NEW YORK — Paschal Chukwu’s one regret was that he didn’t talk to the referees after his first foul.

Six minutes in, the whistle blew after North Carolina snared another offensive board and Syracuse’s center thought he recorded a clean block. The official thought differently. Chukwu didn’t know if communicating with them would’ve helped, or what he would’ve said — because “Coach talked to them a lot, but it still didn’t change” — but he would’ve liked to at least say something.

When he thought about it later, he decided he would’ve said something like this: “What do you want me to do? I’m not touching him.” He paused. “That was minimal contact and they called a foul. Tyus was getting pushed, held (on the other end) and they didn’t call anything, so I didn’t have any idea what was going on.”

When the whistle tweeted, Chukwu put his hands on his head and the Orange’s head coach Jim Boeheim called it “a bad start.” Things unraveled from there as a discombobulated offense never made up for a frantic frontcourt strained by foul trouble. No. 6-seed North Carolina (23-9, 11-7 Atlantic Coast) cudgeled No. 11-seed Syracuse (20-13, 8-10) inside for an eventual 78-59 win in the second round of the ACC Tournament on Wednesday night.

Since the tournament expanded to five days in 2014, none of the 10 teams to win on Tuesday had won again on Wednesday. This year, by the end of the night, two had, but Syracuse was not in that number. North Carolina’s right hook leaves the Orange teetering on the bubble’s edge, in danger of not appearing in the NCAA Tournament for three times in four years for the first time in Jim Boeheim’s 42 seasons as head coach.

“It all depends,” bracketologist Patrick Stevens told The Daily Orange at halftime. He listed Baylor, Kansas State and Washington as teams to watch in their conference tournaments. “The thing that helps Syracuse is there’s not a lot of bad (losses) in their resume.”

Syracuse game-planned to clamp down on UNC’s 3-point shooters, but the Tar Heels countered by funneling the ball inside. Even when those shots missed, the Tar Heels grabbed 15 offensive boards to go with 27 defensive rebounds. North Carolina’s bigs, forward Luke Maye and wing Theo Pinson, wrecked most of their havoc by stretching Syracuse’s zone with quick interior passing.

“We’ve guarded them pretty well on the 3-point line in the two games, we just haven’t been able to do anything inside,” Boeheim said. “… Our front-line guys, they’re playing against guys who won the national championship, guys who are very smart players and interior passers.”

North Carolina’s slashing guards and bodying big men were blurs. They knew Syracuse contested every shot near the rim, Pinson said, so his team kept attacking. Freshman forward Oshae Brissett, who plays low in the zone alongside Chukwu, told Chukwu drivers were going to charge into him and utilize effective up-fakes. Stay down, Brissett said. But UNC got Chukwu in the air and pocketed the reward.

Two minutes after Chukwu’s first foul, North Carolina’s Joel Berry II snagged an offensive rebound and fed Pinson cutting. Pinson faked. Chukwu leapt. A whistle blew. Syracuse subbed Chukwu out tied and, when he re-entered six minutes later, they trailed by 10.

“Having (Chukwu) out the game was huge for us,” Pinson said.

The Tar Heels challenged Chukwu and backup center Bourama Sidibe at the rim again and again. Most of the time, both altered shots with their length, but often some iteration of the game’s first play replayed. Then, Chukwu blocked Maye’s first shot, but UNC’s Berry II grabbed an offensive rebound. Maye grabbed a second when Berry II missed the shot, but he finished with a tip-in.

The relentless attacking keyed kick-outs for perimeter looks and also had both Syracuse centers nursing three fouls with six minutes to go in the first half. With more than 16 minutes to go in the second stanza, Chukwu fouled out. He had played 15 minutes.

Alexandra Moreo | Senior Staff Photographer

When asked about his fouls, Chukwu rolled his eyes, threw up his hands and said, “Man…” He paused. “I had two fouls that I thought were blocked shots. That kind of stuff throws your game, because when they start calling those kinds of fouls, in your mind…” He paused again. “… It’s hard to go up and contest the shots you really want to and block shots because you always got second thoughts, like, ‘Oh, this might be a foul.’ Because against this team, we need our centers to be in the game. It was obvious. When I fouled out, things changed.”

Within a minute of Chukwu’s departure, UNC’s Kenny Williams splashed a 3 that extended their lead to 18 and forced Syracuse into a timeout. As players walked to their benches, Frank Sinatra’s voice wafted through the Barclays Center.

“When the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie,” he crooned as an introduction to a video-board promotion.

The screen showed a host of ACC players in polos picking what they liked better: New York-style pizza or Coney Island hot dogs. A host of eyes in the Syracuse timeout — at least a portion of players, coaches and other staff — gravitated away from the huddle, away from the team in a hole so deep it seemed inescapable, and up toward the distraction. Scowls from the fouls and turnovers and missed shots and everything else that doomed the Orange were, for a second, replaced by grins.

Chukwu did not smile.

He thought about this game and the Orange’s last against the Tar Heels, when Syracuse pressed and North Carolina sped itself up and Chukwu’s rim-protecting catalyzed a run that rocked the Carrier Dome. This time, Chukwu and Sidibe — who fouled out not long after him — could only watch as UNC quashed their team’s upset bid.

Chukwu stood off to the side of the timeout huddle, looking at the floor, a white towel draped over his head.

Soon, the buzzer sounded. The North Carolina band played. Syracuse traipsed off the floor. Their night, their run, was over. Their future was uncertain.

Published on March 7, 2018 at 11:59 pm

Contact Sam: sjfortie@syr.edu | @Sam4TR