Lucky and Good

The saying goes, "I'd rather be lucky than good." Last night, the North Carolina Tarheels were both lucky and good. The Tarheels traveled to Atlanta to face the Ramblin' Reck of Georgia Tech. Georgia Tech was looking to defend its home court, which is so important in ACC conference play. By doing so, they would be one of only three teams that has been able to hold serve with the Tarheels four times in a row. Duke and Virginia are the two teams that have been able to do this.

It was an up and down, run and gun, fast paced basketball game. North Carolina was certainly on pace to meet or exceed their scoring average of 92 on the road. The problem for the Tarheels was that Georgia Tech was playing and scoring at the same pace. From the games that I have seen, and this was echoed by the commentators last night, a game with North Carolina is a game of attrition. North Carolina will continue to fly up and down the court, they will "trap" after a made basket. Often times causing a steal, resulting in another made basket. This played out a couple of times last night. But Georgia Tech kept pace. In fact, Georgia Tech had two opportunities, inside of 12 feet in the closing seconds to win the game. The shots would not fall and Carolina came out on top with an 83-82 win.

There is no doubt that the North Carolina Tarheels are good, in fact they are very good. But without luck last night, Georgia Tech would have added their name to a list that only Duke and Virginia sit on today.

Here is the Associated Press' take courtesy of Foxsports.

In other ACC play from last night, Duke went into Tallahassee to play a Florida State Seminole team that always give Duke a tough time. Last night was no different. With 3:56 seconds left in the game, Florida State held a 55-54 lead. Duke managed to finish out the game by making 16 of the last 18 points. The final score was 70-57.

Here's more information on the game.

Virginia Tech outlasted the Virgina Cavaliers in a 70-69 overtime win. A.D. Vasallo led the Hokies with 22 points and 5 rebounds. The Cavaliers were led by Sean Singletary with 34 points, 10 rebounds and 3 assists.

Game Recap.