CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – Despite scoring 80-plus points in consecutive league games, the No. 10/8 Virginia Tech men's basketball team fell on the road to No. 11/12 North Carolina 103-82 Monday night at the Dean Smith Center.
The Hokies (15-3, 4-2 ACC) were led by four players in double figures, but the Tar Heels (15-4, 5-1) had five of their own with 10-plus points, including Coby White's game-high 27 points.
Kerry Blackshear Jr. led the way on the offensive end for Tech, pulling down a career-high 17 rebounds, including 10 offensive, and pouring in 19 points. Ahmed Hill recorded a team-high 20 points, Nickeil Alexander-Walker owned 19 points and Justin Robinson posted 17 points.
Tech got off to a fast start, scoring 19 points in the first seven minutes of play, with 15 of those 19 points coming from downtown to gain an eight-point lead at 19-11. After the flurries from beyond the arc, Alexander-Walker earned his second foul with 10 minutes left and Robinson picked up his third foul with nine minutes remaining in the first half.
The guards would head to the bench in foul trouble, and the Tar Heels would proceed to go on a 27-9 run to take a 45-31 lead into halftime.
Tech would cut the deficit to 14 points after Blackshear sank two free throws at 16:16, but that would be as close as the Hokies got it after intermission.
(1/21/2019) 2019 MEN'S BASKETBALL at NORTH CAROLINA
QUOTING HEAD COACH BUZZ WILLIAMS
On what North Carolina did defensively to force a high clip of turnovers:
"Always credit to them," Williams said. "I think that's the highest number of turnovers we've had this season. Twenty-one assists on 27 baskets is super. That they only shot six more balls than us, considering our high turnover rate, not to get completely away from us throughout. But I thought we had some fight on the glass to get the same number of offensive rebounds as they did."
On forward Kerry Blackshear Jr.'s performance:
"I thought he was really good," Williams said. "I told him midway through shootaround today I thought he had the best shootaround he's ever had as a Hokie and tonight it was his best game."
NOTES
- Blackshear topped his previous best rebound performance by two boards when he had 15 against The Citadel on Nov. 12, 2017. The 17 rebounds against the Tar Heels was the third-most by an ACC player this season and it marked his third double-double of the season.
- Alexander-Walker was feeling it early on before his two fouls, knocking down three 3-pointers the first seven minutes of the game. He went on to finish with five triples, marking a career high.
- Hill's 20 points marked his fourth 20-point game of the season and his first in conference action. The graduate student has now had five games this winter of four or more 3-pointers, hitting exactly four tonight.
- Tech has been shooting lights out at the charity stripe as of late, making 47 of 55 (85.5 percent) from the free-throw line its last three games. Tonight, it owned a 15-of-16 clip (93.8 percent).
WHAT IS NEXT
- The Hokies will head back to Blacksburg for a Saturday night matchup with Syracuse (13-5, 4-1) at 8 p.m. ET on ESPN at Carilion Clinic Court at Cassel Coliseum.