North Carolina was riding a three-game losing streak coming into the ACC opener against Georgia Tech. With all of the “what’s wrong with the Heels” swirling, North Carolina came away with an ugly 68-65 win.
Seth Trimble’s 19 points led the Tar Heels.
North Carolina has a habit of falling behind early, and this game was no different. The Yellow Jackets got out to an early 14-6 lead. An 8-2 run tied the Tar Heels at 16. The lead would grow to six before Georgia Tech closed the half strong. North Carolina led 31-30 at the half.
The second half primarily was back-and-forth from the 12:29 mark on.
With 5:06 left, Jalen Washington’s dunk gave the Tar Heels the lead for good. North Carolina would push the lead to seven with 1:11 left on Ian Jackson’s free throws.
Jarod Mustaf’s two free throws got the Yellow Jackets to within three with 23 seconds left. It was the closest Georgia Tech would get until a meaningless layup at the buzzer.
Takeaways:
Careless Turnovers: The most annoying thing about North Carolina’s turnovers is they aren’t forced. It’s someone stepping out of bounds, making a poor decision, or miscommunications. The nine first-half turnovers illustrated all of the turnover issues that have been a bug-a-boo against better teams on the Tar Heels’ schedule. Elliot Cadeau had seven of the Tar Heels’ 18 turnovers. Cadeau’s turnovers were some of his worst turnovers of the season. North Carolina is an average offensive team with the ability to self-destruct.
3-Point Shooting: The Tar Heels shot 5-24 from three. Preseason Player of the Year RJ Davis was 2-8 from long-distance, and sharpshooter Cade Tyson has yet to get consistent minutes (more on this later). North Carolina’s opponents have made things difficult for Davis, knowing that the other players can’t hurt them and Armando Bacot isn’t walking through that door. If he does, he will be wearing G League gear. Even when Davis gets a good look, he still seems out of rhythm.
Speaking of Cade Tyson: It’s time for Hubert Davis to be creative enough to find a way to weaponize one of the best three-point shooters in the country. With North Carolina being soft in the middle, the emphasis on pace and shooting has never been more important to this program. Davis needs to do a better job at finding a way to make it work. Tyson’s line in an ACC game shouldn’t be 0-1 in five minutes played. He’s being treated like he’s Tyler Nickel. The failure falls squarely on Davis’ shoulders.
