UNC Basketball Moments After – UNC vs Georgia Tech 91-75 Win
UNC Tar Heels Basketball Team Pounds the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets on the Road to Secure Another Victory
by Derrick Isaiah Clyburn
The North Carolina basketball team faced off against Georgia Tech on Saturday afternoon. The Tar Heels jumped out to a 7-0 lead at the start of this game, after a couple of made baskets from Seth Trimble and Henri Veesaar. The Heels were playing with tremendous pace, setting the tone early. Despite the early hot start from UNC, Georgia Tech would go on a run to tie the game due to a poor shooting stretch from Carolina, where they went 1-8 from the field. Once the Tar Heels settled back down offensively and started to play inside out basketball, North Carolina was able to extend their lead again. The ball movement from the Heels was excellent and all the attention that Caleb Love and Henri Veesaar garnered in the paint led to open shots on the perimeter.
Not only was UNC generating great shots in the halfcourt, but they were also getting out in transition for easy baskets after Georgia Tech misses and turnovers. Caleb Wilson was quiet for a good stretch of the first half, but with about 8 minutes left decided to put his imprint on the game with transition baskets, thunderous dunks, and a couple of jump shots. Georgia Tech had no answers for Carolina’s size inside on offense where multiple shots were altered around the basket by the Tar Heel frontcourt and was dominated in the paint, allowing 26 paint points to the Heels. UNC shot 50% in the first half, had 13 assists on 22 made baskets, and had 10 fast break points, nine points off turnovers as they went into halftime with a 15-point 52-37 lead.
In the second half, the Tar Heels methodically put away the Yellow Jackets. The Heels continued to dominate in the paint and in transition. North Carolina outscored Georgia Tech 44-32 in the paint and had 18-0 edge in points off turnovers. Georgia Tech just could stop the Tar Heels offensively and even when the Heels had defensive lapses didn’t enough offensive firepower to get back into the game. UNC led by as much 21 in the game and showed from the very beginning they were the better team. Carolina had a well-balanced attack offensively with Seth Trimble, Luka Bogavac, Henri Veesaar, and Caleb Wilson each finishing with at least 16 points and put on an offensive clinic leading with 21 to their third straight victory and 17th win of the season.
UNC Stats
| 1 | 2 | T | |
| 16 North Carolina 17-4 | 52 | 39 | 91 |
| Georgia Tech 11-11 | 37 | 38 | 75 |
| Starters | PTS | REB | AST | FG | 3PT | FT | PF | MIN | STL | BLK | TO |
| C. Wilson | 22 | 6 | 5 | 9/15 | 1/3 | 3/3 | 1 | 29 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| H. Veesaar | 20 | 12 | 1 | 8/15 | 1/4 | 3/3 | 4 | 30 | 2 | 4 | 0 |
| S. Trimble | 18 | 4 | 2 | 8/14 | 1/2 | 1/1 | 1 | 30 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| D. Dixon | 5 | 2 | 3 | 1/7 | 1/5 | 2/2 | 0 | 24 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| J. Young | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0/1 | 0/1 | 0/0 | 1 | 11 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Bench | PTS | REB | AST | FG | 3PT | FT | PF | MIN | STL | BLK | TO |
| L. Bogavac | 16 | 1 | 3 | 6/10 | 3/7 | 1/1 | 2 | 27 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| J. Stevenson | 7 | 6 | 2 | 3/6 | 0/1 | 1/2 | 1 | 22 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| K. Evans | 3 | 2 | 3 | 1/6 | 1/6 | 0/0 | 1 | 16 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| Z. High | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0/2 | 0/0 | 0/0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| J. Powell | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0/3 | 0/2 | 0/0 | 0 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| I. Denis | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| I. Matlekovic | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| J. Brown | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| E. Davis | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| J. Holbrook | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| E. Smith | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| Total | 91 | 36 | 21 | 36/79 | 8/31 | 11/12 | 11 | – | 10 | 5 | 2 |
| Starters | PTS | REB | AST | FG | 3PT | FT | PF | MIN | STL | BLK | TO |
