Lucas: GT Rapid Reactions

By Adam Lucas

1. Great to start Atlantic Coast Conference play with an early December win. Carolina topped Georgia Tech in Atlanta, 79-62.

2. For the second straight game, Carolina dominated the second half. The Tar Heels outscored Michigan 43-24 on Wednesday, and then beat Georgia Tech 48-31 in the final 20 minutes.

3. A big portion of that second half surge was due to some beautiful passing. Carolina chalked up assists on 10 of its first 12 field goals in the second half, including some gorgeous inside-outside passing from the Tar Heel big men to three-point shooters. In addition to everything else he did in the game, Bacot picked up four assists in the first 12 minutes of the second half. The Tar Heels racked up a dozen assists in the second half alone and finished with a season-high 20 for the game. How effective was sharing the ball? Carolina hit 66.7 percent from the field in the second half.

4. A Carolina team that just a week or two ago was too often playing individually looked much more like a collective. That was partially due to the Tar Heel guards playing a terrific game, as RJ Davis scored 21 and Caleb Love added 17. That duo combined to make 15 of 28 field goal attempts and seven for 11 from the three-point line.

5. A large portion of Carolina's pregame preparation focused, as it should have, on Michael DeVoe. Leaky Black was assigned to the Tech sharpshooter and followed him virtually everywhere during the game--including to the bench. Other than when Black was hit with foul trouble, his only break in the first half came when DeVoe also went to the bench. As soon as DeVoe went back to the scorer's table, Black immediately hopped off the bench and went to check in. By his standards, DeVoe was largely a non-factor in Sunday's game, and finished with 13 points on 5-for-11 from the field. Black also got some good relief minutes defensively from Anthony Harris, who played a season-high 14 minutes in the game and was important in the first half when Black had to sit with two fouls.

6. Armando Bacot was very effective inside when the Tar Heels were able to get him the ball. The junior nearly had a double-double (seven points, ten rebounds) in the first half. He finished with his fifth double-double of the season, tallying 15 points and 13 rebounds.

7. As they have typically done during Josh Pastner's tenure in Atlanta, Georgia Tech changed defense fairly regularly, switching between man and zone. For the most part, the Tar Heels did a good job recognizing the switches and attacking appropriately. It also helps when you have multiple talented three-point shooters to shoot the opponent out of that defense. Carolina hit ten for 17 from the three-point line. In addition to Love and Davis, Brady Manek also hit three trifectas.

8. A project for the exam break: get Kerwin Walton back involved. The sophomore played just eight minutes on Sunday and was ineffective, not attempting a shot or grabbing a rebound. It would've been hard to believe a month ago that Carolina could hit ten three-pointers without Walton...imagine them with him.

9. Good use of a first half timeout by Hubert Davis midway through the first half. It wasn't necessarily that Georgia Tech had made five three-pointers in a row. It was that their lone two-pointer in that stretch came when Khalid Moore got almost zero resistance cruising down the lane for a dunk after a Tar Heel turnover. At that point, Tech led, 23-14. After the stoppage, Carolina got back in the game and tied it at halftime.

10. Sunday's win makes Carolina the third college basketball program in history to amass 2,300 victories. The others are Kentucky and Kansas.

Players Mentioned

Armando Bacot

Leaky Black

RJ Davis

Anthony Harris

Caleb Love

Brady Manek

Kerwin Walton

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