UNC Basketball: Tar Heels blow past Georgia Tech on road

The Tar Heels made it look easy at times against the Yellow Jackets on the road as they earned their fourth-straight win in conference play.

The North Carolina Tar Heels remain unbeaten on the road in Atlantic Coast Conference play.

After being off for over a week, the Tar Heels came out a little rusty on Tuesday night in Atlanta scoring just 15 points in the first 10 minutes of the game. But they never really feel behind in that first half and used solid play on the defensive end to grab the lead.

UNC would hold the lead for almost the entire game after grabbing it at 9-7 in the first half and used an excellent defensive effort to stop the Yellow Jackets.

The Tar Heels made things very difficult for a Georgia Tech that came into the game at 3-4 in conference play and had a big first half on the road against Duke last Saturday. And just like that game on Saturday, it was a bad second half that doomed the Yellow Jackets.

UNC opened up the second half by going on a 34-11 run in the first 10 minutes to open up a 65-35 lead. The run was capped off by a big slam dunk from freshman Nassir Little with Brandon Robinson having the assist.

Little finished the game with 9 points but he is playing with a lot more confidence dating back to that win over Notre Dame just a few weeks back.

The Tar Heels used a hot shooting night from fellow freshman Coby White to jump out to the early lead in the game. White scored or assisted on the first 13 points of the game for the Tar Heels, showing his aggressive nature early. The point guard finished the game with 19 points, including draining 5 of his 9 three-point attempts. He added 8 assists to his stat line as well.

Senior Cam Johnson led all scorers in the game with 22 points, making 8 of his 10 attempts from the field.

Behind White and Johnson, UNC was able to get out and run which didn’t allow the Yellow Jackets to set up their zone defense. When Georgia Tech did get set in that zone, UNC was able to knock down open shots and broke down that zone well.

It didn’t take much as the overall effort on both sides of the floor were great for the Tar Heels.

The win moves UNC to 16-4 overall and 6-1 in the conference. It’s their fourth-straight win in ACC play and they are 4-0 on the road in conference play.

Stat of the game

The Tar Heels assisted on 21 of their 29 made field goals in the game, led by White’s 8. They were very efficient for most of the game on the offensive end of the floor, spacing out the defense and taking advantage of some open shots.

UNC did struggle with turnovers again, committing 15 in the game. That’s something that still needs to be addressed with this team.

Player of the game

We are going to give this one to Coby White. The freshman was outstanding on the road once again for UNC finishing with 19 points and 8 assists.

White has been crips all year long and the offense is really flowing with him running it at point guard. He’s been able to get up the court while maintaining control and not making a lot of mental mistakes. We are seeing a special player grow right before our eyes.

What’s next?

The Tar Heels will have a shot at revenge on Saturday. They will travel to Louisville to take on the Cardinals, the team that handed them their only loss in ACC play.

It was just a few weeks back when Louisville blew UNC out of the Dean Dome, delivering the Tar Heels their worst loss in the Roy Williams era.