GAME INFO:
December 5, 2021
3:00pm pm Tip Off
McCamish Pavilion (Capacity: 8,600)
Atlanta, GA
TV: ESPN2
UNC given a 52.2% chance to win by ESPN
Records:
UNC: 5-2
Georgia Tech: 5-2
Last Time Out:
UNC: Beat Michigan 72-51
Georgia Tech: Lost to Wisconsin 66-70
SERIES INFO:
Carolina is 69-27 against Georgia Tech, including 22-15 in Atlanta (16-13 in McCamish Pavilion/Alexander Memorial Coliseum).
Tech has won two in a row and three of the last five in the series.
UNC has won four of six games since the building was renovated and the arena was renamed McCamish Pavilion.
Overall the Tar Heels have won nine of the last 12 games against the Yellow Jackets.
The teams played one time, on December 30 in Atlanta, a 72-67 Yellow Jacket victory.
Team Leaders
Points:
UNC: Love (16.1 PPG)
Georgia Tech: M. Devoe (25 PPG)
Rebounds:
UNC: Bacot (9.4)
Georgia Tech: J. Usher (7.7)
Assists:
UNC: Love (4.1)
Georgia Tech: M. Devoe (4.3)
Michigan Notes:
Caleb Love had 22 points on 9-16 shooting, 4-7 from 3, 4 assists, 4 rebounds, 2 TOs, 3 steals
Dawson Garcia had 14 points on 6-12 shooting, 2-2 from 3, 4 rebounds
Armando Bacot had 11 points on 5-10 shooting, 1-1 FT, 14 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 blocks
RJ Davis had 9 points on 4-11 shooting, 1-3 from 3, 1 assist, 1 TO, 1 steal
Brady Manek had 9 points on 4-9 shooting, 1-4 FT, 5 rebounds
Leaky Black had 5 points on 2-4 shooting, 1-1 FT, 5 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 block, 1 steal
TEAM STATS:
46% FG (31-67)
42.1% 3 PT (8-19)
66.7 FT (2-3)
38 rebounds
13 assists
6 turnovers
The Tar Heels travel to the ATL to take on a yellow jacket team that fell just short in a loss to a ranked Wisconsin team. The Heels got back on track in a big way against Michian in what was the most complete performance of the year with the second half being the best basketball the team has probably played all season.
I told myself I wasn’t going to stay up for the entire game, but a 29-27 half time lead had me hooked and I had to. We all witnessed the Heels outscore the Wolverines 43-24 in the second half. That is huge for a couple of reasons. One, they hung 43 on a good defensive team in a single half and they limited Michigan offensively. Michigan shot 35.1% from the floor and 31.3% from 3. They had only 9 assists to 13 turnovers. Now Bacot was shouting “They said we couldn’t defend” in the locker room after the game. Well Armando just speaking for myself, I said ya’ll didn’t want to defend. Thank you for proving me wrong. Having a week off was definitely much needed for this team as they came out with more energy and intensity. Guards fought through ballscreens and the bigs limited Dickinson to just 4 points. Defense is fun.
The energy in the Smith Center was outstanding. A lot of our players haven’t experienced the Smith Center in all its glory. These guys finally got to experience one of the reasons they decided to come to Carolina. That is what Carolina is all about. The players said they fed off the energy and seeing Love smile was a sight for sore eyes.
Speaking of Love, that was probably the best game was his Carolina career. The heat check in the second half was slightly dumb, but I guess we can let it slide. He played with poise and was under control all night. His effort on the defense end was much better, and he was rewarded with a fask break dunk. Good defense leads to offense Caleb and dunking is pretty fun.
For all the Leaky haters, he played 33 minutes and did a little of everything (see stat line above). We are a better team with him on the floor. Wednesday night proved it.
The ACC schedule started a little early in the last couple of years with a single conference game sprinkled into the non conference schedule. This year’s game has us traveling to Atlanta. I can’t be the only one that notices that we don’t play particularly well there, and we always seem to play the Yellow Jackets early in ACC play. If you need a reminder of our struggles in the ATL, see last year’s game. The Jackets may have lost Alvarado, but they still have Devoe and Devoe is a big time player. He leads the team in points per game at 25 and has scored over 30 twice. He put up 37 in a win over Georgia and 33 in their loss to Wisconsin. This guy is an absolute gamer. He also leads the team in minutes per game (35.3), but he played all 40 against Wisconsin. The only other player in double figures is Jordan Usher at 14.3 points a game. He is also second on the team in minutes at 33.5 per game. They have 5 players that average over 20 minutes. Howard averages 29.9 minutes a game. The other 4 players are as follows: smith, coleman, sturdivant, k. Moore. Kelly averages 11 minutes per game.
