GREENSBORO – In the ACC Tournament quarterfinals, the No. 22/21 Virginia Tech men's basketball team stumbled 81-73 to North Carolina on Thursday night inside the Greensboro Coliseum.
The third-seeded Hokies fall to 15-6 overall and exit the ACC Tournament in the quarterfinals. The sixth-seeded Tar Heels improved to 18-9 on the season and advance to the semifinals, taking on second-seeded, No. 15/13 Florida State (15-5). The loss marks the Hokies' second consecutive defeat to North Carolina in the ACC Tournament (78-56, 2019).
North Carolina found its edge off the bench as it outscored the Hokies 36-8. The Heels played strong in the paint as they outrebounded Tech 43-32 on the glass and came up with seven blocks. Defensively, the two squads were quite even as both forced one another to commit 11 turnovers and both squads came up with seven steals. UNC found 12 points off those miscues to Tech's nine points off turnovers.
The Tar Heels' forwards combined for 36 total points ,which included third-team All-ACC selection Armando Bacot (17 points), Day'Ron Sharpe (10), Garrison Brooks (5) and Walker Kessler (4). Guard RJ Davis added 19 points and had perhaps the most important scoring stretch of the outing, scoring six straight points at the 10-minute mark in the second half to spark a Heel run that would give them the lead for good.
Despite the loss, forward Justyn Mutts notched his season high in points with 24 along with eight boards. Guards Tyrece Radford added 20 points and sophomore Nahiem Alleyne tallied 12 on four 3-pointers made. Forward Keve Aluma had an all-around performance with nine points, eight rebounds, four assists and two steals.
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The Hokies found their stroke early in the first half as they took a 16-10 lead over North Carolina, led by Mutts seven points going into the under-12 media timeout. The Tar Heels stormed back in the contest as they went on an 11-4 run to go up 21-20 with a little over seven minutes left in the half. The two squads traded slam dunks as time ticked down in the first, then Radford hit both from the line to send Tech into the break with a 35-32 lead.
Alleyne came out in the second and drilled a triple to get Tech on the board and extend its lead to 38-32. Later on, Radford scored back-to-back tough buckets in the paint to tie the outing at 47-47 with just over 12 minutes to go in the game.
The Hokies and Tar Heels went back and forth with neither team gaining an edge until Davis scored six straight points, which sparked what would be a 10-2 run to put UNC up 60-51. Although Tech would not go away, cutting the deficit to five with 1:53 remaining, the Tar Heels did not let the Hokies get back within one possession for the rest of the night, controlling the pace down the stretch to claim it 81-73.
GAME NOTES
- The Hokies were one assist shy of tying their single-game record in assists in the ACC Tournament with 17 on the night (18 vs. Florda State in 2016).
- Radford registered 20 points against UNC, which was one point shy of tying his season high (21 vs. South Florida) and marked his third 20-point outing of the season and the sixth of his career.
- Alleyne hit four triples against the Tar Heels, giving him nine over his last three contests.
- North Carolina and Tech matched one another in triples hit as each team nailed eight on the night.
UP NEXT
The Hokies will await their NCAA Tournament seed when the field is officially selected and seeded this Sunday. As of Thursday night, they are projected as a No. 9 seed in ESPN's Bracketology by Joe Lunardi.
Gallery: (3-12-2021) 2021 MEN'S BASKETBALL ACC TOURNAMENT