over his mouth, shushing a sellout crowd counting down the minutes to Roy Williams’ 800th head coaching win. It was about the only moment all night from Syracuse that warranted posturing. Because even during Lydon’s last-ditch, 18-point second half effort, the Tar Heels convincingly shut down the Orange.

“I don’t really care how I played,” Lydon said. “My shot was falling, that was great. But we didn’t win, so it doesn’t matter.”

The dynamic, 6-foot-9 sophomore was a one-man show for the Orange on both ends of the floor. Lydon led his team with 26 points, and his seven rebounds was second most for the visitors. But given what SU has shown in this strenuous season, one-man shows often don’t translate to wins, and it didn’t on Monday evening in North Carolina. No. 9 UNC (17-3, 5-1 Atlantic Coast) easily dispatched Syracuse (11-8, 3-3), 85-68, leaving SU winless in its six games played outside of the Carrier Dome.

“It can’t just be one guy,” senior forward Tyler Roberson said. “In order for us to win against great teams like North Carolina, we have to all play well.”

Only once did the Orange seriously tease an upset, charging into the second half with a 12-0 run that cut the Tar Heels’ lead to three. Lydon was the catalyst, corralling a rebound and sinking a 3 to kick-start the run. When North Carolina regained its lead and stretched it back to eight, Lydon answered with consecutive jumpers to slice the lead back to six.

He seemed to have answers for anything UNC threw at him: Successfully hoisting shots over UNC’s guards when Kennedy Meeks and Isaiah Hicks sealed off the paint, and finding space underneath the hoop when they didn’t.

“It was kind of a mismatch problem with him,” senior guard Andrew White said. “(North Carolina) was really big inside, so he was able to get his perimeter game going a little bit.

“That was something we expect of him …  He showed a lot of offensive ability.”

But the problem about this Syracuse team is that it consistently needs so much more from Lydon than his marquee offensive nights. Syracuse head coach Jim Boeheim has been in a season-long bind defensively, and once again he called on Lydon, officially listed as a forward, to play significant minutes as SU’s center.

Taurean Thompson played 12 minutes, and Dajuan Coleman never left his seat on the bench, just like he has in all of conference play (with the exception of one minute against Miami). Left to fend for himself down low, Lydon played all but one minute and performed as well as any of SU’s defenders on a night when they were outrebounded by 20. He and Roberson collected more than 60 percent of Syracuse’s rebounds, highlighting more voids in a Syracuse team with plenty of them.

“He was just on,” Roberson said of Lydon. “… He just wasn’t missing. He was playing defense, and he played a really good game. We just fell a little short.”

Boeheim agreed with Roberson’s sentiment about falling a “little short,” despite the final 17-point deficit. The veteran head coach thought it was SU’s best road game of the year. Yet, at least on the scoresheet, Lydon’s outing was the only overwhelmingly positive item.

White scored 15 points off five 3s, but struggled to create his own shot against a rotating group of North Carolina player. Tyus Battle also pitched in 13 points, but didn’t do much outside of SU’s second-half 12-0 run when he had a pair of steals and two baskets. Lydon was largely all Syracuse had on Monday.

When it’s just Lydon, it’s just not enough.

Published on January 16, 2017 at 11:15 pm

Contact Connor: cgrossma@syr.edu | @connorgrossman