ACC Roundup - UNC Getting In Gear?
Georgia Tech has had some tough years recently but has managed to beat UNC fairly often. Not this time: Sunday’s game was tight at the half but UNC ran away in the second, winning 79-62.
Most impressively, UNC put together another strong defensive game, so props to Hubert Davis for teaching. Michael DeVoe has been leading the nation in scoring but got just 13 Sunday.
A smaller team, Georgia Tech probably has three major options: either score on the break, hit lots of threes or backdoor you to death.
Three pointers didn’t work out so well as Tech hit just 6-16 there and managed just 19 shots otherwise. The Yellow Jackets also didn't get to the line, hitting 6-7 there.
UNC by contrast hit 10-17 on threes and Georgia Tech could not stop UNC in general: Armando Bacot shot 7-11, RJ Davis 8-11/4-6, Caleb Love 7-18/3-5 and Brady Manek 6-10/3-6.
On the downside? Davis has said he wants to modernize the system and three point shooting is a big part of that. Part of the tradeoff for that is a traditional UNC strength; offensive rebounding.
Josh Pastner has only one player over 6-8 in his rotation and while Rodney Howard is an adequate rebounder, he’s not great.
Georgia Tech got just four offensive rebounds in this game. And UNC?
Just seven. The Heels shot well, but still, they’re way off historical standards here.
And we’ll say this too: it didn’t really look like Carolina basketball. The offense wasn’t overly patient or intelligent.
Nonetheless, Davis is making progress which is good news for the conference and great news for UNC fans.
This is not ACC news strictly speaking but it does involve a former ACC team, a former ACC coach and a former ACC player who is also now a head coach: former Duke Chris Collins and his Northwestern Wildcats knocked off Danny Manning’s Maryland Terrapins Sunday 67-61.
Stop us if this sounds familiar: Wake Forest Maryland failed to compete in the last few minutes of the game and couldn’t hold off the opponent at the end of the game.
No games until Tuesday when Syracuse and Villanova transfer Cole Swider tangle with his old team. Virginia also plays James Madison.
- North Carolina puts hammer on Georgia Tech in ACC opener
- Strong defensive play continues for UNC in Sunday win against Georgia Tech
- Davis scores 23, North Carolina pulls away from Georgia Tech
- UNC slows nation’s leading scorer, opens ACC play with 79-62 win at Georgia Tech
- North Carolina vs. Georgia Tech Condensed Game | 2021-22 ACC Men’s Basketball
- UNC shares success in ACC opener, breaks away from Georgia Tech with big second half
- POSTGAME NOTES UNC 79, GEORGIA TECH 62.
- UNC-Georgia Tech: Hubert Davis Postgame
- UNC Basketball: Grading Tar Heels’ game against Georgia Tech