Hokies Come Up Short Against No. 2 North Carolina, Fall 75-70

Just 24 hours removed from the wrath of Winter Storm Jonas, Virginia Tech opened the doors of Cassell Coliseum to any and all students that could make the trek to Washington Street for the Sunday matinee. And Virginia Tech students — willing as ever to take advantage of free entertainment — came out in force.

But No. 2 North Carolina and senior forward Brice Johnson — both surely accustomed to hostile environments from their time on Tobacco Road —proved too much to handle as the Tar Heels powered their way to a 75-70 road victory in Blacksburg.

"I thought their length overwhelmed us all day," lamented head coach Buzz Williams. "They scored 18 on second chance points. They scored 19 off turnovers. So that's 37 out of their 75."

Johnson torched the Hokies to the tune of 19 points, 17 rebounds and 3 blocks, and frontcourt mate Kennedy Meeks pitched in 7 points and 3 blocks of his own. But setting aside the dominant play of Johnson, North Carolina was brutally bad offensively, leaving head coach Roy Williams bewildered on the sideline for much of the afternoon.

"We shot the ball terribly," said Williams. "I was not satisfied with the way we played. You go 3 for 23 (from three-point range), you've gotta have enough courage to take that shot and you've gotta have enough courage to step up and make it...That was about as ugly of a game for us as it could possibly be. We're lucky."

The Heels jumped on the Hokies early and took a 20-11 lead into the under 12 media timeout courtesy of a balanced offensive attack orchestrated by senior point guard Marcus Paige. The Heels blitzed the Hokies coming out of the timeout and took a 36-16 lead thanks to several tough buckets from Joel Berry II. But despite a miserable first 15 minutes, the Hokies battled back, rattling off an 18-3 run that cut the North Carolina advantage to just five headed into halftime.

The Carolina lead hovered around five for the majority of the second half, but the Hokies did tie things up at 61 with 7:42 to play courtesy of a layup from Kerry Blackshear. North Carolina answered with a three-pointer from Berry, and each team traded buckets for several minutes heading into the game's final media timeout. Blackshear knocked down two free throws that tied the game up at 68 with 2:44 to play, but Johnson put the Heels back on top after knocking down two of his own at the charity stripe. Justin Jackson put Carolina up by four with 1:11 to play following a turnover from LeDay, but Seth Allen proceeded to draw a foul with 19 seconds remaining that cut the Carolina lead back to two. The Hokies were forced to foul Marcus Paige immediately after he caught a full-court heave off an in-bounds play, and despite enduring a serious shooting slump during his senior season, Paige calmly drilled both free throws to give the Tar Heels a 74-70 lead. Justin Bibbs missed an open three with 8 seconds left, and Johnson corralled his seventeenth rebound to seal the victory for North Carolina.

A Few Quick Thoughts

North Carolina is almost exclusively a man-to-man team on defense, but Roy Williams sprinkled in a 3-2 zone down the stretch that flummoxed the Hokies offensively.

Jalen Hudson started out slow once again, but the sophomore wing was dynamic offensively throughout the game's final twenty minutes, consistently beating the Tar Heels off the dribble and attacking the rim.

Kerry Blackshear was solid in a laughably tough matchup for a freshman big man making his first go-round in the ACC. Roy Williams commented on Blackshear's performance postgame, visibly impressed with the talent of the Hokies' most unheralded freshman.

There's not much rest for the weary for the Hokies with Rick Pitino's Louisville Cardinals (16-3, 5-1) coming to town on Wednesday. Pitino may not have the top-end talent that he's had in years past (Montrezl Harrell is finally gone), but sophomore center Chinanu Onuaku promises to pose a wealth of challenges for the undersized Hokies.