It will be the Tar Heels’ second trip to Atlanta this season — star freshman Caleb Wilson’s home town — after knocking off Ohio State in the CBS Sports Classic on Dec. 20. After starting the New Year 1–3, a win Saturday would push North Carolina over .500 for the month.
Here are three things to keep an eye on as UNC looks to knock off the Yellow Jackets …
Possessions A Plenty
For fans of the Roy Williams, push-the-pace style of old, this one’s for you. Georgia Tech enters Saturday playing at the fastest tempo in ACC-only action (71.4), averaging a 16.1-second possession — both tops in the league.
That speed comes with a cost, however. In their effort to push the ball, the Yellow Jackets turn it over on 19.8 percent of possessions, the highest rate in the conference. All told, the Tar Heels should have no shortage of opportunities to get out in transition Saturday — something they showed flashes of a week ago in Charlottesville.
“We rebounded better in the second half… and then Jarin and Caleb, their ability to sprint down the middle of the floor,” Hubert Davis said Saturday after beating Virginia. “They did exactly what was told of them. They did their job and requirement, and we got some pitch-aheads and some easy baskets that got us back in the game.”
House Of Horrors
McCamish Pavilion has not been kind to the Tar Heels. North Carolina is 5–5 in its last 10 trips to the building formerly known as Alexander Memorial Coliseum, and far better UNC teams have stumbled in Atlanta.
Two of the last three North Carolina squads to earn No. 1 seeds in the NCAA Tournament — including the 2017 national championship team — suffered losses inside McCamish.
Consider that in none of those last 10 aforementioned road meetings has Georgia Tech been ranked. In fact, UNC’s last game at a ranked Yellow Jackets squad was in 2004. And if you push the marker back to the last 15 UNC games at Georgia Tech, the Tar Heels are 6-9.
Former NBA Teammates Square Off
Saturday will mark the third meeting between Damon Stoudamire and Hubert Davis as head coaches. The two were teammates during the 1996–97 NBA season on a Toronto Raptors team that finished 30–52.
Stoudamire led that group in scoring at 20.2 points per game, while Davis filled a reserve role, averaging five points per contest.
Since taking over at Georgia Tech in March 2023, Stoudamire is 1–1 against North Carolina. He’s 42-43 overall at the helm of the Yellow Jackets.
