It wasn’t pretty, and it sure wasn’t easy, but the Tar Heels snapped their three-game losing streak, and earned their first ACC win of the season, with a 68-65 win over Georgia Tech this afternoon in the Smith Center. The low-scoring game would suggest a poor shooting game, and that’s exactly what happened, as Carolina shot 39% from the field, and just 21% from behind the arc in the win. On the flipside, they held Georgia Tech to 31% shooting, and 30% shooting from three, to put together their best defensive performance of the season, and one of the better defensive games under Hubert Davis. Seth Trimble led Carolina in scoring, with 19 points, on 5-6 shooting, making it the 8th time in nine games, he’s scored in double digits. RJ Davis (16), and Ian Jackson (15), were the only other UNC players to reach the double-digit plateau. Davis’s poor shooting to the start of the season continued today, as he was 5-15 from the field and 2-8 from behind the three-point line. Meanwhile, Jackson was 5-14 from the field, but was 4-4 from the foul line, to put together another positive offensive effort.
Georgia Tech was without two key members of their rotation (Javian McCollum and Kowacie Reeves), and despite their poor shooting night, still pushed Carolina to the brink of a loss that would’ve been hard to come back from. Lance Terry led them with 22 points, as all five of his made baskets came from behind the three-point line, and it felt like at one point he was going to will Georgia Tech to an upset win over UNC for a second straight season. The UNC frontcourt had little to no answer for Baye Ndongo, who recorded a 19-point, 12-rebound double-double, and if he had been more efficient from the foul line, the result may have been different on the scoreboard.
After the loss to Alabama on Wednesday, Hubert Davis told his team they better be ready to bring their work boots to practice, and be willing to work to become a better basketball team. The product might not reflect that, but today was a step in the right direction, and they now have something to build off in the next week of practice before next Saturday’s game against La Salle. Here’s everything to take away from the first, of hopefully many ACC wins this season:
Rebounding: Carolina may not have gotten many points from the frontcourt today, but they rebounded the basketball the way they’ll have to until the frontcourt rotation figures itself out. Ven-Allen Lubin, who started, led Carolina with 8 rebounds, while Jalen Washington and Jae’Lyn Withers both added 6, as Carolina won the battle of the boards, 48-37. Factor in each starting guard totaled at least 6 rebounds, and it was the most complete rebounding performance of the season for the Tar Heels and one that proves that despite their lack of size, they can still control that area of the game. UNC grabbed 13 offensive rebounds and scored 11 second-chance points, including securing an offensive rebound in the final minute, after a desperation three from Elliot Cadeau, allowing Carolina to dictate the game at the foul line.
Transition Points: In a game where points were hard to come by, Carolina was the better team in the open floor, outsourcing GT, 16-5 for the game, after doing so 10-0 in the first half.
Turnovers: After entering the Maui Invitational averaging the fewest turnovers in all of college basketball, that certainly hasn’t been the case in the following 5 games. Today Carolina turned it over 18 times, and for the majority of the first half, they had committed more turnovers than they had made baskets. The biggest culprit continues to be Elliot Cadeau, who turned it over 7 times today and has 23 turnovers in his last 5 games. This will need to be a point of emphasis over the exam break because he can’t and Carolina can’t continue to give away empty possessions like they have if they want to get back to playing the type of basketball they were upon the start of the Maui Invitational.
Poor Shooting: Another rough shooting game for the Heels, but it’s important to remember the quality of looks they are getting. For the most part, they are getting quality looks, but haven’t got them to fall. Georgia Tech fell back into a zone today, and only once was Carolina able to shoot them out of it. If the Heels continue to struggle from the outside, teams will zone them up, and force them to beat them from the outside.
ACC Opening Dominance: After today’s win, Carolina is 58-14 all-time in ACC openers, and they are 64-8 in their ACC home openers. The non-conference schedule was put together to get this team ready for ACC play, and given how bad the league is, it should UNC ready to run through the league once again.
Up Next: Carolina is off for another week, as they won’t play again until next Saturday when they’ll host La Salle at 4 PM on the ACC Network.
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