Lucas: Georgia Tech Rapid Reactions

By Adam Lucas

1. Carolina got an ACC win. It wasn't pretty, but it was an ACC win. That's the main positive to be taken from Saturday's game. The Tar Heels beat Georgia Tech, 68-65.

2. The Heels were mostly carried by their guards. Seth Trimble scored 19, RJ Davis had 16, Ian Jackson had 15 and Elliot Cadeau hit a big late three-pointer on his way to nine points. That was the vast majority of the offense. Despite that production, the Heels continue to struggle from three, where they were 5-for-24.

3. Those guards, though, were instrumental in what was largely the decisive area of the game--Carolina outscored Tech 16-5 in fast break points. With very little happening in the paint, Carolina wasn't good in the halfcourt, but got just enough points in transition to grab the lead late. The prettiest play of the game came in transition: Jackson fed Jae'Lyn Withers, who hit Trimble for a layup that cut the deficit to one with just over seven minutes left. Trimble followed with an offensive rebound basket a few seconds later to give the Heels the advantage.

4. The first points from the UNC frontcourt came with 17:42 left in the second half, and the first frontcourt field goal came at 16:36. Both of those were by Ven-Allen Lubin, who scored five.

5. The Tar Heels continue to juggle their post rotation. Lubin got the start on Saturday, but then Jalen Washington started the second half. There are minutes waiting to be earned by anyone who can provide some consistency.

6. The juggled lineups are part of a continued search for some production in the paint. In the first 20 minutes, Carolina's power forward and center positions combined to go 0-for-3 from the field with zero points. They did rebound some (Lubin and Jalen Washington each had four boards), but the Heels have to have some offense there.

7. Which means that Seth Trimble's first half energy was very important. Trimble was the lone spark in the first half, scoring ten points and creating a couple easy baskets with his defense.

8. Unfortunately, the overall first half wasn't a big improvement over recent efforts on either side. The two teams started a combined 5-for-25 in the first seven minutes of action, with more turnovers (six) than made field goals (five). The Tar Heels also missed a pair of front ends of one-and-ones, leaving four points on the table during a half when they led, 31-30.

9. Playing a game during exams hurt student attendance. With some students having exams that directly conflicted with tip-off, student attendance was much less than it would normally be for an ACC game. But the game was scheduled for TV, not for them.

10. Carolina played without Ty Claude, who missed the game with a corneal abrasion suffered at the end of the Alabama game. That's unfortunate for the Tech transfer, who both missed the game against his former teammates and was probably in line for some more minutes after a high-energy showing against the Tide.

11. Nice hand for Rasheed Wallace, who was on hand and received a big ovation during the second half. Hubert Davis likely would have loved to send Wallace into the game.

12. Carolina needs more consistency from Cadeau. The point guard had seven turnovers and now has 23 in his last five games (Carolina had 18 as a team in Saturday's game, so he's not the only culprit). He's being asked to do a lot, but those turnovers are painful for a team that is struggling on offense. Cadeau has also been under the weather for a stretch of several weeks. The week off should be very beneficial for him.

13. Now there are a couple weeks of nonconference games to take care fo before returning to the ACC. The Tar Heels will navigate the remainder of exams (remember way back before TV offered to pay teams to play during exams, and games never happened during this time period?) and have a week to prepare for La Salle. Then it's time for the most important week of the season so far--a date with Florida in Charlotte and a matchup with UCLA in New York City. This week of practice feels like an important one as Carolina tries to rediscover some of the success it had earlier in the season.

14. One last reminder that the annual kids clinic is tomorrow at the Smith Center. More information is available here.

Scoreboard Slider

University of North Carolina Athletics

Players Mentioned

Elliot Cadeau

Ty Claude

RJ Davis

Ian Jackson

Ven-Allen Lubin

Seth Trimble

Jalen Washington

Jae'Lyn Withers

Related Videos