Lucas: Georgia Tech Rapid Reactions

By Adam Lucas

1. Too bad Carolina wasn't playing at home on that final possession. As we've seen here recently, that's a situation where some home teams sometimes get a whistle. But RJ Davis didn't--with an official looking directly at the play and with a great view--and Georgia Tech beat the Heels, 74-73.

2. Despite the final miss, what a final 90 seconds from RJ Davis...almost all on the defensive end. Davis had a key strip, then chased down a loose 50-50 ball and turned it into a very difficult finish that gave Carolina a 73-72 lead with 34.6 seconds remaining. He missed the potential game-winner after a bump that wasn't whistled, but he was still the only reason Carolina was close enough to have a chance to win.

3. Despite a final play that will be talked about, Carolina was not very good in that game, was outplayed by Georgia Tech, and the better team for the full 40 minutes won the game. The Tar Heels settled for too many jump shots and didn't make enough of them. They also were uncharacteristically bad at the free throw line, making just 9-for-17 from the charity stripe, which of course is even more painful in a one-point game. And they sent Georgia Tech to the free throw line far too often, and the Jackets converted, making 15 of their 17 attempts. This could be a case where a month from now it will feel like the Heels gained more from losing this game than they would have from a miraculous win that they perhaps didn't deserve.

4. And on a day they were shooting a lot of jumpers, the best shooters had a rough day. Cormac Ryan was 3-for-14 and 3-for-10 from three, Harrison Ingram was 3-for-14 from the field and RJ Davis made three-for-eight from three (but still managed 28 points thanks to 8-for-16 from two). Ingram sank a big three with 1:58 left to draw within one, but the made jumpers felt like an aberration, not the norm. The Tar Heels did grab 22 offensive rebounds (off 49 misses), which they turned into a 23-8 second chance points advantage, but the offense would have looked a little smoother with some made initial baskets.

5. For the second time this season, Hubert Davis extended the defense to change the tempo of the game. Down eight with five minutes left, the Tar Heels went to the same press they used with great success against FSU at the Smith Center. It quickly got them within one point 90 seconds later. The defense enabled the Heels to play in transition rather than in the half court and get some easier shots and eventually helped the Heels take a brief lead. It also prevented Tech from standing around in the half court and repeatedly going pick and roll, which Carolina had trouble defending.

6. Two things are true: the foul issues with Elliot Cadeau have gotten extreme, and the Tar Heels need such an indispensable player to be more careful. Cadeau was somehow whistled for five fouls in only eight minutes of second half play, fouling out with 5:49 remaining. But he also simply can't commit some of the fouls for which he is called--like his fourth, which came 25 feet from the rim--when he was +12 for the game, by far the highest figure on the team.

7. Hubert Davis benched Armando Bacot after a tough opening 2:30 of the second half. Bacot sat for 5:31, a stretch during which Tech added one to its lead. He was replaced by Jalen Washington, who did provide a boost in both rebounding and scoring. Bacot finished with nine points and nine rebounds.

8. For the second straight game, Carolina ran into first half turnover problems. The Tar Heels weren't sharp in the first 20 minutes, and committed 10 turnovers that led to nine Jacket points. The miscues were a large contributing factor to a bad close to the first half that saw Tech erase an 11-point Carolina lead over the final 5:34 of the period. Just as they did in Tallahassee, UNC corrected it in the second half and made just one turnover, but it felt like the first half turnovers kept a rather disinterested home crowd in the game and kept it close enough for them to come alive in the second half.

9. During that 5:34, Carolina went 0-for-6 from the field and 1-for-5 from the free throw line while committing four turnovers. The Tar Heels were actually fortunate that Georgia Tech wasn't hotter from the field, as the home squad went just 5-for-10 during that stretch and didn't make a trip to the line.

10. The one player who did provide a little surge in the first half was Washington. The sophomore threw down a ferocious dunk and also grabbed three offensive rebounds in just five first half minutes during a stretch when second opportunities were important. In the final ten minutes of the first half, the Heels scored on the first shot of a possession just one time. Washington finished with eight points and five rebounds in ten minutes, a very productive night.

11. Hard work pays off. After some recent struggles in this area, Seth Trimble spent some extra time after practice this week working on scoring at the rim through contact. He was better in that department on Tuesday, including a stretch of drawing a foul and scoring at the rim during a second half stretch when the Tar Heels really needed some offense. He also converted a huge three-point play through contact with 4:12 remaining to draw within two. Trimble and Washington were basically the entirety of the UNC bench production, as a 12-deep Tech team had a 39-14 bench point advantage.

12. The Tar Heel rotation might start to tighten in the games to come. Opponents have experienced a surge when the Heels go deeper in the bench in recent games. It's not time to totally give up on some of the depth, but it is time for them to find their confidence again.

13. Big one Saturday that has now gotten a little bigger.

Players Mentioned

Armando Bacot

Elliot Cadeau

RJ Davis

Harrison Ingram

Cormac Ryan

Seth Trimble

Jalen Washington

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