GREENSBORO – Turnovers and the inability to hit clutch shots bit North Carolina again Thursday night as they did for most of the season.

Squandering some of its best basketball in weeks, the Tar Heels managed just two free throws in the final 5:13 and fell to Georgia Tech 62-58 in the opening round of the ACC Tournament.

Carolina, playing in the opening round for the first time ever, mishandled the ball twice and missed eight shots during the drought as it fell to 16-16 and awaits word of a bid to the NIT. Two of the misses were wide-open 3s that rimmed out as the Heels were trying to rally in the final minute.

“We weren’t getting the ball where we wanted,” UNC senior forward Deon Thompson said. “We weren’t executing how we run the plays in practice every day and weren’t taking care of the ball.”

It is the first time coach Roy Williams has failed to go to the NCAA Tournament in 21 years as a head coach.

Georgia Tech improves to 20-11 and plays Maryland tonight at 7.

The Tar Heels’ collapse at the end finished a rocky second half in which the Jackets quickly erased a 10-point halftime deficit with a 10-2 run.

“You come out of the half and commit silly plays and let a team back into the game, it makes it tough to close a team out at the end of the game,” Thompson said.

Carolina managed to lead as late as 50-49 with just over 11 minutes to go and forced its last tie on Will Graves’ layup that was the Tar Heels’ last bucket.

UNC looked liked an entirely different team in the first half as it stopped Georgia Tech cold in going on a 17-0 run to go up 24-13 with 6:52 left before the break.

“We played a stretch in the first half where I was pleased with our effort, pleased with our concentration,” Williams said. “We were up 10, but missed five, six shots from two feet, I said at halftime to the kids that we could play much better. And then (Georgia Tech) comes out and scores the first seven points of the half. We didn’t pick up on defense and we didn’t box out.”

Tyler Zeller led the Tar Heels with a double-double of 17 points and 10 rebounds. Derrick Favors scored 18 and Gani Lawal had 12 for the Jackets.

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