Off the cuff: After a few minutes of the Georgia Tech game, I started wondering if anyone else was still watching the game. After all, American Idol was on, Lost was on, the Olympics were on and, heck, the final night of the Westminster Dog Show was on. Even the low-rated yet smug Keith Olbermann interviewing the stodgy John Dean seemed like an upgrade. This game was painful to watch.
The wheels have officially come off for Carolina. The Heels were out of sync and nothing, absolutely nothing, came easy. As Coach Williams said, "We're not a good shooting team but we missed a lot of two or three footers. I bet we missed 12-15 shots from within three feet." I don't think he's exaggerating.
The team didn't play smart or with much intensity. It's really a mystery. Yes, the injuries have killed the Heels - Ginyard even missed a lot of time in this game with the same ankle problems. But it goes much deeper and I'm starting to think there must be some internal problems we don't hear about.
As much as Carolina fans want to look to next season, unless Ed Davis comes back and the current guards improve drastically or the freshmen guards are world beaters, there will be some big problems next year as well.
Ga. Tech 68, Tar Heels 51 Carolina routed in lackluster effort
North Carolina had as many turnovers (19) as field goals, shot just 32 percent from the field and went dormant during a Georgia Tech 21-3 run in the first half as the Tar Heels fell 68-51 in Atlanta. (2/16)
"I'm at a loss," UNC coach Roy Williams said adding that he was shocked and flabbergasted at the play of his team. "We had a nice win on Saturday and I thought we'd come out and play well, I really did."
In that game Saturday, the Tar Heels turned the ball over just 10 times. In this game, the Heels turned the ball over 10 times in the first 10 minutes and 15 times in the first half, including four straight times down the court.
As a result, Carolina was down by 20 at the half, 41-21. During a seven-minute stretch of the first half, UNC went from trailing just 17-15 to trailing 38-18. The Heels shot just 23 percent in the first half.
"This is the most frustrating thing I've ever gone through," Williams said.
While the Tar Heels cut down on the turnovers in the second half, not much else improved including free throw shooting, where Carolina went just four of 12 in the second half and finished just 10 of 24.
Georgia Tech's largest lead of the game came midway through the second half when the Yellow Jackets milked the 35-second clock before Maurice Miller drained a three from the top of the key to make it 57-29.
UNC, now 14-12 and 3-8 in the league, was led by Deon Thompson's 17 points and John Henson's 11 points, 10 rebounds and four blocks.
Georgia Tech, led by Derrick Favors' 13 points, improves to 18-8 and 6-6 in the ACC.
The Tar Heels play at Boston College Saturday afternoon.
