SERIES:
Carolina leads the series 69-26.
We are 22-14 in Atlanta (16-12 in McCamish Pavilion/Alexander Memorial Coliseum).
We have won four of our last five games at McCamish Pavilion.
Our last win there was on 1/9/19 (77-54).
We have won nine of the last 11 games against Georgia Tech.
Roy Williams is 16-10 as a head coach vs. Georgia Tech, including 15-10 as head coach of the Tar Heels.
LAST MEETING:
Carolina missed its first 15 shots from the floor in Georgia Tech's 96-83 win at the Smith Center on 1/4/20. Garrison Brooks made UNC's first field goal with 6:50 to play in the first half.
Brooks scored a career-high 35 points and made a career-best 17 of 18 from the free throw line. His free throw percentage of .944 was the second best in a game in UNC history for players with 18 or more attempts.
The Yellow Jackets led 47-27 at halftime, UNC's largest deficit at the half in Smith Center history.
Tech's 96 points were the most it scored against UNC since Carolina's 107-100 win in double overtime in Atlanta in 1998 and equaled the most Tech scored in Chapel Hill (1994).
The 13-point margin was Tech's largest win in Chapel Hill (previous was 92-83 in overtime on 2/10/1996).
Tech shot 59.0 percent from the floor, scored 58 points in the paint and 21 points off turnovers.
Carolina shot 50 percent from the floor in the second half, when it scored 56 points (in winning the half by seven).
Carolina missed 18 shots in the first half (16 field goal attempts and two free throws) but did not score a second-chance point. The Tar Heels did score 19 second-chance points in the second half (UNC missed 22 shots in the second half).
BY THE NUMBERS:
UNC is 5-3 overall, 0-1 in the ACC.
The Yellow Jackets are 4-3, 0-1 in the ACC. Losses to Georgia State, Mercer and FSU
UNC has 4 players in double figures:
Bacot averages 12 points a game
Brooks averages 10 points a game
Love averages 11.1 points a game
Davis averages 10.1 points a game
Other notable players:
Sharpe averages 8 points a game
Platek averages almost 7 points a game (6.9)
Black averages 6.4 points a game
Georgia Tech has all of their starters averaging in double figures:
Moses Wright (S) averages 19.6 points a game
Jose Alvarado (s) averages 16.9 points a game
Michael Devoe (JR) averages 13 points a game
Jordan Usher (S) averages 10.3 points a game
Bubba Parham averages 10 points a game
The now unranked Tar Heels travel to Atlanta to play an experienced Georgia Tech team. Maybe the fact that we are unranked will be a wake up call that we need to play better and to the standard that comes with wearing North Carolina across your chest. I don’t want to say it’s a do or die game, but it kind of feels that way. Our only common opponent is Kentucky and Georgia Tech’s win over Kentucky looks even less impressive as they now sit at 1-6.
I wanted to say that historically we haven’t played well in Atlanta but I was mistaken in that original thought. Our last game there was a 23 point victory and have won 4 of the last 5 in Atlanta; 9 of the last 11 games in total. I guess I was clouded by my memory of last year’s game. We didn’t score our first field goal until there was 6:50 to go in the first half and ended up being down 20 at half. We allowed Georgia Tech to shoot 59% from the field that all eventually led to a 13 point defeat in a game that was never close. Brooks did have a career high 35 points, but that is about the only thing we need repeated from last year’s performance. You checked out the rest of the numbers above. They aren’t pretty.
It will be experience vs inexperience once again. Georgia Tech starts 4 seniors and 1 junior. Alvarado always seems to play well against us and I believe he will give whatever freshmen guard ends up on him, fits. Let’s just hope his shooting touch is off. This hasn’t been a recipe for success so far this season. All of Tech’s starters average double figures, but after that they don’t get much scoring from the bench. They start 4 guards and 1 forward, so once again we will have the advantage in the post. Wright is 6’9” and is their tallest player that sees meaningful minutes. Usher is a 6’7” guard and will be one of the bigs responsibilities out of the gate. We have had this advantage in almost every game this year but our liability that is the freshmen guards negate this advantage. Ever since the 2017 national championship, I have been praying for your typical “Roy Williams big men”. In the colby white year that was the only thing we were missing. We finally have post players, 4 of them actually, but our guards can’t or just don’t get them the ball. I sure hope Santa brought them a jump shot and some sense. Love and Davis are shooting a combined 29.5% from the floor. It is clear what we need to do, against State we were -25 when we settled for jump shots and +22 when we went down low. I am going to sound like a broken record or beat a dead horse, pick your cliche, but we need to pound the post. The few outside shots we have made have generally come from playing inside out. I agree we need to shoot the outside shot better, but taking less bad shots will help with that. Our guards need to feed the post and learn how to move without the basketball. Having a dominant post game will open up things on the outside. We have missed open shots but a majority of them are stupid, contested shots. Once again we need to limit our turnovers, when you don’t shoot the ball well you can’t afford to give up possessions. Our best offense is sometimes getting an offensive rebound. You can’t get an offensive rebound if you never get a shot up because you turned it over. And look at our assist to turnover margin… It’s not good. We seem to always get everyone’s best shooting performance. Tech makes about ⅓ of their 3s. They average 7.7 makes a game and 23.8 attempts. Wright shoots 50% from 3, although he has only taken 8 which isnt a big sample size, while Alvarado shoots 40.5%. At this point I am looking for some sign of improvement. I am not much for moral victories, but I need to see something that makes me feel like the freshmen are starting to get things. This will be the 9th game of the season, there’s no excuse for making the same mistakes over and over again.
There was a video circuiting of Love putting up shoots in a local gym on Christmas Eve. I hope that translates, but it is good to see him show some dedication and commitment to getting better. We really need him to. Our team goes as our point guard goes and that has been on display all season. I look for Love to continue to drive the lane more this game. Our offense flows better when we get penetration and aren’t just standing around the perimeter dribbling the ball. Our big guys have a tall (or maybe short) task of guarding faster players, but I still like our size advantage inside. Limit turnovers and play smart basketball and we can get our first ACC win of the season.
*as always stats are pulled from UNC athletics and opposing team's athletic site
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