Heel Tough Blog: Georgia Tech Recap

Colin Hubbard - AP

It was another high-scoring affair for Carolina Basketball, who raced past Georgia Tech, 91-75 on the road, to secure a third straight win, and improve to 17-4 on the season, and 5-3 in the ACC, as they near the midway point of conference play. With the 91 points today, Carolina has scored 85 points or more in 5 of their last 6 games, and it’s crossed the 90-point threshold in 3 of the last 5 contests, a big reason why it owns the nation’s #2 offense in January, according to Bart Torvik. Carolina was led once again by Caleb Wilson, who scored 22 points, on 9-15 shooting, in his return to his hometown. But he had plenty of help from his teammates, as Henri Veesaar added 20 points and 12 rebounds, on 8-15 shooting, Seth Trimble poured in 18, on 8-14 shooting, and Luka Bogavac totaled 16 points off the bench, going 6-10. The Tar Heels managed to shoot just 46% from the field and 26% from behind the arc, despite the big scoring total, but they got easy points, scoring 18 points off Georgia Tech turnovers, 20 points off offensive rebounds, and 16 transition points, to complete the best road performance of the season so far. 

UNC started the game on a 7-0 run, and it looked like they were going to run away from the Yellow Jackets early. But Georgia Tech would respond with an 8-0 run of their own, to take the lead. But Carolina answered with an 18-6 run, to take a 25-14 lead, forcing a GT timeout, and they never looked back, on their way to building a 52-37 lead at halftime. The 52 first half points made it back-to-back halves, in which UNC scored at least 50 points on the road, after doing so in the comeback win at Virginia last Saturday. 

In his press conference yesterday, Hubert Davis was very forward about the improvement he felt his team made this week, but still aware they need to continue to improve to get where they want to go come March. Two areas of known necessary improvement are free-throw shooting and defensive rebounding, and Carolina took a step in the right direction today, shooting 11/12 from the foul line and only allowing 9 offensive rebounds to Georgia Tech, on a day where they shot 45%, and missed 33 total shots. 

This was a game that Carolina was supposed to win, but then again, so were the road games at Cal and Stanford, but UNC went 0-2. That difficult road trip may have been the turning point in the season, though, as they have gone 3-0 since, with back-to-back road wins, to get to 3-3 away from Chapel Hill. Here’s what to take away from today’s road win in Atlanta: 

1. More History For Caleb Wilson: With his 22 points today, Wilson set the record for the most consecutive games to score in double figures to begin a UNC career, breaking a record set by Rasheed Wallace. He also broke a record set by Tyler Hansbrough for the most 20-point games by a UNC freshman, with today being the 15th time he’s done so. What is even more impressive about today’s scoring performance is that Wilson didn’t score for the first 12 minutes of the game, as Georgia Tech opted to double Wilson virtually every time he touched the ball, yet he finished with 14 points in the opening frame. Being an Atlanta native, you knew Wilson would be motivated to put on a show in his hometown, and he did that, hitting multiple tough fadeaway shots, while throwing down some monstrous dunks. In his 30 minutes on the court tonight, Wilson recorded 22 points, 6 rebounds, and a team-high 5 assists. For as good as Cameron Boozer is for Duke, Wilson needs to be talked about in the same manner, ahead of next week’s showdown in the Smith Center. 

2. Veesaar Bounces Back: After UVA was able to take Veesaar out of the game last week, Georgia Tech failed to do the same, as Henri bounced back with 20 points and 12 rebounds for another double-double. He struggled from the outside, going just 1-4, but managed to score his 20 points, on 8-15 shooting, with 11 of them coming in the first half. When this frontcourt combines to score 42 points and grab 17 rebounds, this is a difficult team to beat, home or away. 

3. Turnovers: After struggling with turnovers earlier this season, the Tar Heels are on pace to set a school record for fewest turnovers per game, and they looked the part today, turning it over just twice. On the flipside, they forced 12 Yellow Jacket turnovers and scored 18 points off of them. This carried over from the win at Virginia, where Carolina limited their mistakes, but scored off the mistakes made by the opponent. The turnovers helped get UNC out in the open floor, where they outscored Georgia Tech, 16-10 in the fast break. 

4. Assists: In addition to taking care of the basketball, this team is starting to share it like a typical UNC team does. UNC assisted on 21 of their 36 made baskets, with Caleb Wilson leading the way with 5. Every UNC starter recorded at least one assist in today’s win, while the bench added 8 assists as well. 

5. Perimeter Shooting: Not only is UNC on pace to set the school record for fewest turnovers per game, but they are on pace to set the record for three-point field goals made per game and attempted. Today, they got a little three-point happy, shooting 8-31 from deep, but when they get 8 makes from the outside, it makes them almost impossible to defend in the halfcourt. Luka Bogavac was 3-7 from deep, with contributions from Derek Dixon, Kyan Evans, Seth Trimble, Henri Veesaar, and even Caleb Wilson. On the flipside, Georgia Tech may have shot 54% from behind the arc, but they did so on 13 attempts, making it the third straight game that UNC has allowed 8 or fewer threes, after getting carved up in the first 5 games of ACC play. 

Up Next: It’s a quick turnaround for Carolina, who will be back in action on Monday at home against Syracuse. Tip is set for 7 PM on ESPN.