Heel Tough Blog: Virginia Tech Recap

Bob Donnan- Imagn Images

The Tar Heels entered yesterday’s game against Virginia Tech with a chance to remain undefeated in the Smith Center this season and control their own destiny in the fight to get the double bye in the ACC Tournament and while it may not have been easy, they were able to do just that.

The Tar Heels got off to a slow start defensively, but that was in large part due to the turnover issues that cropped up once again. The team turned the ball over eight times in the first half, leading to easy baskets at the rim on the other end. The good news is, the team was locked in on the offensive end, scoring 44 points on 51.7% shooting led by a big first half from guard Jonathan Powell off the bench.

After heading to the half tied, the Tar Heels would do a much better job of holding onto the basketball and attacking the rim themselves in the second half. The team committed just five turnovers in the final 20 minutes, with most of them coming late while the Tar Heels still had control of the game. Meanwhile, Henri Veesaar and Seth Trimble were a big part of the reason that the team was able to pour in 22 points in the paint in the half after having just 12 in the first half. The Tar Heels shot 60.9% from the field and allowed the Hokies to shoot just 46.7% on the way to the 89-82 win.

Leading the way on the day was Veesaar, who tied a career-high with 26 points on 11-of-20 shooting and 2-of-7 from deep and pulled down a team-high seven rebounds. Trimble built off of his career performance against Louisville with another strong outing. He dropped 20 points, his fourth 20-point outing of the season, while shooting 7-of-12 from the field, 1-of-1 from three and 5-of-8 from the foul line. Powell may have had a quiet second half, but he still had one of his best performances of the season. He finished the game with 15 points on 4-of-5 shooting, all of which came from three, and 3-of-5 from the free throw line. Zayden High was the other Tar Heel to reach double-figures, as he scored 12 points on 2-of-3 from the field and 8-of-8 from the foul line and pulled down five rebounds on the day.

With the victory, the Tar Heels remain in contention to land that final double bye spot in the ACC Tournament. The team will likely need to win out to get there, starting with Clemson on Tuesday night where they will be looking to go a perfect 18-0 in the Smith Center this season and extend their longest home winning streak since 2017.

1. Veesaar Thrives: With Caleb Wilson still sidelined, the Tar Heels have needed Veesaar to be at his best and they got that on Saturday night. After struggling to rebound the ball against Louisville, he was much more aggressive going after the ball on the way to leading the team in rebounding. Scoring-wise, he did a good job of getting to his spots on the floor throughout the day and he became a problem in the paint in the second half while matched up against the multitude of different bigs that the Hokies sent out against him, The Tar Heels will be hoping for more of these types of efforts from Veesaar as the calendar turns to March.

2. Trimble Leads Aggressive Second Half Offense: One of the things that we talked about heading into this game on The Four Corners Podcast was that we wanted to see the Tar Heels attack the rim and they did just that in the second half of this game. Virginia Tech had been susceptible to giving up points at the rim and Trimble and this offense was able to take advantage of that in the second half. The team scored 22 points in the paint and got to free throw lines a ton in the second half, leading to another half where the team was extremely efficient from the field. When this offense is at its best this season, it is attacking the basket and putting pressure on the rim and the hope is that this will be something that the team can consistently do throughout the month of March.

3. Powell Sparks Big Night for Bench: Since the injury to Wilson, the Tar Heels bench has been a little quiet in large part because of the thinner depth, but that group stepped up and helped position the team well in the first half after the starters struggled. Powell was fantastic on both ends of the floor, especially in that first half where he hit three big three-pointers. While he wasn’t nearly as impactful on the offensive end of the floor, he continued to put pressure on the ball on defense, making it tough for the Hokies on the perimeter. High was also very impactful off the bench with the way that he was attacking the basket on the offensive end of the floor and did a good job of providing some much-needed rebounding for the team to go along with what Veesaar was doing on the glass. In total, the bench scored 32 points for the team and pulled down 13 rebounds, something that the Tar Heels are hoping to see more often this month, especially when Wilson returns to the lineup.

4. Turnover Issues Get Corrected at Halftime: One of the big reasons that the Hokies had a strong first half showing in this game was because of the eight turnovers that the Tar Heels had in the first half, going back to some of the issues that the team had in the early part of the season. The Hokies turned those turnovers into 12 points in the first half because of the pick six nature of the turnovers and a lack of hustle in transition from the Tar Heels defensively. That wasn’t a problem in the second half, though, as the Hokies turned the five turnovers they forced into just two points. Turnovers have been an issue that has popped up from time to time for this team, but it always seems like the team is able to correct that in the second half of games. Let’s hope that carries over.

5. Free Throw Shooting Improves: Apparently the praying worked. After two abysmal performances from the foul line in the previous two games, the Tar Heels put together a serviceable day from the foul line which allowed this game to be more comfortable down the stretch than the Louisville game was. The team shot 23-of-30 from the foul line for a more than palatable 76.7%, something that would be welcomed with how poorly the team has shot the ball from the charity stripe this season. Here’s to hoping this is something that carries over into the month of March.