Quick Hitters - North Carolina at Georgia Tech

Isaac Schade presents Quick Hitters from North Carolina’s 72-67 road loss to Georgia Tech on Wednesday night.

Quick Hitters from North Carolina’s 72-67 road loss to Georgia Tech on Wednesday night.

Highlights:

Condensed Game:

• The Tar Heels led for the first 28:35 of the game. Even after Georgia Tech took a brief lead midway through the second half, Carolina re-built an eight-point margin with 6:53 remaining. Carolina led 61-53 at that point. The Yellow Jackets then closed the game on a 19-6 run for the final score of 72-67. Unfortunately, the lack of ability to close brings out shades of 2019-20.
• Coach Roy Williams went with a different starting lineup than what he has rolled out throughout the 2020-21 season. He is looking to both find a combination to get off to a better start and send a pointed message to those who usually do start. RJ Davis and Armando Bacot stayed in the starting line-up and were joined by Andrew Platek, Kerwin Walton (first career start), and Day’Ron Sharpe (first career start).
• Not surprisingly, thanks to the starting lineup adjustment, Carolina’s bench outscored Tech’s 29-1.
• Tonight’s road game marks the fourth time in the 2000s that the Tar Heels have played their first two ACC games away from the Smith Center. The other three instances are 2018-19, 2016-17, and 2002-03.
• Additionally, with Saturday’s Syracuse game being postponed this will be just the fourth time in program history that the Tar Heels play their first three ACC games on the road. The others are 1983-84 (NC State, Maryland, Wake Forest), 1977-78 (Clemson, Virginia, Duke), and 1969-70 (Virginia, South Carolina, NC State).
• The turnovers continue to mount. UNC has exactly 18 turnovers in four of the past five games. They have surrendered 16 or more turnovers in six of the nine games this season. The only game with single digit turnovers was the season opener against College of Charleston.
• For comparison’s sake, the 2016-17 National Champion Tar Heels had 18 or more turnovers in a game just twice all season. In 2017-18 – three times. In 2018-19 – four times. In 2019-20 – four times. I'll say it again: so far this season, 18 or more turnovers five times in just nine games.
• The numbers you’re about to see are true. Brace yourself. In the first eight possessions of the game, Carolina turned the ball over five times. In the first 11 possessions of the game, Carolina turned the ball over seven times. That’s seven turnovers in the first six minutes of the game.
• It was nice to see Leaky Black knock down some shots tonight. He was 5-7 from the field, the most makes he's had all season and tied for the most baskets in a game in his career. Seeing the ball go in the net has to be cathartic for the junior.

• For the first time in a long while, Carolina did not fall into a double-digit first half hole. In fact, it was the Tar Heels who led by double-digits in the first 20 minutes. Yet, in what was to be a harbinger of the events of the second half, Carolina led by 11 with 4:40 left before halftime, but Georgia Tech reeled off an 11-2 run over the next two minutes and cut the lead to two points with 2:39 left in the half. UNC pushed the lead back to six by halftime, but the Tar Heels needed to capitalize on having their opponent down early and maintain a larger halftime margin.
• Carolina did a nice job of limiting Georgia Tech’s second efforts. The Jackets had just two offensive rebounds. Carolina, meanwhile, had 10 (albeit the lowest total of the season). The curious thing is that the Heels only outscored their opponent 7-3 in second chance points.
• The Heels had their lowest offensive rebounding percentages of the season. They gathered 30.3 percent of all available offensive rebounds and just 29.0 percent of specifically field goal offensive rebounds.
• After going 7-7 from the free throw line in the first half, the Heels made just 2-7 in the second half (including missing the front end of a 1-and-1 opportunity). Missing these five free throws (plus the opportunity at an extra) in a game you lose by five is a difficult pill to swallow. 
• Steals is a statistical category we often don’t pay much attention to in this space, but it’s worth noting that Carolina has surrendered double-digit steals in five of this season’s nine games. On the other hand, the Tar Heels have grabbed double-digit steals from their opponent in just one game, the season opener against College of Charleston.
• Carolina shot better from deep tonight. The eight made three-pointers were the most this season and tied for the highest percentage of made threes on the year (40 percent).
• Three of those eight threes came from Kerwin Walton, who has now gone 6-7 from deep over the past three games. Walton is shooting exactly 50 percent from beyond the arc in total (8-16). Something tells me he will continue to get more looks (and that he should be hunting his own shot more). The freshman also had the best assist-to-turnover ratio of the night (4:1) and added a steal and two rebounds. 

Box Score

Roy Williams postgame press conference

Players postgame press conference

Leaky Black 

Garrison Brooks

Remember to check in for Quick Hitters after every North Carolina basketball game. As a reminder, the game against Syracuse, scheduled for Saturday, January 2 has been postponed to a pause in basketball activities within the Syracuse program. Next up is a road game against Miami on Tuesday, January 5. Tip is at 8:00pmET on ESPN.

You can follow us for future coverage by clicking “Follow” on the top right hand corner of the page.

Follow us on Twitter: @SI_HEELS | @isaacschade

Want to receive an email with Quick Hitters and other articles from Isaac Schade? Click here. Include your name in the text of the email.

Send Isaac Schade an email to talk more about this article.

Please post any comments below!