Tech mounts a comeback to down UNC 72-67
ATLANTA- Georgia Tech senior guard Jose Alvarado came up big in the clutch for the Jackets with 20 points in a 72-67 come from behind win over North Carolina to close out 2020 on Wednesday night in McCamish Pavilion. The Jackets trailed by as many as 11 in the game, but fought back and took the lead for the first time midway through the second half. They countered multiple runs by the Heels before putting the game away late. Tech moved to 5-3 on the season and 1-1 in ACC play while UNC fell to 5-4 and 0-2 in the ACC play.
"This was a team win. Our young men, fought, scraped , and competed. In the scrums, we came up with a lot of 50/50 balls and everyone did their job and it was a great win for Georgia Tech and the fans and program and most importantly for our young men," Tech head coach Josh Pastner said. "We only had 13 turnovers with eight in the first half, so 13 was a good stat for us. We held them to seven second-chance points and we were small most of the game so that was a good stat. Everyone did their job."
Alvarado was very efficient for Tech with 20 pts on 8-10 from the field, seven rebounds, seven assists and three steals as well as the game-sealing buckets for Tech.
"I felt like today we were just tougher than them and it was a good win for us," Alvarado said. "We dug in and created turnovers and got out on the fastbreak. I think it was an advantage us being smaller because we were faster and quicker than them to the ball."
The Jackets scored 15 fastbreak points compared to just eight for Carolina.
Devoe added 20 points as well four three-point baskets. Alvarado, Devoe and guard Bubba Parham combined for 49 points, 14 rebounds, 14 assists and six steals often getting caught in mismatches with players significantly taller than them on defense.
"It was huge effort from each individual on our team," Devoe said of the win. "It was a team effort game today. Everybody played tough and played hard. And they were supposed to do that was our game plan. We had to use our sizes in there as an advantage. So we had a couple mismatches here and there, but at the end of the day, we fought and we played tough. So that was a huge thing for us and it was a huge team win."
Armando Bacot led UNC with 14 points with just five rebounds while preseason All-ACC Garrison Brooks was held to 9 points and 11 rebounds in 29 minutes. The Tar Heels only had 10 offensive boards despite their major size advantage against Pastner's small lineup. UNC led the country in second-chance baskets coming into the game, but only managed seven points against Tech.
Georgia Tech led 68-65 with just under two minutes left. Moses Wright fouled Day'Ron Sharpe who missed the front end of a one and one, but he tipped out his own miss and got a layup on the offensive reset. That cut Tech's lead to 68-67 with 1:07 let. Alvarado hit a leaner with just over 40 seconds left to make the lead three.
Tech got the ball back on a UNC turnover after a video review reversed the call on the court with 33.8 left on the clock. The Heels fouled Alvarado with 26.9 left on the clock, but he missed the free throw, but he rebounded a Tar Heels miss on the other end with 13 seconds left. Alvarado hit both free throws this time seal the game.
The Jackets took the lead for the first time on a Jose Alvarado defensive rebound and outlet to Mike Devoe 50-49 with 11:24 left. Moses Wright gave Tech a three-point lead after a steal and layup to cap a 7-0 run, but UNC countered with a three to tie the game at 52 with just over 10 minutes left. The Tar Heels went on a 12-1 run to extend their lead to eight with 6:45 left. Tech hit four straight field goals to tie the game at 64 all with 3:42 left.
"We were down 61-53. and I said it before the game that our veteran guards have to got to step it up and be and play like an older group. And we did that. We were able to come out of that timeout, and we hit a three and so cut the lead from eight to five got a couple stops, and, fought our way back in," Pastner said. "Who we've been in our time here we've done a nice job of always fighting and competing, we've been very resilient in our time here and I'm really proud and that's just and that's a direct reflection on our young man or our young student-athletes."
Georgia Tech trailed 35-29 at the half, but battled back from an 11-point deficit late in the first half with a 9-2 run. Jordan Usher scored 11 points in the half to lead the Jackets' offense. Tech struggled early missing on eight of the first nine three-point attempts and committing eight turnovers in the half. The Heels had 10 turnovers on their end and hit just two of eight from three. Moses Wright had just three points and one rebound in the first half, but he did have three steals.
"Jordan Usher saved us in the first half when we couldn't score and then gave us some great assists in the second half," Pastner said.
Usher ended up with 14 points on six of 13 shooting and a +/- rating of +13 to lead the team along with Alvarado in that stat.
Both teams started very slowly as the Jackets were coming off an unexpected 10-day layoff and North Carolina had not played in eight days.
"We've been off for a little minute, we've got the game canceled against UAB. So we haven't played in a while. So I guess I would say that our first half, we had a little rust to us, but we worked through it and kept playing tough and and worried about the defensive end," Devoe said. "We didn't worry about our offense too much. So we knew that the shots were going to definitely fall in towards the end of the game, and we just kept believing in it. So we just kept fighting and it worked out for us."
Reserve forward David Didenko was unavailable due to COVID protocols per Pastner after the game.
The win was the first back-to-back wins over UNC since 2010-11 and marks the first-time in school history the Jackets beat both North Carolina and Kentucky in the same season.
The Jackets return to action on January 3rd against Wake Forest at McCamish Pavilion with a 6 pm tip.