UNC 83, Georgia Tech 82
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Recap |
Game FlowUNC got lucky to escape GaTech tonight with a 1 point victory. Like the Clemson game, this is another character building game for us.
I wasn't happy with the officiating at all. I thought the refs were inconsistent and missed many calls (on both sides). In this game it was perfectly legal to mug a player after grabbing a rebound and get a tie ball called. It is ridiculous how players can just pounce on a rebounder or shooter and a have a tie ball called. Paul Hewitt was upset at a couple of calls (specifically the Ginyard hip check), but I didn't see any of his players all bloodied up the way Tyler Hansbrough was at the end of the game. All I have to say about that is that Jeremis Smith played like a thug tonight against Hansbrough. It was hard to watch all the no calls.
Despite all of that, Tyler ended up with another double-double, scoring 27 points and grabbing 11 rebounds. He was 13-15 from the free throw line. I don't have the stats in front of me yet, but our outside shooting wasn't stellar. Wayne Ellington couldn't get going and no one shot much beyond the three point line.
The thing that killed us in the first half was our lack of rebounding and lack of defensive pressure (at times). While we scored 48 by the end of the first half, GaTech scored 46. This was the first team I've seen this year that really gave UNC a dose of our own medicine. On made baskets, Tech would push it up the floor and several times caught us lagging behind.
Marcus Ginyard played some pretty good D. He had several dunks either on wide open cuts or defensive steals. Ty Lawson had a pretty good game on both ends. It is always fun to watch him go coast-to-coast. However, the fake he does sometimes after made shots and attempt to steal the inbound pass bit us on a couple of occasions. The Tech PG would hustle down the court after Ty missed the steal.
This game showed that we still have to work on our rebounding and defense, but it was another good win. Winning games in the closing seconds like this will help teach our guys what it takes to develop the killer instinct I've said so many times has been missing.
