(Not) Rapid Reactions: Georgia Tech
- Coby White was sensational in Carolina’s road win at Georgia Tech. The freshman shot 7-for-13 and handed out eight assists, which means he either scored or assisted on over half of the Tar Heels’ 29 field goals. White also had just two turnovers. He continues to be able to get his shot almost any time he wants it, and he’s starting to do a better job of identifying when he wants it. Against an offensively challenged team like the Yellow Jackets, White’s offense plus Cameron Johnson’s hot shooting (8-for-10 from the field for 22 points) was far too much to overcome.
- It’s fortunate for the Tar Heels that Georgia Tech couldn’t supplement their paint scoring with some three-point accuracy. The Jackets punished Carolina in the lane in the first half (holding a 16-8 edge in points in the paint) but shot just 1-for-10 from the three-point line. Tech finished just 2-for-16 from the three-point line.
- The Jackets haven’t been shooting the ball well from the perimeter all year, so give the UNC defense credit for shutting off their frequent source of offense—the free throw line. Tech had been the second-best team in the league at getting to the line in conference games, and the Tar Heels allowed them a very manageable 13 free throws. That’s occasionally been an area where Carolina has struggled this year, so this category was a noteworthy improvement.
- Nassir Little didn’t score a ton, but he was very aggressive on the glass and collected four rebounds in the first half, a couple of which came in heavy traffic. For Carolina to play smaller, Little has to rebound, and he did a solid job on Tuesday. He finished with seven rebounds, played the fourth-most minutes on the team, and scored nine points. If that’s an off night from the freshman, Carolina will take it.
- Nice to see Roy Williams using his use it or lose it timeout when Carolina had an inbounds play under the basket with 1.0 seconds remaining in the first half. It very nearly worked, as Garrison Brooks couldn’t quite finish a tomahawk dunk on a lob pass.
- Cameron Johnson took some heat from Kenny Williams last year for a dunk that Williams called an “exaggerated layup,” referring to Johnson’s lack of explosiveness. After offseason hip surgery, what a change to watch Johnson take flight and throw down a second half dunk over the Jackets’ 6-foot-9 James Banks. Johnson said during the fall that he felt physically able to make plays he couldn’t make before, and it showed on Tuesday.
- As always in Atlanta, there was a great turnout of Carolina blue in the McCamish Pavilion stands. In addition, there was a sizable contingent of former players on hand. George Lynch, the head coach at Clark Atlanta University, was behind the Carolina bench, along with his assistant coach, 2005 national champion Melvin Scott. 1993 national champion Kevin Salvadori was there, as was 2017 champ Kanler Coker. It’s always fun to watch different generations of Tar Heels connect. Lynch and his children lingered after the game because his daughter is a big fan of Cam Johnson and wanted to meet him. You’ll hear more from Lynch next week on the Carolina Insider podcast in a one-of-a-kind interview in which he and Eric Montross reminisced about the 1993 team, Dean Smith and more.
- Brandon Robinson continues to be a valuable asset. Playing in front of plenty of friends and family in his home state, plus his high school coach, Robinson finished with seven points and made several heady plays off the bench (there’s much more on Robinson’s big night–and how it washed away the memories of a dismal trip to Georgia his freshman season–in the postgame column here).
- If you need something to be concerned about, Georgia Tech had some success against the Tar Heels in the paint. Carolina won the rebounding battle, but narrowly, at 39-34. The Jackets had an edge on second chance points (8-1), but the Tar Heels actually had a better offensive rebounding percentage because Tech missed so many shots, and therefore there were so many more offensive rebound chances for Josh Pastner’s team. Tech still had 36 points in the paint and went through a stretch in the first half when they were having good success piercing the Tar Heel defense by throwing the ball straight into the middle. Carolina will need to be stronger against that type of play against the league’s better teams.
- And, of course, there are the turnovers. Carolina committed 15 of them, and over half were from the senior combination of Luke Maye (5) and Kenny Williams (3). Again, it just looks like turnovers are going to be a fact of life with this team. If shooting 13-for-27 from the three-point line is also a fact of life, that’s not a terrible tradeoff. There’s no guarantee the Heels can sustain that level of shooting. The 29 three-pointers made in the last two games are the most in UNC history in consecutive games.
- The 2018-19 season now becomes just the fourth time in the Roy Williams era—and the fourth time in the last 25 years—that the Tar Heels have posted two ACC road wins of at least 20 points in the same season. That’s certainly partially due to the expanded league (it was much tougher to do it when you only played seven or eight road games and the depth was a little more consistent) but it’s also testament to this team’s ability to put points up quickly. Just in the last two games, runs against Virginia Tech and Georgia Tech have been devastating.
- About those runs, from Johnson in the postgame: “The offense is clicking because we have a lot of guys who can score from anywhere…We can find scoring from so many different areas and that’s hard to guard because you can’t key in on any one guy. We did a good job scoring in transition in the second half.”
- The immediate question in the aftermath of the game will be the health of Leaky Black, who went down with an ankle injury in the second half. Roy Williams referred to it as a sprained ankle in the postgame. Black had already been playing through some knee pain this year, and his availability for Saturday’s key road game at Louisville will be determined later this week.
- As for that game at Louisville–it’s likely to dictate how you feel about the first half of this ACC season. Win, and the Tar Heels look like league contenders. Suffer another outcome like the one from the first meeting between the two teams, and there will be questions about whether Carolina simply took advantage of a softer league slate in January.
- Josh Pastner is an excellent defender. The Tech coach was very active on the sideline when Carolina shot at the basket in front of the Jacket bench in the first half.
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