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Georgia Tech is a sight for sore Tar Heel eyes.
In past seasons, UNC has begun its ACC schedule with tougher teams than Georgia Tech, the home opponent Saturday at 2 p.m. It is opening day around the conference, but Carolina has had much tougher league tip-offs.
Last season, it was Florida State at home, an eight-point win. In 2022, it was Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, an eight-point loss. In Hubert Davis’ first season at the helm, the Heels opened with a 17-point win at Georgia Tech.
The current edition of the Yellow Jackets should be equally easy prey for Carolina, the preseason number two in the ACC behind Duke. Georgia Tech was picked 12th but so far has not played that high.
The teams have the same 4-4 record, but Davis’ Heels have lost to four ranked teams (Kansas, Auburn, Michigan State and Alabama) with wins over mid-majors Elon, American, Hawaii and Dayton. Georgia Tech has beaten West Georgia, Texas Southern, Charleston Southern and Central Arkansas, losing to North Florida, Georgia, Wes Miller’s Cincinnati and Oklahoma, all by double figures.
It is indubitably a must win for UNC, which still has Florida in Charlotte and UCLA at Madison Square Garden before resuming ACC play at Louisville on New Year’s Day. The rest of the conference schedule is a crapshoot with everyone besides the Blue Devils indeterminable to this point.
The Tar Heels are first in ACC offensive stats, averaging 88 points a game, but 18th and dead last in defense, allowing 83 points a game for a paltry 5-plus margin of victory thanks to the mid-major wins and the dramatic comeback victory over Dayton in the first round of the Maui Invitational.
It is Carolina’s worst start since 2001, a notorious season that went on to finish with an 8-20 record. That’s why a win Saturday is more than a must — a freaking requisite — to begin turning things around. The Jackets are led in scoring by fifth-year senior and Gardner-Webb transfer Lance Terry with a 14.6 average, 18th in the ACC. Other familiar names are sophomore guard Nathan George and forward Baye Ndongo and UNC’s Ty Claude, a Tech transfer who had 8 points and 8 rebounds in the Jackets’ 74-73 upset win in Atlanta last season, breaking the Tar Heels’ 9-0 ACC start.
Hubert Davis doesn’t have anywhere close to that team so far and is tweaking his starters, replacing Jae’Lyn Withers with freshman Drake Powell in his four-guard lineup that contributed 40 of their 79 points in the loss to Alabama. Perhaps freshman Ian Jackson will get the start Saturday after he had a college high for the second straight game with 23 points that included three of the team’s five 3-pointers against the Crimson Tide.
Clearly, it is a work in progress and the work continues with what should be, on paper, an easy win in their ACC opener.
Featured image via Todd Melet
Art Chansky is a veteran journalist who has written ten books, including best-sellers “Game Changers,” “Blue Bloods,” and “The Dean’s List.” He has contributed to WCHL for decades, having made his first appearance as a student in 1971. His “Sports Notebook” commentary airs daily on the 97.9 The Hill WCHL and his “Art’s Angle” opinion column runs weekly on Chapelboro.Chapelboro.com does not charge subscription fees, and you can directly support our efforts in local journalism here. Want more of what you see on Chapelboro? Let us bring free local news and community information to you by signing up for our newsletter.
Nothing in life, or with these Heels, is easy
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