Quick Hitters - North Carolina at Virginia Tech

Isaac Schade presents Quick Hitters from North Carolina’s 65-57 road win over Virginia Tech on Saturday afternoon.

Author:
Isaac Schade
Feb 19, 2022 11:39 PM EST

Quick Hitters from North Carolina’s 65-57 road win over Virginia Tech on Saturday afternoon.

Highlights:

Condensed Game:

The roller coaster season continues as Carolina got their much-needed Quad 1 win on the road in the always-raucous Cassell Coliseum. The good news is that Virginia Tech is high enough in the NET rankings that this will undoubtedly hold firm as a Q1. The victory doesn’t get you in the NCAA tournament, but by resume needs it’s the biggest win of the season and will go a long way to help mitigate the damage suffered via the loss to Pittsburgh on Wednesday.
UNC is now 5-3 on the road in ACC play, meaning Coach Davis will at worst be .500 on the road in conference games in his inaugural ACC season. Not too shabby, not too shabby at all.
Virginia Tech came in hot, winners of six straight, and it was their Senior Day. Combine that with the Tar Heels’ poor showing the last time out and the Hokies looking for revenge from the prior matchup, and everything pointed to the home team emerging victorious. Thankfully it was UNC who won this battle of desperate bubble teams.
In a game between the two statistically best three-point shooting teams in the ACC, Virginia Tech’s poor distance shooting was the statistical anomaly turning the tide in favor of the Tar Heels. Shooting 40.9% on the season coming in, the Hokies managed to connect on just five of their 26 attempts (19.2%).
Per UNC’s incredible SID Steve Kirschner, it was the sixth time holding an opponent under 60 points this season, however, it’s the first time to do so on the road.
Great to see Cameron Johnson and Kenny Williams at the game. The NBA All-Star Break afforded Cam the opportunity to come see not only his Tar Heels but his little brother in action.
The game turned in the first half thanks to a pivotal sequence from Leaky Black. Virginia Tech led 22-16 and had a good look at a three from the ACC’s third-leading three-point shooter (Hunter Cattoor) to go up by nine points. The shot missed and Black grabbed the rebound and took it coast-to-coast, drawing a foul in the act of shooting. He hit both free throws and on VT’s ensuing possession got a steal. After racing back down the floor he received a pass back from Caleb Love and once again drove to the basket, this time finishing through contact for an and-one opportunity. He converted this free throw as well, but more importantly had just drawn the second foul on the Hokies' leading scorer, Keve Aluma. It was just five points and UNC still trailed 22-21, but thanks to Black’s aggressive play, he instigated what turned out to be a 14-2 run and ultimately a 22-8 run the rest of the half.
While less of an obvious impact, Black had two huge second half offensive rebounds. The first led to a Bacot bucket, ending a long Carolina drought (which we’ll talk more about in just a moment) and the second led to a Brady Manek dunk, pushing the lead back out to nine after hovering between five and seven for a couple minutes. The lead never again dropped below seven.
You know a player is having an insane season when he grabs 15 rebounds and you don’t bat an eye because he’s hit that mark now six times this season. That’s the story of Armando Bacot’s junior year. After a first half in which he had just one shot attempt, the Tar Heels went to Bacot in the post early and often in the second half allowing him to finish with his 20^th double-double of the season and 38^th of his career. In the two games against Virginia Tech this season, Bacot has 35 total rebounds.
Caleb Love had perhaps his most complete game of the season at the most important time. He finished with a game-high 21 points and a game-high (and personal season high) seven assists against just two turnovers. Love was active and engaged defensively. Perhaps most importantly, when the game came down to converting at the free throw line, he hit all six potential 1-and-1 free throws to seal the deal.
Beyond Love’s six free throws, Carolina hit 13-15 as a team. Part of winning on the road is taking advantage of free money and that’s exactly what the ACC’s leading free throw percentage team did.
Where would the Tar Heels be without Brady Manek? He scored in double figures (14 points) for the seventh straight game. Manek got Carolina off to a good start scoring the first seven Tar Heel points and 10 of the first 13.
The count is now up to seven straight games with assists on at least half of Carolina’s made baskets. Today’s tally fell just shy of 60% - 13 assists on 22 buckets (59.1%).
Carolina tied a season-low with five offensive rebounds, but still won the overall battle of the boards, 38-31. The Heels have been outrebounded just three times in their 27 games.
Something to keep an eye on are the recent turnover numbers. In the last four games Carolina has averaged 14.25 after averaging just nine in the five games prior. Every starter had at least two against VT.
The bench rotation mystery continues. Today Kerwin Walton was the first man off the bench. Dontrez Styles was second, coming in just over nine minutes into the game. Less than a minute later he hit a three and it appeared that the bench would contribute offensively once again, but those were literally the only bench points.
One of the early concerns in the game was a reliance on the three-point shot to the exclusion of getting the ball inside to Bacot (you’ll recall his one first half shot attempt). 12 of the first 16 Tar Heel points came from outside the arc. But on cue, right as I thought, “Man, Carolina needs to get to the rim,” the next seven points all came from layups or free throws.
With Carolina seemingly in control early in the second half, Caleb Love hit a three to give the Tar Heels a 47-33 lead with 14:36 to go. Why do I provide that specificity? Because from that moment, UNC didn’t score another point for three minutes and 25 seconds (two Bacot free throws at 11:11) and didn’t make another field goal for seven minutes and 24 seconds (until Bacot’s layup at the 7:12 mark). Bacot’s drought-breaker came after two opportune offensive rebounds and provided the biggest points of the second half, stemming a Hokie run that had the potential to put the home team back in front.
As Coach Davis said postgame, the team has responded well to adversity all season, but what they need to do now is learn to handle success. Carolina has another must win game on Monday night back in the Smith Center against a second-straight revenge-minded team in Louisville.

Box Score

Hubert Davis postgame press conference

Players postgame press conference

Armando Bacot

Caleb Love

Leaky Black

Remember to check in for Quick Hitters after every North Carolina basketball game. Next up is a home game against Louisville on Monday, February 21. Tip is at 7:00pm ET on ESPN.

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