Their starting lineup has changed some in the first 7 games. Devoe came off the bench against Georgia Southern and didn’t play against Charleston Southern. Sturdivant came off the bench in their season opening loss to Miami (OH). Coleman started against Georgia Southern, and Smith started against Charleston Southern. But the starters for the Wisconsin game are probably the most reflective of what we will see Sunday afternoon. Those starters and bench players are as follows:
Starters:
K. Moore F (Senior 6-7)
R. Howard C (Junior 6-10)
J. Usher G (Senior 6-7)
M. Devoe (Senior 6-5)
K. Sturdivant G (Junior 6-2)
Bench:
S. Gigiberia C (Sophomore 7-1)
M. Kelly G (Freshman 6-5)
D. Coleman G (Freshman 6-6)
D. Smith G (Sophomore 6-1)
J. Moore F (Freshman 6-6)
J. Meka F (Sophomore 6-8)
The Jackets starting lineup is experienced with 3 seniors and 2 juniors, but behind that their bench lacks experience. All their bench players are either freshman or sophomores. The rotation goes about 8-9 men deep. Meka played against Lamar, but hasn’t seen time otherwise. All the bench players, besides Kelly, average less than 10 minutes a game.
The team is clearly led by Devoe and Usher. Devoe has reached double figures in every game he has played in. Usher has reached double figures in 5 out of the 7 games. R. Howard has reached double figures in 2 games, Sturdivant has been in double figures once. Off the bench, Coleman has reached double figures twice, Smith has reached double figures once.
Georgia Tech is not a team with a lot of height nor do they score through their bigs. Howard is 6-10, but isn’t a scoring threat. Gigiberia is 7-1, but averages less than 10 minutes a game. They play through their guards, specifically Devoe and Usher. Both are potential matchup problems. They are bigger guards. Conventional wisdom tells you to put your best defender on the opposing team’s best player. That would put Leaky on Devoe which would leave a smaller Love on the much larger (6-7) Usher. Love is going to have to step up on defense once again whether he is guarding Devoe or Usher. Davis gets the assignment on sturdivant. Bacot gets Howard most likely. Garcia gets Moore. The matchups in the front court definitely play in our favor.
Georgia Tech likes to score in the paint, but they are doing it more on drives than passes into the post. The defense intensity that was there against Michigan needs to be replicated for this game. We have to stop dribble penetration. Whoever ends up guarding Devoe can’t leave him. AT ALL. Devoe can get into the paint and he can also shoot. He is shooting 59% from 3. He is 23 of 29 from behind the arc this year. That’s pretty solid. I know this preview sounds like Devoe, Devoe, Devoe, but he is Tech’s team. He led them to win a over Georgia (who by the way just beat #18 Memphis) and singlehandedly almost willed his team to win over Wisconsin. You can’t play off him whether he has the ball or not. Play off him when he has the ball and he is going to pull up and hit a shot in your face. Help off him when he doesn’t have the ball and then he has a wide open 3. You have to dog Devoe all night. And this may take a couple of different players, but Love and Black will both definitely get their shot to shut him down.
Outside of Devoe, Coleman is the only other real 3 point threat. He shoots 55% and is 11-20 from behind the arc. Smith is 50%, but his sample size is much smaller, 3-6.
Ultimate point is that we must find a way to contain Devoe. Offensively we need to keep feeding the post. There is a lot of potential for Bacot to have another double double in this game, and it could be more of the 25 points and 15 rebounds variety. There should be no reason he doesn’t get a touch on every possession when he is on the floor. Limiting turnovers will again be key… don’t give Devoe more time with the ball in his hands.
The win over Michigan was big for the moment, but it only remains a big win if we can use the momentum from that game and carry it forward. You don’t want to drop your first conference game especially to a mid to lower tier ACC team. There is a lot of talk that the Michigan win will be a turning point for this team. Let’s hope so, but it all starts Sunday afternoon in Atlanta.
THINGS TO WATCH FOR:
Lineup/rotation (I say this every game I know, but the main rotation seems locked in now despite Davis saying he needs to find ways to get other guys in the game)
Get Walton Going (I said we needed to do this for the Michigan game and it didn’t happen. We didn’t need it, which is nice, but Walton is too good of a shooter to continuously go scoreless. Walton needs to capitalize on set plays. He drove some in the Michigan game and didn’t convert but it’s a sign to an expanding game)
Matched Defensive Intensity (The defensive intensity against Michigan was the best it has been all season. We finally defended up to our potential. The atmosphere of the Dean Dome got the players hyped up. Can we keep the same intensity against a crowd that is cheering against us?)
Limiting Devoe (It’s that name that I keep mentioning. What do we do to try to limit Tech’s best player? Does Love or Black start out on him? Does our defense change any? A box and 1 zone would be an interesting option here, but zone is almost an Anti-Carolina concept.)
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