Georgia Tech overcame everything - a blown 20-point lead, the
ear-ringing screams of North Carolina's blue-clad crowd and a
second-half scoring barrage from Will Graves - to prove it has
plenty of fight to go with all that talent.
Now the defending national champions have to find the same
kind of confidence.
Zachery Peacock made the go-ahead shot with 25.7 seconds left
to rescue the 20th-ranked Yellow Jackets, who shook off that blown
big lead and held off the 12th-ranked Tar Heels 73-71 on Saturday.
Iman Shumpert finished with a career-high 30 points to lead
the Yellow Jackets (13-4, 2-2 Atlantic Coast Conference), who
figured out a way to pull out a win after falling behind in the
wild final minutes. Peacock managed just six points with one
second-half field goal, but that shot in the lane rolled around the
rim before dropping through to give Georgia Tech its first win in
Chapel Hill since 1996.
"They made plays down the stretch,'' Georgia Tech coach Paul
Hewitt said of his team. "It wasn't about Xs and Os.''
North Carolina's comeback seemed perfectly tailored for the
program's storied history, but the Yellow Jackets regrouped and
kept the pressure on the Tar Heels (12-6, 1-2), refusing to let the
game slip away.
After Graves buried a 3-pointer to give North Carolina its
first second-half lead at 64-63, Brian Oliver responded by knocking
down an off-balance jumper from the right side. D'Andre Bell
answered Marcus Ginyard's hanging layup with a jumper of his own.
Then, after freshman Travis Wear put the Tar Heels up 71-70 on a
short hook shot with 41.4 seconds left, Peacock answered with what
turned out to be the game-winner.
The teams traded the lead seven times in the final 4 1/2
minutes.
"I wasn't surprised that they came back,'' Shumpert said. "I
was surprised that they got a lead on us. I knew they would make
their run, so we just had to take the blow and come out and win the
game.''
The game bore an eerie similarity to a matchup between the
teams four years ago, when the Yellow Jackets led by 20 points at
halftime before a freshman named Tyler Hansbrough led the Tar Heels
back with a 40-point effort in the 82-75 victory. This time, Graves
did his best to rally the Tar Heels by scoring 22 of his
career-high 24 points after halftime, but missed a desperation
3-pointer at the final buzzer.
"It shows our toughness,'' Peacock said. "To come into a
tough environment like this and get a win, it just shows how tough
we are. Our problem is being consistent, which we're not too far
away from.''
Shumpert had 17 points in the first half and finished 10 of
17 from the field with six assists in his best game since returning
from knee surgery, while Gani Lawal added 12 points and 12 rebounds
for Georgia Tech.
Still, there's no escaping just how disastrous a loss this
would have been for the Yellow Jackets, who ran out to a 29-9 lead
and led by 16 points with about 12 minutes to play. They followed
last weekend's upset of Duke with a loss at Virginia - a team
picked to finish near the bottom of the ACC - and squandering this
one would have left a lingering sting.
Instead, the Tar Heels - who have lost two straight and three
of four - are the ones questioning themselves.
"I'm not used to coaching (Kansas) Jayhawk basketball or Tar
Heel basketball without any confidence,'' coach Roy Williams said.
"We put ourselves in this spot and we've got to figure out a way to
dig out of it. We can go belly up, but I choose not to do that and
I told them that in the locker room.''
They were coming off an 83-64 loss at Clemson on Wednesday
night, the most lopsided defeat for the Tar Heels in seven seasons
under Williams. In that game, the Tar Heels fell behind by double
figures in the first 4 1/2 minutes and trailed 35-12 midway through
the first half.
In a disturbingly similar opening, the Tar Heels fell behind
by 10 points in the first 6 minutes Saturday and trailed 29-9 with
8:23 left before halftime.
"Point blank,'' point guard Larry Drew II said, "we've got to
come out and swing first instead of always being swung on first.''
Graves offered probably the only real highlight for the Tar
Heels. After managing just two free throws in the first half, the
junior had a burst of eight points in 2 minutes - including two
3-pointers - to help the Tar Heels close within 60-56. A few
minutes later, he took a feed from Ginyard and knocked down the 3
for the 64-63 lead - a basket that sent the Smith Center crowd into
an ear-ringing roar.
But after Peacock's basket, Drew missed a layup and Georgia
Tech got the rebound and managed to burn about 10 seconds off the
clock before the Tar Heels were able to foul. Bell made 1 of 2 free
throws with 3.4 seconds left, setting up Graves' final miss on an
inbounds play near midcourt after a timeout.
