Syracuse, N.Y. -- "Right now, this one hurts. We let it slip out of our hands."
Frank Howard uttered those words as he sat on a leather sofa in the Syracuse basketball locker room and fielded questions from reporters who wanted to know what happened Wednesday, when the Orange came within one or two plays of upsetting North Carolina.
Syracuse was so close, so agonizingly close, to securing a signature win in the Carrier Dome, to stamping a late-season mark with on a resume-needing Quadrant 1 wins.
So little separated Syracuse from North Carolina Wednesday night.