UNC Basketball: Jackson, Berry thrive in UNC’s blow out of Hokies in Chapel Hill
By Mike Knapp
UNC basketball defeated the Virginia Tech Hokies Thursday night in dominant fashion thanks to the production of small forward Justin Jackson.
The UNC Tar Heels defeated the Virginia Tech Hokies, 91-72, in Chapel Hill on Thursday night. No. 9 ranked UNC moved to 19-3 (7-1 in ACC and an outright lead), while the Hokies fell to 15-5 (4-4).
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Virginia Tech head coach Buzz Williams had his guys fired up from the opening tip. Behind hot shooting early on from senior guard Seth Allen, the Hokies jumped out to an early 13-7 lead and looked to be the aggressor’s early on.
This early Virginia Tech momentum would not last, though.
The Tar Heels went on a quick 14-4 run coming out of the first TV timeout and never looked back. They went into halftime up 44-33 and cruised to an easy 19-point victory. Virginia Tech never got Carolina’s lead within 10 after intermission.
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UNC was led by their dynamic junior duo of Joel Berry II and Justin Jackson who combined for 41 points on 10 made threes. Kennedy Meeks showed up in a big way for the Tar Heels as well as he chipped in a monster 15-point, 14-rebound double-double.
For Virginia Tech, their otherwise stagnant offense did feature two bright spots in the form of Allen (19 points) and Justin Robinson (17 points).
UNC is known for their domination on the boards, and this game was no different. They demolished the Hokies on the glass racking up an impressive 43 rebounds, with 19 coming on the offensive end, compared to the Hokies only grabbing 23 total boards. The Tar Heels are currently the number one team in the country in offensive rebounding percentage, according to KenPom.
Carolina’s domination on the boards has come to be expected at this point, but what was surprising was how well they shot the three ball.
The Tar Heels were 14-of-30 from behind the arc, good enough for impressive 47 percent from long-range shooting. If UNC can combine that sort of perimeter shooting with their dominant interior play, they will be nearly unstoppable.
Despite the Hokies’ stellar 15-5 record at this point in the season, this game did highlight their biggest weakness as far as their struggles on the offensive glass.
Virginia Tech is currently 287th in the nation in offensive rebounding percentage, and their lack of second-chance opportunities was especially prevalent given the 22 more field goal attempts taken by the Tar Heels. The Hokies will not win many games if their opponent is consistently taking that many more shots than they are.
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This is far from time to panic for Virginia Tech. They are still at .500 in a conference where that should be good enough to earn them an NCAA Tournament birth. Two of their next three games are against Boston College and Miami, two teams near the bottom of the ACC standings. If the Hokies do want to make their first Big Dance since 2007, they need to make sure they are beating up on those types of conference bottom-feeders.