North Carolina men's basketball falls to Georgia Tech, 72-67, after late collapse

With a new starting lineup composed of RJ Davis, Kerwin Walton, Andrew Platek, Day'Ron Sharpe and Armando Bacot, the North Carolina men's basketball team lost to Georgia Tech, 72-67, after hot second-half shooting from the Yellow Jackets. 

What happened?

Despite the new starting five for UNC, both teams started slowly, combining for just 11 points in the first four minutes of play. While the Tar Heels have been seemingly unable to start games this season, they led by four 10 minutes into the game, 15-11.

By halftime, North Carolina kept its lead at 35-29, just the first time this season since the opening game against College of Charleston that the Tar Heels led the entire first half. Bacot continued his season-long stretch as UNC's best player by scoring eight points and collecting two steals in the first half. 

While North Carolina's offense started to get sorted out in the second half behind a 3-point barrage from Walton, the defense took a major step back as Georgia Tech started to light it up from deep, shooting 6-9 on 3-pointers in the second half. The Yellow Jackets took their first lead at the 11:24 mark, then battled back and fourth with UNC from there. When Georgia Tech took a one-point lead off a layup from Jose Alvarado with 3:24 left, it wouldn't relinquish that advantage, ending the game 72-67. 

Who stood out? 

In a dismal offensive performance, Bacot led the team with 14 points to go along with five rebounds. Leaky Black had one of his better shooting games, scoring 10 points on 5-7 shooting for the night. 

But the story for UNC was Walton hitting three of his four 3-point attempts — a Steph Curry-esque performance for the abysmally shooting Tar Heels, who were in the bottom 15 teams in 3-point percentage coming into this game. 

When was it decided?

Although North Carolina led for most of the first 30 minutes of the game, the Yellow Jackets remained within striking distance, taking the lead for the first time midway through the second half. 

With Georgia Tech leading by three points with 33 seconds left, an out of bounds ball was overturned to give the Yellow Jackets the ball back. Fouling on the subsequent play, the Tar Heels had an opportunity to cut the lead or tie, but a bricked 3-pointer from Davis sealed UNC's fate. 

Why does it matter?

This game, against an average Georgia Tech team, could be seen as a barometer for where North Carolina men's basketball is at. The truth is, the Tar Heels aren't a very good team right now, and squandering an eight-point lead with seven minutes to go isn't something that good teams do.

Even after changing the starting five, the Tar Heels face questions about their offensive and defensive scheme, the talent of their players and whether any of this can realistically be salvaged during the ACC schedule. 

When do they play next?

With the game against Syracuse being postponed due to COVID-19 issues in the Orange's program, the next game the Tar Heels will play will be against Miami on Jan. 5. The Hurricanes are 4-3 this season and have yet to win a game in the ACC, losing to both Pittsburgh and Virginia Tech, 70-55 and 80-78, respectively. 

@bg_keyes

@dthsports | sports@dailytarheel.com