UNC Tar Heels Basketball Team Throttles the Yellow Jackets
by Derrick Isaiah Clyburn
The North Carolina basketball team faced off against Georgia Tech on Saturday night and looked to remain unbeaten at home. The Tar Heels came out and played a dominant first half. UNC got out to an early lead and never looked back. They set the tone defensively from the start and just imposed their will on Georgia Tech from start to finish.
The Heels made it a point of emphasis to stop the Yellow Jackets’ best player Michael Devoe and he was held scoreless in the first half. Carolina played unselfish offensive basketball with great ball movement and player movement and their aggressive energy on defense just wore Georgia Tech down. RJ Davis was outstanding in the first half with 16 points and the Heels went into halftime with a 42-26 lead.
In the second half, the Heels’ dominance on both ends of the floor continued. UNC ran their offense through Armando Bacot and he delivered with 20 second-half points, 29 points for the game. Carolina was outstanding defensively throughout not allowing easy baskets in the paint, wide-open threes, or uncontested shots. The Heels even held Georgia Tech’s best player Michael Devoe, who’s been averaging over 20 points a game, to just 2 points. Their great defense combined with their scorching offense extended the Tar Heels’ lead to as much as 32 and the Heels would go to win 88-65, remaining unbeaten at home.
UNC Game Stats
1st 2nd TOT
North Carolina 42 46 88
Georgia Tech 26 39 65
North Carolina
| STARTERS | MIN | FG | 3PT | FT | OREB | DREB | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TO | PF | PTS | ||||||
| A. Bacot F | — | 10-16 | 0-2 | 9-9 | 3 | 9 | 12 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 29 | ||||||
| B. Manek F | — | 4-10 | 2-5 | 1-1 | 1 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 11 | ||||||
| R.J. Davis G | — | 8-11 | 4-6 | 1-2 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 21 | ||||||
| C. Love G | — | 4-10 | 3-5 | 3-4 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 3 | 14 | ||||||
| L. Black G | — | 1-3 | 0-1 | 0-0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | ||||||
| BENCH | MIN | FG | 3PT | FT | OREB | DREB | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TO | PF | PTS | ||||||
| D. Garcia F | — | 0-4 | 0-1 | 4-4 | 2 | 9 | 11 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 4 | ||||||
| J. McKoy F | — | 1-2 | 0-1 | 1-1 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 | ||||||
| P. Johnson G | — | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||||
| D. Dunn G | — | 1-1 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | ||||||
| D. Styles G | — | 0-3 | 0-2 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | ||||||
| K. Walton G | — | 1-3 | 0-2 | 0-0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | ||||||
| TEAM | 30-63 | 9-25 | 19-21 | 11 | 31 | 42 | 20 | 3 | 1 | 13 | 15 | 88 | |||||||
| 47.6% | 36.0% | 90.5% | |||||||||||||||||
Ga. Tech
| STARTERS | MIN | FG | 3PT | FT | OREB | DREB | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TO | PF | PTS |
| K. Moore F | — | 2-3 | 0-0 | 1-2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 5 |
| D. Coleman G | — | 1-6 | 0-2 | 0-0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 2 |
| K. Sturdivant G | — | 2-5 | 0-1 | 2-2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 6 |
| M. Devoe G | — | 1-5 | 0-2 | 0-0 | 0 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 6 | 3 | 2 |
| J. UsherG | — | 9-16 | 1-3 | 3-3 | 0 | 7 | 7 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 22 |
| BENCH | MIN | FG | 3PT | FT | OREB | DREB | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TO | PF | PTS |
| J. Moore F | — | 1-1 | 0-0 | 1-1 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 |
| S. Gigiberia C | — | 2-3 | 0-0 | 0-2 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 4 |
| M. Kelly G | — | 2-3 | 1-2 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 |
| T. Maxwell G | — | 0-6 | 0-3 | 0-0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| D. Smith G | — | 7-11 | 1-1 | 1-4 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 16 |
| TEAM | 27-59 | 3-14 | 8-14 | 4 | 22 | 26 | 10 | 9 | 1 | 11 | 20 | 65 | |
| 45.8% | 21.4% | 57.1% |
UNC Bright Spots
Armando Bacot had 29 points, 12 rebounds, and 1 steal.
RJ Davis had 21 points, 6 assists, 5 rebounds, and 1 steal.
Caleb Love had 14 points, 3 assists, and 1 rebound.
Brady Manek had 11 points, 5 rebounds, and 4 assists.
Needs Work
The Tar Heels need to continue to work on cutting down on their turnovers. They had 13 in the game.
Final Observations
This was another quality performance for the Tar Heels and they move to 12-4 on the season, 3-1 in the ACC. They also remain unbeaten at home, which is outstanding. The Heels have held their last seven opponents to at least 65 points at home, and are outscoring their opponents at home by at least 16 points each game.
They will need to take this momentum into their upcoming games and show they can muster up these performances on the road to reach their potential as a team, which means consistency game in and game out. The Tar Heels are playing great basketball at home but are not even close to reaching their ceiling as a team. They are playing well even without Kerwin Walton, Dawson Garcia, and Justin Mccoy playing to their abilities. This just goes to show how deep this team really is and how scary they can be if those players can get confidence on the court. Next up is Miami on Tuesday night at 7:00 p.m.