Ben Burnham and Virginia Tech couldn't hang with North Carolina on Tuesday. (Jon Fleming)

Virginia Tech fell to North Carolina 91-59 on Tuesday in its final home game of the 2024-25 season. It was the Hokies’ worst ACC loss since Feb. 21, 2013, vs. Duke (32 points).

“They outplayed us in every facet,” Tech head coach Mike Young said.

The Hokies (13-17, 8-11 ACC) led 23-21 with 7:44 left in the first half but the game quickly slipped away. The Tar Heels (20-11, 13-6) outscored them 25-6 from there, taking advantage of seven turnovers along the way, and led 46-29 at intermission.

Tech only finished with 12 miscues and had just one in the game’s first 12:16, but that eight-minute stretch of play turned the tide.

“I thought they were unforced,” Young said. “I didn’t think North Carolina bothered us; I didn’t think North Carolina created those turnovers. They were in good spots and they had pressure on us, but my God, it’s just really bothersome. Really, really bothersome and I haven’t been able to correct it and that is very frustrating for me.

“I don’t know that I’ve ever had this in my 23 years and that keeps me up at night.”

Tech never recovered. It struggled on both ends, finding it difficult to score while everything UNC threw up seemed to find the bottom of the net. The Hokies were 12-of-32 (38%) in the second half — and 22-of-58 (38%) for the game — while the Tar Heels made a 59 percent clip (33-of-56).

“I thought our guys were disciplined in terms of defending without fouling,” North Carolina coach Hubert Davis said. “It felt like every shot, whether it was from three or a midrange game around the basket, was challenged.”

“We just went on a dry spell,” Tech guard Jaydon Young said. “… I think we just got stuck. I think they made a lot of shots and we missed a lot of shots, honestly, but the turnovers definitely didn’t make it any better.”

Carolina’s biggest lift was a 15-of-28 mark from three. It tied the most triples by a Tech opponent this year (Saint Joseph’s) and was the most in Cassell Coliseum since Miami’s 15 on March 7, 2015.

Jaydon Young and Virginia Tech had trouble closing out the Tar Heels' shooters. (Jon Fleming)

“Self-inflicted,” Jaydon Young said. “We were closing out with low hands, didn’t have our hands up on their shots. Any basketball player can hit a shot wide open. If you’re closing out with your hands down, anybody can line you up and shoot it. I think we gave them two easy shots and they felt comfortable all night.”

Carolina started to heat up when it was able to get out and run. Back-to-back transition baskets from Ian Jackson and Drake Powell — off a missed shot from Tech’s Tyler Johnson and a turnover from Young — sparked things. The Hokies kept giving it away while the Tar Heels kept scoring and it soon got out of hand. The visitors finished with a 17-2 advantage in fastbreak points.

On its final 16 possessions over that 7:44, Tech only took six shots, making two. Meanwhile, RJ Davis and Seth Trimble went off for UNC. They both sat in double figures at intermission — with 15 and 12 points, respectively — and combined for 16 of their team’s 25 points over that same span.

Trimble, who finished with 17 points, ignited the Tar Heels and opened the door for Ian Jackson, who drilled five of his eight treys en route to a game-high 19 points.

“His play did take us to another level,” Davis said of Trimble.

The Tar Heels opened the second half in a similar groove, scoring the first six points before the Hokies got on the board. Then, after a Mylyjael Poteat layup made it a 19-point game at the 15:12 mark, they hit a barrage of threes and ripped off a 15-0 run to push the margin to 34. It ballooned to 36 a few minutes later, UNC’s largest lead of the game.

Tech did its best to fight back but could only muster so much. Young and Jaden Schutt hit back-to-back 3-pointers and Patrick Wessler got a hook shot down but Carolina answered with a 7-0 run.

Wessler even knocked down a trey — the first of his career — that sparked a mini 7-0 run as Ben Burnham and Connor Serven added baskets at the rim. The two teams traded buckets the rest of the way, and Tech guard Rodney Brown Jr., who had missed the previous seven games with a foot injury, made his first appearance since Feb. 1 at Virginia. Right after subbing in, he knocked down a three and a jumper on back-to-back possessions.

Rodney Brown Jr., who hadn't played in a month, knocked down shots on his first two possessions back. (Jon Fleming)

“He’s healthy,” Mike Young said of Brown Jr. “Hadn’t been healthy of late. Took him some time to get that injury taken care of. Good to see him back on the floor.”

The Hokies were without leading scorer and rebounder Tobi Lawal, who is dealing with a lower-body injury. He was recently sick and overcame his illness, but a nagging injury — for which Tech was precautious — kept him out of Tuesday’s contest.

“We missed him a lot,” Young said. “Just disrupts our rotation without him. I’m trying to play Tyler Johnson at the four, I’m trying to play Ben Burnham 25, 30 minutes. Worked out for us on Saturday against Syracuse. Obviously, didn’t work out very well for us tonight against the Tar Heels.”

Burnham and Young were VT’s only double-figure scorers with 12 points apiece. UNC had five: Jackson (19), Trimble (17), Davis (15), Drake Powell (13) and Ven-Allen Lubin (10).

Tech closes the regular season on Saturday at No. 11 Clemson at 6 p.m. ET on ESPNU. The Tigers (24-5, 16-2) beat the Hokies 72-57 in Blacksburg on Jan. 25.

Box Score: North Carolina 91, Virginia Tech 59