CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — Virginia Tech could only hang with No. 18 North Carolina for so long in its 89-82 loss on Saturday night in the Dean E. Smith Center.
The Hokies (18-11, 7-9 ACC) were within five after Tobi Lawal’s three-point play with 10:41 remaining, but they went cold after that, which allowed the Tar Heels (23-6, 11-5) to pull away.
“I thought we lost our composure some in the second half, which you can’t do,” Tech head coach Mike Young said. “Man, we were good in the first half, should’ve been up. … They’re fighting. They’re trying. Dadgummit.”
Tech was sharp offensively at 53.1 percent (17-for-32) in the first half, and Carolina matched it at 51.7 percent (15-for-29). At intermission, it was 44-all.
Things changed when UNC center Henri Veesaar got going in the second half, though, and Tech didn’t have a matchup for him. Amani Hansberry’s first-half foul trouble — he picked up his third personal with 3:42 until the break — didn’t help the situation.
It forced the Hokies to rotate Antonio Dorn and Christian Gurdak for long stretches, and Veesaar found a groove rather quickly. After a 3-for-9 first half, he started 7-for-7 in the second, which included a triple with 6:22 left that put the Tar Heels up 11.
The seven-footer finished with a career-high 26 points on 11-for-20 shooting to accompany seven rebounds — and only one foul.
“He’s as big as a house,” Young said of Veesaar. “He’s got really long arms, he’s got an incredible touch around the basket. … He’s a great player.”
Along with Veesaar, part of the difference in the second half was poor shot selection and turnovers from the Hokies. They had some crucial stretches without a field goal when one might’ve swung the game.
Tech still finished with a 50 percent clip for the game at 31-for-62, similar to its loss at Miami two games ago. Yet, it couldn’t match UNC’s firepower in the second half, hitting on 14 of its 30 attempts (46.7%) while the Heels were 14-for-23 (60.9%).
“I thought some of our shot selection was bad,” Young said. “Again, that comes back to the composure piece of it. There’s going to be peaks and valleys. You know they’re going to take off for you for a 6-0 run, we found ourselves down eight. …
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“But we’re 29 games in, and you find yourself in so many different situations, and we’ve been in that situation — a number of situations, a number of times. The only disappointment is our lack of composure, our lack of solid basketball when we had our back against the wall a little bit. You can’t do that, certainly not on the road.
The Hokies ended up with 10 more total shots, too. However, that was a byproduct of Carolina shooting 19 more free throws.
The foul disparity: 24 for VT, 13 for UNC. Each had a player foul out — Hansberry for Tech, with 11 points in 19 minutes; Jarin Stevenson for Carolina, with four points and four boards in 25 minutes.
Still, after a balanced first half, the game’s physicality turned up a notch in the second, and the Tar Heels reached the bonus with 9:27 remaining — all while only committing five fouls in the half. Over a 20-minute stretch where they outscored the Hokies 45-38, a chunk of those points came from the stripe on 15-for-20 foul shooting.
Four of those attempts came in the final 31 seconds when Tech was intentionally fouling, but the rest were in the run of play, and it was just another way the Hokies couldn’t keep Carolina from scoring.
UNC was 23-for-30 from the line; VT was 11-for-11.
Between the foul trouble from Hansberry and Neoklis Avdalas — he had two early in the first half — combined with the Tar Heels’ ability to draw them in the second half, the Hokies were on their heels for much of the contest, and they just fell into a hole they couldn’t climb out of, despite fighting until the end.
It was a disappointing result for Tech — one it desperately needed for its résumé — after it played so well in the first half. It looked like the better team for long stretches of that 20 minutes.
Tobi Lawal was the game’s leading scorer to that point with 13 points on 5-for-5 shooting, which included some highlight-reel dunks. Avdalas also added nine points while Ben Hammond chipped in eight.
Defensively, the Hokies yielded 12 points to Jonathan Powell via 3-pointers (3-for-4), but Veesaar only had eight while Seth Trimble had seven.
Things shifted in the second half. Lawal (16 points) was just 1-for-2 and less effective. Hammond (16 points), Avdalas (19) and Hansberry picked up some of the slack, but the offense stalled in too many key situations. Gurdak (four points, one rebound in 18 minutes) and Dorn (zero points, three rebounds in six minutes) were on the floor for part of that time.
“It’s not the same,” Young said. “Those kids are giving us everything in the tank and Gurdak’s going to be really good, but come on. I mean, Hansberry plays six minutes in the first half, goddamn. Come on, man.
“Henri, No. 13? He needs to be on the floor. He’s a really good player. No. 7, Trimble? Needs to be on the floor. No. 13 from Virginia Tech? He needs to be on the floor. Call it on [someone else], don’t call a third one on him.”
Conversely, Veesaar and Trimble (20 points) caught fire, scoring 14 and 13, respectively, in the second half. That, plus the 15-for-20 mark from the foul line, was enough to keep Tech at bay, especially given how UNC took advantage of transition opportunities.
It didn’t have many — the Hokies only allowed eight fastbreak points and had 11 themselves — but capitalized.
Tech was trying to cut into the deficit a few minutes after Lawal’s aforementioned three-point play when Lawal lost the ball at the top of the key while being pressured by Veesaar. He stole it and threw the ball up the floor to Trimble, who dunked it with one hand. Young called a timeout in response.
And later, when the Hokies were full-court pressing and trying to sniff any kind of momentum, the Heels found a wide-open Veesaar on the break, and he capped off the night with a two-handed flush.
“We needed to move the ball better in the second half,” Hammond said. “I thought the ball was a little too stagnant, couple costly turnovers that led to transition points.”
As has been the case numerous times this season, Virginia Tech needed just a tad more when it mattered.
“Definitely felt like we played well,” Hammond said. “That’s a tough one, for sure. We just didn’t pull it out.”
On a positive note for the Hokies, Tyler Johnson returned from a lower-body injury and played two minutes in Chapel Hill. He had not played since Dec. 20 vs. Elon.
“It was good to see him on the floor,” Young said. “He’s such a critical part of our team. He’s been on the shelf for a long time, and happy to be able to insert him, and I almost went there in the second half. Wasn’t that he was bad; thought he was good, thought he competed, as I knew he would do. But that game just wasn’t comfortable enough.”
Tech returns to Blacksburg for its final home game of the year on Tuesday vs. Boston College. Then it’s off to No. 11 Virginia for the season finale on Saturday.
Box Score: No. 18 North Carolina 89, Virginia Tech 82
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