BLACKSBURG, VA – North Carolina was shorthanded Sunday at Virginia Tech, and it showed, as the Tar Heels struggled in myriad ways falling to the Hokies, 80-72, at Cassell Coliseum.

UNC was without Preseason ACC Player of the Year Armando Bacot, who suffered a right shoulder contusion in the loss at Indiana on Wednesday night, and reserve guard D’Marco Dunn, who broke a bone in his left hand in practice Sunday.

Puff Johnson got the start in place of Bacot, and UNC Coach Hubert Davis used every available scholarship player, but nobody could generate a spart for the Tar Heels, who have now lost four consecutive games.

UNC was ranked No. 1 this time a week ago, and when the new poll comes out Monday, it will not be there.

Here are some noteworthy tidbits from Carolina's loss to Virginia Tech:

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*UNC went 24:49 before grabbing its first offensive rebound.

*UNC went 30:27 in between handing out assists from the 18:06 mark of the first half to the 7:39 mark of the second half.

*Carolina’s second made 3-pointer came with 11:37 left in the game. The Heels finished 3-for-17.

*Puff Johnson started in place of Armando Bacot, and played the first 7:13, but was in for just the final 4:12 of the half and first 51 seconds after the intermission. He was beaten defensively, clearly irritating Hubert Davis, and was pulled from the game at 19:09 and never returned. His line: 0 points; 0-for-2 from the floor (one was an airballed 3); and one steal.

*UNC actually won the stat battle in three interesting categories: Bench points (16-12); Blocks (5-0); and steals (5-4).

*Of Carolina’s 51 shot attempts, only nine were layups and two were dunks. The Heels averaged 1.09 points per possession scoring 51.5 percent of the time.