In the den of No. 15 North Carolina on Saturday, Georgia Tech shot the ball effectively, but other parts of its game were wanting. The Yellow Jackets were decisively ineffective in keeping the Tar Heels off the offensive glass, couldn’t get to the free-throw line enough and gave the ball away too many times.
An 80-66 defeat was the unsurprising result. Tech stayed in the game in the first half, but a spurt of transition baskets helped push the Tar Heels' lead to 15 points, which proved too much of a deficit for Tech to overcome. Tech (10-9 overall, 3-3 ACC) was led by Josh Okogie’s 18 points. North Carolina (16-4, 5-2) won its 15th consecutive ACC home game.
Here are five observations from the game:
Defeated on the glass
North Carolina devoured Tech on the offensive glass, taking down 19 offensive rebounds to Tech’s 19 defensive rebounds. The Tar Heels rank fourth in the country in offensive rebounding percentage at 38 percent (per KenPom). Taking 50 percent of the available rebounds on offense tied for their second-highest rate of the season.
“I’ll box out one guy, and then another one will come flying right after from the side,” center Ben Lammers said. “It’s one of those things that’s hard to do. It’s hard to box out a guy you don’t see coming.”
Eight Tar Heels grabbed at least one offensive rebound, an indication of their all-out attack on the glass. They turned the 19 offensive rebounds into 26 second-chance points, the most that the Tar Heels have scored in that category this season.
“They just crash hard every single time,” Tech coach Josh Pastner said. “If you’re going up with one hand or not bringing that sucker to your chin, it makes it hard.”
Despite such ferocity, North Carolina was called for 12 fouls compared with 23 for Tech. The Tar Heels went to the line 24 times, 18 more than Tech.
Second game in less than 48 hours
Keeping springy and long-armed opponents off the glass might not have been the ideal activity for a team that had played a grueling game against Virginia on Thursday night, as was the case for the Jackets. North Carolina’s previous game before Saturday was Tuesday.
Okogie said fatigue was not a factor, noting the team’s shooting percentage (48.3 percent, the highest in ACC play thus far) and the effective defense of the 3-point arc (UNC shot 23.8 percent from 3-point range, its second-lowest rate of the season).
“Our effort was there, our energy was there,” he said.
Pastner said that “we were tired here and there, but nobody is going to feel sorry for us.”
Lammers logged 37 minutes after playing 35 against Virginia on Thursday night. His four rebounds tied for his season low.
“There might have been a little bit of a drop down, but it’s not like we’re the only ones that play (on short rest),” he said. “We’ve got to learn to make that work even when it might be a little difficult.”
Turnovers ruinous again
As was the case against Virginia, Tech suffered self-inflicted damage with a heavy dosage of turnovers. After giving the ball away 18 times to the Cavaliers in a 64-48 loss, the Jackets torched 15 of their possessions Saturday with turnovers.
As also happened against Virginia, many of the turnovers were unforced, the product of imprecise passes or other bad decisions with the ball. Guard Tadric Jackson was assigned five of the turnovers.
The Jackets shot the ball fairly well, especially inside the 3-point arc, but didn’t get to the free-throw line (six attempts, tying their season low) and did not commit heavily to the offensive glass to protect against North Carolina’s devastating fast-break attack. As such, the turnovers severely limited Tech’s opportunity to end its four-game losing streak in the Smith Center.
“You can’t win with 15 turnovers and not get to the free-throw line,” Okogie said.
Alvarado hit with technical
Point guard Jose Alvarado was assessed a technical foul at the 3:21 mark of the second half for stepping over UNC guard Joel Berry as he lay on the ground. Berry had driven to the basket and Alvarado fouled him, and then Alvarado walked over his chest after the call. The technical came well after the foul, during the ensuing TV timeout, and Pastner came charging out of the team huddle for an explanation from referee Ted Valentine. Coincidentally, Valentine caught national attention for turning his back on Berry in an earlier game as Berry tried to talk to him about a non-call (Berry said Valentine apologized to him before the game.)
“They said it was nothing intentional,” Pastner said, but “since he stepped over him, they had to call it based on the rule of unsportsmanlike conduct.”
Pastner said he had no issue with the call. It was costly, as Berry made three of four free throws (two for the technical plus two for the personal foul), increasing the Tar Heels’ lead to 73-62.
Berry called the move disrespectful and an act that would have earned him the ire of coach Roy Williams had he done it to an opponent, though he later backed off and said there were no hard feelings. Alvarado, who was booed heavily every time he touched the ball for the rest of the game, said it was not intentional.
“I was just playing basketball,” Alvarado said. “It was nothing personal. I love it here.”
Better game for Lammers
After a forgettable offensive showing against Virginia – four points on 1-for-5 shooting – Lammers had a relative outburst, bagging six baskets on 11 attempts for 12 points. Pastner drew up a play for him on the first possession of the game, leading to a score off a post move, and he made a jumper from the baseline on the fourth possession.
“It’s just nice to see my first shots go in,” Lammers said. “I’d prefer all of them to go in, but I’m hoping this is a little step to where I can get back to how I have been, when I can average more than, like, 12 points a game.”
Lammers, who averaged 14.2 points per game last season in making second-team All-ACC, made his first five shots but was 1-for-6 thereafter. Not putting Lammers in position to attempt spot-up jumpers or to work the low post more frequently may have been a shortcoming in Tech’s offensive execution.
“We wanted to get the ball to Ben and ‘A.D.’ (Abdoulaye Gueye) and play through them as much as we could,” Pastner said, “but part of it has been, they’re both unselfish guys, so they’re not going to be black holes down there. They’re going to keep the ball moving.”
Gueye was 6-for-9 for 12 points.
