news-record.com

CHAPEL HILL — The kid from Greensboro turned in the best game of his career at North Carolina on Saturday afternoon.

And he'd trade it all for another crack at that last desperation shot.

Will Graves, a junior who starred at Dudley, scored a career-best 24 points and led the Tar Heels all the way back from a 20-point deficit. But his last shot, a 28-footer as time expired, hit the left side of the rim and bounced harmlessly away as No. 20 Georgia Tech beat No. 12 North Carolina 73-71 at the Smith Center.

"I should've just shot it like it was a regular shot," Graves said. "I tried to lean into the guy (defending me), hoping he'd make a mistake and foul me. I should've just shot it. I shoot that shot in practice all the time just messing around, so I know I can make it. I should've shot it like there was no one else in the gym."

Graves shot 5-for-8 from 3-point range, hitting all five in the second half to help the Tar Heels (12-6, 1-2 ACC), rally from a 42-28 halftime deficit. During one stretch of the second half, Carolina outscored the Yellow Jackets 20-0 with Graves on the court. But Tech (13-4, 2-2) had an 8-0 run of its own in the middle of that spurt when Graves was out of the game.

"At the end, there, we just kept telling our guys, 'Just face-guard him. Don't let him get near the ball,' " Tech coach Paul Hewitt said of Graves. "He really got it going, and every shot he put up there seemed like it was up in the air for half-an-hour. You wouldn't believe the words I said before the ball hit the rim."

Iman Shumpert — who Graves hosted during a recruiting trip to Chapel Hill two years ago — scored 30 points to lead Georgia Tech. Gani Lawal finished with 12 points and 12 rebounds.

Ed Davis and Deon Thompson scored 12 points apiece for North Carolina, which got off to a miserable start.

The Tar Heels trailed by 20 with 8:28 left in the first half. The made 11 of their 17 turnovers in the first half, and they took just 24 shots compared to Georgia Tech's 42.

"I don't know why it takes coach screaming at us and all those things for us to play with some fire and some passion for a whole game," Thompson said. "We definitely know it's there. You saw it in the second half, but we've got to do it from beginning to end if we want to be a good team."

It's not the first time the Heels have started a game poorly this season, and coach Roy Williams wondered about his team's lack of confidence.

"I don't lack in any confidence, so I can’t tell you," Williams said. "But I think there is tentativeness and hesitancy. You can't expect things to be given to you. In the ACC, people don't give you wins. In the ACC you have to play, and you have to take things. You have to compete, and you have to compete with your brain."

The Heels played smarter in the second half, and Graves' deep 3-pointer gave them a 64-63 lead with 4:33 left. It was their first lead since 1:07 into the first half.

From there the lead changed hands eight more times, and in the final 30 seconds before Graves' desperation shot, the game came down to four guys who scored between two and six points.

Trailing 71-70, Tech forward Zack Peacock got into the lane and scored on a floater with 25.7 seconds left. Peacock was just 2-for-9 from the floor when he took the big shot.

Carolina countered with point guard Larry Drew's drive to the basket. Drew — who finished with two points and 1-for-8 shooting — missed the layup, and Travis Wear (six points) missed a tip-in.

Drew fouled Tech's D'Andre Bell with 3.4 seconds left, and Bell (five points) made the second of two free throws.

That set the stage for the desperate finish: Graves got the ball far from the basket off an inbounds pass with just 1.7 seconds left.

He had time for one dribble. Then he finished a career-best game with a shot he'd like to try again.

NOTES: Will Graves' 24 points are the most by a Tar Heel this season, and Graves' first 20-point game since he scored 28 in his final game as a senior at Dudley. Graves, the News & Record's prep player of the year in 2006, scored those points in Dudley's state championship victory at the Dean Dome. ... The game matched the only two freshmen to receive votes as the ACC's preseason rookie of the year: Georgia Tech's Derrick Favors (40 votes) and Carolina's John Henson (eight votes). Favors came in averaging 11.8 points and 8.9 rebounds in 16 games (all starts); Henson 3.3 ppg and 2.6 rpg off the bench. ... In foul trouble early, Favors finished with seven points and four rebounds. Henson had two points, no rebounds and three turnovers as Graves' backup. ... The last four games tell the stories of these teams. North Carolina is 1-3 with a home win over Virginia Tech and losses to College of Charleston, Clemson before Saturday. Up-and-down Georgia Tech is 2-2 after this sequence: loss to Georgia; beat Duke; loss to Virginia; beat Carolina.

Contact Jeff Mills at 373-7024 or jeff.mills@news-record.com

GEORGIA TECH (13-4) — Favors 3-5 1-2 7, Lawal 5-15 2-2 12, Bell 2-4 1-2 5, Shumpert 10-17 7-9 30, Udofia 1-5 0-0 3, Peacock 3-10 0-0 6, Oliver 3-6 0-0 8, Foreman 0-0 0-0 0, Sheehan 0-0 0-0 0, Rice Jr. 1-3 0-0 2. Totals 28-65 11-15 73.

NORTH CAROLINA (12-6) — Graves 6-13 7-8 24, Thompson 4-8 4-5 12, Davis 4-8 4-5 12, Ginyard 1-4 0-0 2, Drew II 1-8 0-0 2, T.Wear 3-7 0-0 6, Strickland 0-2 3-4 3, McDonald 2-6 2-2 8, Henson 1-2 0-0 2, D.Wear 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 22-58 20-24 71.

Halftime—Georgia Tech 42-28.
3-point goals—Georgia Tech 6-13 (Shumpert 3-5, Oliver 2-5, Udofia 1-2, Bell 0-1), North Carolina 7-17 (Graves 5-8, McDonald 2-4, Thompson 0-1, Drew II 0-1, Henson 0-1, Ginyard 0-2).
Fouled out—Thompson.
Rebounds—Georgia Tech 36 (Lawal 12), North Carolina 41 (Davis 8).
Assists—Georgia Tech 11 (Shumpert 6), North Carolina 14 (Drew II 9).
Total fouls—Georgia Tech 20, North Carolina 17.
A—20,704.