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University of North Carolina Athletics
Harrison Ingram
Photo by: Peyton Williams
Lucas: VT Rapid Reactions
February 17, 2024 | Men's Basketball, Featured Writers, Adam Lucas
Quick takeaways from the only regular season meeting with the Hokies.
By Adam Lucas
1. Carolina was very good offensively, hitting 52 percent from the field, on the way to a 96-81 win over a pesky Virginia Tech team.
2. The Tar Heels put four starters in double figures, led by Armando Bacot with 25Â points. Virginia Tech eventually started doubling Bacot, but he handled it well, deftly switching between dribbling out of it and finding an open teammate or finding an opening to go to the basket. Bacot also moved into second all-time in ACC rebounding.Â
3. This might sound strange in a game when Carolina was outscored in bench points, 31-15, but that was one of the most well-rounded games from the Tar Heel reserves in a couple of weeks. Everyone who played contributed something, including Jalen Washington with seven points and Jae'Lyn Withers and Seth Trimble each with four. Paxson Wojcik's first-half defense was solid against Tech's good shooters.
4. In addition to his usual rotation minutes, the Tar Heels inserted Trimble in the final minutes in place of Elliot Cadeau, who continues to be one of the most interesting Tar Heels in a long time. It's true that Cadeau had a couple of careless turnovers against the Hokies and finished with five miscues. It's also true he was a whopping +20 in the first half and +19 for the game. He makes plays like the one near the beginning of the second half, when the entire arena was fretting about the expiring shot clock, and Cadeau realized he had enough time to fire one more pass to RJ Davis for an open three-pointer.
5. Harrison Ingram had an outstanding game...in the first half. Ingram piled up a double-double before the break, scoring 11 points to go with 12 rebounds. Ingram was also 3-for-3 from the free throw line, improving on some recent struggles. He finished with 12 points and a game-high 17 rebounds.
6. Cormac Ryan might be coming to life. He had been six-for-14 from three in Carolina's last two games, and scored 16 points on 4-for-7 accuracy from the arc. Carolina is a much better offensive team when Ryan is hitting.
7. Carolina went back to better three-point defense against a good-shooting Hokie team. Mike Young's squad entered the game as the second-best three-point shooting team in the league in ACC games; the Tar Heels held them to 7-for-26 and limited Sean Pedulla, one of the ACC's top scorers, to 3-for-13 from the field.
8. Not everyone uses their timeouts the same way. The Hokies called an unusual one in the first half, when--after already calling one earlier in the period--they called a timeout with 3:03 remaining and a media stoppage on the horizon. Carolina did get a basket out of its use-it-or-lose-it timeout in the first half, setting up Elliot Cadeau to go one on one with Sean Pedulla and getting a basket with five seconds left to stretch the halftime advantage to 50-39.
9. If you had any doubt about whether Tyler Nickel's first three-point attempt was going to rim in, you haven't watched much Carolina basketball. It was good to see Nickel have some success--and better to see the Tar Heels get the win.
10. Great to see a host of former Tar Heels at the game, including Coby White, who is having a terrific year for the Chicago Bulls. Other alumni in attendance included (among others) Luke Maye, John Kuester, Tyler Hansbrough, Phil Ford, Pete Chilcutt, Brandon Robinson, Dave Hanners and Travis Stephenson.
11. Carolina's weeklong break comes at a good time. The Tar Heels will go a little lighter in practice earlier in the week as a couple players try to rest some nagging injuries. UNC is at Virginia next Saturday at 4 p.m. (the game originally was scheduled for either 2 or 4, and has been set for 4:00).
12. In case you missed it earlier today, the NCAA released a preliminary look at the NCAA Tournament brackets if the season ended today. Carolina was the highest ranked second seed. A full look at the top 16 is here. There's a long way to go before those seeds become final, but it's better to be in a good position now than the alternative.
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1. Carolina was very good offensively, hitting 52 percent from the field, on the way to a 96-81 win over a pesky Virginia Tech team.
2. The Tar Heels put four starters in double figures, led by Armando Bacot with 25Â points. Virginia Tech eventually started doubling Bacot, but he handled it well, deftly switching between dribbling out of it and finding an open teammate or finding an opening to go to the basket. Bacot also moved into second all-time in ACC rebounding.Â
3. This might sound strange in a game when Carolina was outscored in bench points, 31-15, but that was one of the most well-rounded games from the Tar Heel reserves in a couple of weeks. Everyone who played contributed something, including Jalen Washington with seven points and Jae'Lyn Withers and Seth Trimble each with four. Paxson Wojcik's first-half defense was solid against Tech's good shooters.
4. In addition to his usual rotation minutes, the Tar Heels inserted Trimble in the final minutes in place of Elliot Cadeau, who continues to be one of the most interesting Tar Heels in a long time. It's true that Cadeau had a couple of careless turnovers against the Hokies and finished with five miscues. It's also true he was a whopping +20 in the first half and +19 for the game. He makes plays like the one near the beginning of the second half, when the entire arena was fretting about the expiring shot clock, and Cadeau realized he had enough time to fire one more pass to RJ Davis for an open three-pointer.
5. Harrison Ingram had an outstanding game...in the first half. Ingram piled up a double-double before the break, scoring 11 points to go with 12 rebounds. Ingram was also 3-for-3 from the free throw line, improving on some recent struggles. He finished with 12 points and a game-high 17 rebounds.
6. Cormac Ryan might be coming to life. He had been six-for-14 from three in Carolina's last two games, and scored 16 points on 4-for-7 accuracy from the arc. Carolina is a much better offensive team when Ryan is hitting.
7. Carolina went back to better three-point defense against a good-shooting Hokie team. Mike Young's squad entered the game as the second-best three-point shooting team in the league in ACC games; the Tar Heels held them to 7-for-26 and limited Sean Pedulla, one of the ACC's top scorers, to 3-for-13 from the field.
8. Not everyone uses their timeouts the same way. The Hokies called an unusual one in the first half, when--after already calling one earlier in the period--they called a timeout with 3:03 remaining and a media stoppage on the horizon. Carolina did get a basket out of its use-it-or-lose-it timeout in the first half, setting up Elliot Cadeau to go one on one with Sean Pedulla and getting a basket with five seconds left to stretch the halftime advantage to 50-39.
9. If you had any doubt about whether Tyler Nickel's first three-point attempt was going to rim in, you haven't watched much Carolina basketball. It was good to see Nickel have some success--and better to see the Tar Heels get the win.
10. Great to see a host of former Tar Heels at the game, including Coby White, who is having a terrific year for the Chicago Bulls. Other alumni in attendance included (among others) Luke Maye, John Kuester, Tyler Hansbrough, Phil Ford, Pete Chilcutt, Brandon Robinson, Dave Hanners and Travis Stephenson.
11. Carolina's weeklong break comes at a good time. The Tar Heels will go a little lighter in practice earlier in the week as a couple players try to rest some nagging injuries. UNC is at Virginia next Saturday at 4 p.m. (the game originally was scheduled for either 2 or 4, and has been set for 4:00).
12. In case you missed it earlier today, the NCAA released a preliminary look at the NCAA Tournament brackets if the season ended today. Carolina was the highest ranked second seed. A full look at the top 16 is here. There's a long way to go before those seeds become final, but it's better to be in a good position now than the alternative.
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Players Mentioned
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