UNC Basketball: Tar Heels look uninspired in loss to Virginia Tech

UNC suffers a frustrating loss in Blacksburg, dropping Monday’s contest to Virginia Tech

That was embarrassing.

The North Carolina Tar Heels put together another performance on the road that was uninspiring to say the least.

Virginia Tech dominated the Tar Heels in every aspect of Monday’s game, leaving UNC frustrated and wondering what the heck happened.

The Tar Heels had a 28-21 lead in the first half of this game before Virginia Tech went on a 18-4 run to close out the half. It was all Hokies after that.

Virginia Tech dominated the Tar Heels from the 6:26 mark in the first half when UNC had the lead and they did it in impressive fashion.

The Hokies shot 46 percent from the field and out-rebounded UNC 36-35 in the game.

They drained eight three-pointers as UNC really struggled defensively. Virginia Tech got what they wanted on the offensive end and the Tar Heels had no answer.

On the offensive end for UNC, they struggled the entire game.

Joel Berry and Luke Maybe both scored 23 points, combining for 46 of UNC’s 69 total points on the game. That means that the rest of the eight players in their main rotation only combined to score 23 points.

Yikes.

The Tar Heels also went away from the post in the second half, forcing a lot of contested shot and it showed in the free throw margin.

UNC shot just a total of five free throws the entire game with Theo Pinson and Kenny Williams making both of their attempts and Berry making his only attempt late in the game.

It was another unimpressive showing on the road for UNC as they fall to 5-3 in ACC play and 1-3 on the road in the conference. They still have road games at Clemson, Louisville, Duke, Syracuse and NC State left this season.

For the Tar Heels, they will look to rebound at home on Saturday when they host NC State. But it’s going to be a long week of practice after this type of performance.

UNC Player of the Game

We’re going to give this one to Luke Maye.

The junior was 10-of-16 from the field in this game, scoring 23 points. That included going 3-of-4 from the three-point line.

Maye scored 10 of UNC’s first 15 points in the game.

Stat of the Game

13 turnovers.

Yep, the Tar Heels had another sloppy game as they committed 13 turnovers in the loss to Virginia Tech. We’ve seen this before and it’s become frustrating.

What’s next?

UNC returns home to play NC State on Saturday afternoon. The Tar Heels currently sit at 5-3 in conference play and are now three games behind Virginia.

Next: Roy Williams to visit Will Baker

Saturday’s game needs to be another dominant performance as maybe they can start being consistent as we hit the home stretch of the Atlantic Coast Conference schedule.