Last time we saw them, UNC basketball went and picked up a big road victory at Virginia. After the run of iffy defensive performances in the weeks before that, it was a much-needed result for Carolina, especially if they can use it to get back on track and string together a streak.
They can try and keep on a good run this Saturday when they take on Georgia Tech. With that game on the horizon, here are three things to look out for in the clash.
Rest or rust?
UNC will get a full week off in between games,
as they did not have to face anyone in the mid-week slot. If they had continued struggling into that break, you might say the break would be a good thing for them to try and get their heads back on straight. However, coming off the heels of a big win, it remains to be seen if the break was helpful or not.
Late January can definitely be a grinding portion of the college basketball season. On one hand, it’s not a bad thing for UNC to get a couple extra days off before things really start to heat up. On the other hand, if they come out and go 2-10 from the field to start the game and end up playing a close game right down to the end, it would be a bit annoying, especially considering how well they played in the second half against Virginia.
Keep Tech from getting hot from three
On just the raw per-game numbers, Georgia Tech takes only 18.7 three-point attempts per game and makes just 6.9 per game, neither of which are a particularly high amount. However, it should be noted that they also make over 36% of their attempts, which is pretty high up in the national rankings.
The reason for the low number of attempts isn’t because the Yellow Jackets prefer to slow the game down or anything. (They play the 46th fastest pace in the country according to KenPom.) It’s because they generally take a lot of twos. Those come either on the break, or from second chances from a high rebounding rate. Even with UNC’s size, Tech will probably be able to score in the paint to some degree, simply because that’s their game. If that’s the case, Carolina cannot afford to get lazy in three-point defense and allow GT to put up an outsized number of points from beyond the arc.
Limit second chances
As mentioned, Georgia Tech does pretty well for themselves on the boards, averaging 39.2 rebounds per game with a 52.3% overall rebounding rate.
While UNC won the Virginia game, for a long while it seemed like that game may be headed towards another demoralizing loss. The Tar Heels trailed by as many 16 in the game and went into halftime down nine. A large part of that was because UVA mostly dominated the boards. They won the overall battle 44-28 and grabbed 16 on the offensive end. Now in the end, they got away with it and the win, but that’s probably not something the Heels can get away with regularly, and probably not against a team that can pretty efficiently score off those chances.
