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Tech fall with a slow second half to Carolina 79-62

ATLANTA- Georgia Tech still lacks a regular secondary scorer to compliment Mike Devoe and that hurt them in a 79-62 loss to North Carolina on Saturday. The Heels keyed on Devoe and slowed him down offensively and denied the three forcing other players to step up. In the first half, Tech was able to do it, but in the second half, Carolina went on a 22-4 run to put the game away and deliver the third loss of the season for the Jackets and the first back-to-back loss of the year. Carolina improved to 6-2 while Tech fell to 5-3.

“I thought we were really good defensively with the exception of a seven-minute stretch in the first half. I thought we defended the best we have all season,” Carolina first-year coach Hubert Davis said. “I thought in the second half we were fantastic and Leaky Black was fantastic on defense. This is a very tough place to play against a really good team.”

RJ Davis led the way with 23 points for the Heels while Caleb Love added 17 points and Armando Bacot had 15 points and 13 rebounds, but only three boards in the second half. Carolina was 10-for-17 from three in the game.

"Hats off to coach Davis and UNC they are really good. I said it at ACC Media Day they are really good and their guards are really good guards and Bacot is really good," Pastner said. "I love our group, I think we will be really good and I don't think we will peak until we get into the after-Christmas conference play."

Devoe led the way with 15 points for the Jackets and Coleman and Khalid Moore each had 13 points for Tech, but Devoe struggled offensive in the second half with just six points.

Tech had just eight assists in the game and 13 turnovers in the game and it was the second straight single-digit assist game. UNC had 21 points off turnovers and the Jackets turned the ball over 13 times in the game.

"I thought we got stuck and overdribbled and any time you lose a game I believe it is on the coach. Teams are going to try to take Michael Devoe and out and we are finding our team and our rhythm and we have two weeks to clean things up with just two games," Pastner said. "We've got to be better about the live-ball turnovers because that is a free basket for North Carolina."

The two teams combined for just 15 free throws in the game and Moore said that they had to adjust to the size and how physical Carolina played.

“Something you have to be ready for is playing physical and they let us play and we have to be ready for that,” Moore said. “The ball wasn’t falling for us either and you have to pick it up on the other end of the court with rebounding and defense and we didn’t.”

Carolina shot 56-percent from the field and 59-percent from three while Tech shot just 46-percent from the field and 38-percent from the arc. The Jackets were outrebounded by 12 33-21.

One noticeable stat for the Jackets was the lack of production from the post position as Rodney Howard had zero points and two rebounds and no shot attempts in 30 minutes and Saba Gigiberia had just two rebounds and no shot attempts in 3 minutes of action. Tech's offense has run through the post for much of Pastner's tenure and that was a liability against the Heels. Pastner said they could adjust over the coming weeks where Tech has just two games in two weeks with final exams.

"Out of the eight games we've played, this was the worst game for Rodney," Pastner said. "I've had to make adjustments throughout our time here and our teams have always gotten better as the year has gone along, unfortunately in college basketball, you have such a short amount of games that you know whereas the NBA has so many games that you can make some adjustments and things. College every game is so magnified because of the lower amount so you don't have a lot and everything matters with your resume."

HOW IT HAPPENED

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Both teams went back and forth early in the second half, Carolina climbed out to a 43-39 lead as Rodney Howard picked up his fourth foul with 14:55 to go. Carolina hit a three out of the time by Brady Manek and a dunk by Bacot to go up 48-39. The Heels extended the lead to 50-39 at the U-12 timeout with 11:37 left. The Heels extended the lead to 60-43 on a 22-4 run with 8:11 left when Pastner burned yet another timeout. Manek hit another three to make it 70-52 with under four minutes to go. Carolina held back a late charge by the Jackets to hold a 76-60 lead with 90 seconds left.

Tech fell behind early 8-4 at the first media timeout as the Jackets couldn’t get any shots to fall and both scores came on fastbreaks via a Devoe layup and a dunk by Usher. UNC stretched the lead to 12-4, but Deebo Coleman hit a pair of threes to make it 12-10 with under 12 to go in the first half. Tech went on a 9-0 run behind back-to-back threes by Khalid Moore and one by Mike Devoe off UNC turnovers. Tech extended the run to 13-0 to take a 23-14 lead before Hubert Davis burned his first timeout. Carolina closed the half on a 8-0 run to tie the game at 29 before Usher hit a turnaround jumper and Carolina answered to make it 31 all with 17 seconds left. Pastner burned his first timeout to run a play. Devoe got a clean look from three but it rimmed out. Tech used a balanced attack in the first half led by eight from Khalid Moore, seven from Devoe who had three steals and four rebounds at the break and six from Deebo Coleman and Usher each. RJ Davis led Carolina with 10 points while Armando Bacot had seven points and 10 rebounds at the break. Both teams shot 46-percent in the first half and had too many turnovers with the Heels seven each. Tech had a 19-2 run at one point in the first half.


UP NEXT

Georgia Tech faces LSU in the Holiday Hoopsgiving Event in State Farm Arena next Saturday as the program slows down for final exams. The Heels host Elon next Saturday.

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