For the second weekend in a row, the Tar Heels are away from Chapel Hill while frozen precipitation falls back home. The good news this time is that the frozen precipitation is snow instead of ice, meaning it’ll be a lot prettier to look at and shouldn’t be as treacherous as what fell last weekend.
Speaking of looking prettier, Carolina looks a lot prettier thanks to their win at Virginia last weekend.
How’s that for a transition?
Today, Carolina heads south to another traditional ACC rival in Georgia
Tech. It’s actually the second trip to Atlanta for the Tar Heels this season, as they just played there before Christmas in the CBS Sports Classic. They’ll be in a different gym today — McCamish Pavilion on campus — but just being able to get a win in Atlanta six weeks ago has to feel good for Carolina fans.
There are few cities that have the tortured history like Atlanta does for UNC. Though it is home to arguably one of their better ACC Tournament wins — 1989 against Duke in the Omni — it honestly has seen more than its share of tough losses. Between the 2001 ACC Tournament blowout at the Georgia Dome to Duke to just two years ago after Naithan George got a game-winning layup, the city does seem to make itself one Tar Heel fans would rather avoid.
This version of Georgia Tech doesn’t present itself as a team that Tar Heel fans should fear, and that’s honestly why tension is high. The Yellow Jackets come into this game just 2-6 in the conference, 11-10 overall, and those two wins were over Boston College and NC State. The thing is, though, the only team in conference that’s blown them out is Pitt. Against Duke in Durham, Clemson in Atlanta, and Virginia Tech up in Blacksburg, the final margin was 10 points or less. While Carolina has been off for a week, Georgia Tech last played only on Tuesday, so Carolina won’t have that much of a rest advantage.
The atmosphere should be electric as this game is sold out, and whenever Carolina plays in Atlanta the Tar Heels are well-represented in the stands. They were also well-represented out in the Bay Area a couple of weeks ago, so we all know how that turned out.
Overall, it’ll be interesting to see how Carolina looks to build off their momentous comeback win against the Cavaliers, and if they can get rolling as they have the quick turnaround game on Monday before the big showdown against the Blue Devils one week from today in Chapel Hill.
If you aren’t in Atlanta watching the Tar Heels today, here’s how you can catch the action while avoiding the snow. Please avoid the snow unless you absolutely have to — and those that have to be out in it thank you, and be safe.
- Time: 2:00 PM ET
- Location: McCamish Pavilion — Atlanta, GA
- TV: ACC Network with Wes Durham and Dennis Scott calling the action.
- Radio: Tar Heel Sports Network with Jones Angell and company. Here’s a list of affiliates airing the THSN broadcast. You can also listen to them on GoHeels.com, The Varsity Network, Tune In, and Sirius XM on channel 193.
- Streaming: You can watch the ACCN’s coverage of the game on the Watch ESPN app on all your various devices
- Line: UNC -10.5/ML -600
