Tobacco Road Report

By Michael

Outside of the last ten minutes of the first half, when they were able to combine stops on defense with some open court looks on offense, the Tar Heels looked out of sorts for most of this game. When Virginia Tech is on defensively, and the game is at their pace, they can make opponents look this way. It may not be pretty, but it is effective. The 81-80 overtime win moves Virginia Tech to 18-7 overall and 8-3 in conference, and should help the Hokies improve on their No. 25 ranking. The loss drops No. 4 Carolina to 22-4 overall and 8-3 in conference. The two are now tied with Virginia for second place in conference.

The game lacked flow since there were numerous fouls called and free throws attempted - 44 combined fouls and 67 total free throw attempts with the damage spread equally across both teams. Normally a closely called game would help the Tar Heels given their superior depth, but tonight I felt it helped out Virginia Tech since Dowdell was able to get to the line 19 times and make 17. In contrast, Carolina left a few points at the free throw line as Frasor, Lawson, and Wright went a combined 0 for 6.

Carolina lost this game on poor three point shooting and the inbility to get Wright involved offensively. The Tar Heels finished a miserable 3 of 17 from behind the arc and consequently registered an EFG of 42 percent; only the third sub-50 percent effort in conference play. Wright finished with a mere 6 points on 3 of 7 shooting and was sitting on the bench during the crucial remaining minutes.

Virginia Tech won this game because they received a great game from Dowdell - 33 points, 7-15 FG, 17-19 FT - and got just enough from Washington, Collins, and Vassallo. As we've noted seveal times before, Virginia Tech is dangerous when one or more of these gents are helping Dowdell and Gordon offensively.

Tonight it was Washington. Though he only shot 5-15 from the field for 12 points, he grabbed 14 rebounds, six of which came on the offensive end. His efforts helped the Hokies grab 32 percent of their offensive rebounding opportunities. This may not seem like much, but Carolina was averaging a defensive rebounding percentage of 73 percent in conference before tonight, so the efforts of Washington and Witcher (5 offensive rebounds) gave Virginia Tech just enough second chances to get it done.

Roy must've had Wright in the doghouse because it was inexplicable to me for the Tar Heels to not run plays for him down the stretch after Collins had fould out and Washington was alone on the inside. Wright wasn't even on the floor. I also thought Roy got stuck with some strange lineups at times, including important minutes down the stretch where Miller or Frasor was asked to guard Dowdell defensively. Someone needs to explain to me how these two are supposed to guard Dowdell without Wright there as a defensive shot blocker. Impossible.

Update: TRR is snowed in today and has been reading up on ACC action in various locations. Looks like Roy wasn't happy with his efforts either, as demonstrated by his remarks after the game which can be found here,

"I did absolutely the worst job I've ever done in my entire life," North Carolina coach Roy Williams said. "It was just one awful, awful job of coaching by me -- that's the bottom line of the whole thing."