Basketball: Georgia Tech-UNC Wrapup

Man, that sucked.

Did any Tech fans actually enjoy watching that game? That was an abomination.

Georgia Tech sleepwalked through their matchup with the Tar Heels and were lucky to have only lost by 16. Let's take a look at what went well, and most everything.

What Went Well

We shot 84% on Free Throws, a clear improvement.

We outrebounded UNC by a 48-42 margin, including 12 by Robert Carter, Jr and 9 by Kammeon Holsey.

Aside from his 9 rebounds, Holsey saw 21 minutes off the bench amidst an 8-of-13 (62%) shooting night, good for a team-leading 18 points. Trust me when I say Holsey's performance is the only thing that kept a 16-point loss from turning into a 30-point loss.

What Didn't Go So Well

Pretty much anything.

We were again unable to make 40% of our shots, as we finished an awful 27-of-75, good for a 36% mark. We also went 4-of-15 from beyond the arc, good for a mark just shy of 27%.

We turned the ball over 19 times. There's just no justification for that.

Our Free Throw Percentage was likely as good as it was because we only made it to the line 6 times. Not even having the opportunity to make free throws is bad for any team, much less a team having this much trouble scoring from the field.

Mfon Udofia, the senior PG, was about as bad as he could have been. He was 1-of-9 from the field (including 0-for-3 on 3-pointers), recorded the team's only missed free throw, and just looked like his head was somewhere else tonight when trying to run the offense.

Overall the mental focus of the team was terrible. Poor shot selections, trying to play an uptempo game against UNC, poor decisionmaking on passes, an absence of senior leadership with Jordan out and Udofia only there physically, and on and on.

On a similar note, the energy of the team was nonexistent. Nobody looked like they really wanted to be there, while UNC ran circles around them. Hell, our main rebounder, Daniel Miller, was fifth on the team tonight with only 5 rebounds (Holsey, Carter Jr, Marcus Georges-Hunt, and even Udofia had more). It was obvious through body language that the Jackets weren't particularly interested in playing their best game.

Takeaways

I'm a little afraid to take anything away from this game, because I'd like to just think it was a weeknight game on the road in a hostile environment against a better opponent, but at the same time this team is far too talented to completely shit the bed like they did tonight. A loss is one thing, but a loss where you look like you're chasing your tail the entire game is awful. Probably the biggest takeaway is the lack of focus, and the continued low shooting percentage. As far as how much we can put on the coaches, sure, we can blame focus and preparation on coaches, but the shooting thing might be a little beyond coaching right now. This is just a funk that the team needs to work itself out of, one player at a time. It can be done in just one game -- Chris Bolden gets hot from 3, drawing a double-team and opening up Mfon on the dribble-drive, drawing attention away for a quick back-door pass to Miller, etc. Unfortunately though, this team is lacking any indication that it's going to happen soon.

Where am I wrong, readers? Was it as bad as I think it was? Was it worse? Was it a throwaway game? Are you concerned about this team yet?