In the old days, under Dean Smith, the Tar Heels were known for coming back in the second half and usually putting teams away down the stretch. Duke has been closer to that description lately than has North Carolina.

These Tar Heels have done a good job of getting on top early but it has to be concerning that Carolina has finished recent games with a whimper, this time against 8-14 Georgia Tech, where Carolina led by 24 but won just 93-81.

The first half was certainly as well as the Tar Heels have shot this year. Carolina was shooting just 25 percent of threes in ACC games and hadn’t made more than five threes in an ACC game. On this day, the Heels hit 10 of 16 for 62.5 perecent. There really should be a good taste in the mouths of Tar Heel faithful. But Carolina had its 24-point lead cut in half in the second half. The Tar Heels scored just nine points in the last seven minutes and three points in the last four minutes.

For more on the game, please click here.