| B. Ndongo | 27 | 7 | 4 | 9/12 | 1/1 | 8/10 | 3 | 38 | 0 | 2 | 3 |
| K. Reeves Jr. | 14 | 3 | 1 | 6/10 | 2/2 | 0/0 | 2 | 30 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| L. Washington | 6 | 7 | 3 | 2/11 | 0/0 | 2/2 | 0 | 25 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| J. Mustaf | 6 | 5 | 1 | 2/6 | 0/0 | 2/3 | 2 | 28 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| A. Fleming | 4 | 3 | 2 | 2/6 | 0/0 | 0/0 | 2 | 24 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Bench | PTS | REB | AST | FG | 3PT | FT | PF | MIN | STL | BLK | TO |
| K. Craft | 15 | 4 | 1 | 5/11 | 3/8 | 2/2 | 0 | 30 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| C. Kelley III | 3 | 2 | 4 | 1/3 | 1/2 | 0/0 | 0 | 18 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| C. Kirouac | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0/1 | 0/0 | 0/0 | 1 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| P. Marshall | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| D. Thompson | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| M. Sylla | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| B. Stores Jr. | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| E. Chatfield Jr. | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| D. Remagen | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| Total | 75 | 32 | 16 | 27/60 | 7/13 | 14/17 | 10 | – | 1 | 4 | 12 |
UNC Bright Spots
Caleb Wilson had 22 points, 6 rebounds, 5 assists, 1 steal, and 1 block.
Henri Veesaar 20 points, 12 rebounds, 4 blocks, 2 steals, and 1 assist
Seth Trimble had 18 points, 4 rebounds, 2 assists, and 1 steal
Luka Bogavac had 16 points, 3 assists, 1 rebound, and 1 steal.
Needs Work
The Tar Heels need to make sure they are not allowing the defense to dictate what shots they take. The shot selection must be better. They do not need to attempt 31 threes in a game especially if they’re not quality three-point attempts.
Final Observations
The Tar Heels improve to 17-4 on the season, 5-3 in ACC play. The Heels are on a three-game winning streak and are starting to play some of their best basketball of the season but are only scratching the surface of how good they can truly become. If the Tar Heels can make the main focus offensively dominating the paint, putting pressure on the defense every time down the floor with aggressive drives and feeding their bigs in the post, it would make the offense so much better. They do it for stretches of the game, but they need to do it consistently for 40 minutes and not let defenses off the hook. The Tar Heels have arguably the best frontcourt in the nation and must take advantage of it for all 40 minutes of the game. They don’t need to settle for threes when they are one of the best teams in the country at scoring in the paint. The paint touches and aggressive drives to the basket will lead to open shots on the perimeter.
It’s no need to hunt for perimeter shots when they can be easily generated by either feeding the post or dribble penetration, which will tilt defenses to pack the paint, put them in rotation, and leave shooters wide open on the perimeter. Defensively, theyjust need to continue to improve their communication, rotate better, run their opponents off the three-point line to force them into contested twos and make them shoot over the size and length of their frontcourt players. Hubert Davis and his staff have done a good job of helping this team get over the adversity of that recent three-game losing streak and it looks like this team is back on track to playing like one of the best teams in the country. As long as the effort, energy, intensity, is brought to each game and they stick to what they do best on both ends of the floor, the Heels will be right in the mix for one of the top seeds in the tournament with a chance to do something special in March. Next up is Syracuse on Monday February 2 on ESPN at 7:00 P.M.
Looks like a good bounce back game. They cannot afford to have any more 2 games or more losing streaks this year.
Nice job by the Heels this weekend!! In the “needs improvement” category, 3pt shooting and point guard play are the areas that have to be shored up. Neither point guard looked the part, so they have to step up and run the team like a Carolina point guard should. And 20% 3pt shooting ain’t gonna cut it. Overall, we got the job done, and hope to improve moving towards the end of the season.