GREENSBORO, N.C. – Virginia’s hopes of a back-to-back title sweep crashed in the ACC Tournament Semifinals on Friday. North Carolina ripped apart the Pack-Line and ripped away UVa’s repeat hopes in the process with a 71-67 victory.
The Cavaliers (29-3), who are now 0-6 all-time against the Tar Heels (24-10) in Greensboro, have only lost to ranked teams this season but have dropped two of their last three contests. Carolina coach Roy Williams said the Hoos are far from broken as they enter the NCAA Tournament, though.
“This league is pretty doggone good,” Williams said. “We’re not chopped liver so losing to Louisville at Louisville and losing in the ACC Tournament in the semifinals doesn’t mean you’ve been bad. I’ll give you this one. I want these guys to change it, but my teams have taken me to seven Final Fours and one time we won the conference tournament. We were pretty doggone good and we won two National Championships when we did not win the conference tournament. Tony [Bennett] has done a fantastic job. They get those guys healthy, they can win a National Championship. I’d like to play them again in a National Championship Game. That would be ecstatic for me.”
Naturally, UVa would love to make an NCAA Tournament run as well, but it will need to bounce back from one of the worst defensive performances of the Bennett era to do so. The Tar Heels shot 54.8% from the field, the highest by a Virginia opponent since Washington posted 58% shooting on Nov. 22, 2010. Carolina scored in every way possible against the normally stingy Pack-Line defense, posting 24 points in the paint, 15 points off turnovers, 6 fastbreak points, and 5 second chance points. UNC hit 7 of 14 3-pointers and 18 of 27 free throws as well.
Freshman forward Justin Jackson proved to be the biggest difference maker as he erupted for 22 points on 8-of-10 shooting, making 4 of 5 triples in the process. Jackson entered the game shooting 26% from 3-point range. Add in 14 points and 5 assists from Marcus Paige plus 13 points and 6 rebounds from Brice Johnson and you have a big headache for any defense. Other than forcing 18 turnovers on 8 steals, Virginia wasn’t able to disrupt the Heels’ flow for much of the night.
“What we try to hang our hat on really was porous,” Bennett said. “It kind of unraveled defensively. You see they shot a percentage at shooting 55%, and then the easy looks they got, then they made some good plays. First, congratulations to Carolina for how charged they were and how ready they were. They really took it at us. But defensively for us to win a game like this, we had to have a much stronger, more sound, solid effort, and we just didn’t. So that kind of stings, but we’ll grow from it. This is one and done and the next one is one and done so you’ve got to try to get it right.”
Another sluggish start offensively compounded the problem. UVa scored just six points in the first 8:45 and saw itself down 15-6 on the scoreboard as a result. The Hoos made two mini surges over the next seven minutes, getting within 15-13, 20-16, and 23-18 before North Carolina stretched it out again. The Tar Heels moved to a double-digit lead at 30-19 during a stretch where Virginia’s Malcolm Brogdon had a turnover and missed a 3-pointer in addition to a turnover from Anthony Gill.
In the end, Virginia shot only 37.5% in the first half (9 of 24) with 9 turnovers. Brogdon had only 3 points on 1-of-5 shooting at the half. No one other than Gill, who made all 3 shots before intermission, and Marial Shayok, who made 2 jumpers with 2 free throws, could get going. The Hoos landed at 44.2% shooting for the game (23 of 52), including 31.2% from 3-point range (5 of 16).
“We were just out of sync offensively,” said UVa senior Darion Atkins, who had 5 points and 2 assists. “I think because we pride ourselves on defense just the mere fact that we were discombobulated defensively probably took us out of the mindset offensively. Usually if things are right on the defensive end, our offense follows suit. … They had the tempo on their side the majority of the game and I think that played a big part as well.”
The Cavaliers put together a strong second half to mount a comeback, though. They hit 50% shooting (14 of 28) with only 4 turnovers after intermission. Brogdon, who said that Coach Bennett “got into me at halftime and got me going,” raised his game in a major way to carry his team. He poured in 22 points in the second half on 8-of-13 shooting en route to a career-high 25 points. Gill chipped in too and finished with 12 points, while London Perrantes added 12 points and 3 assists.
After trailing by 13 points with 8:27 to play, UVa chipped away at the deficit and had a possession to take the lead in the final 2:30. Brogdon scored 10 points in 2:10 stretch to pull the score to 61-60 with 2:48 remaining. After Evan Nolte made one of his season-high 3 steals, Virginia had a possession with a look at the lead but Brogdon lost the ball out of bounds on a drive with some defensive contact. Carolina answered with a bucket or free throws on the rest of its possessions, including a big shot from Paige at the shot clock buzzer in the final minute, to hold on to win.
The Hoos had two attempts to tie the game with 3-pointers in the final minute, but Justin Anderson – playing just his second game after missing more than a month – and Brogdon couldn’t connect. Brogdon’s attempt was on the same play that beat Pittsburgh last season at Pitt and this one had a chance before it came up a little short.
“I thought we got back because of our hustle,” Bennett said. “We got aggressive, real aggressive, and just kind of forced the issue. We’ve kind of been in that spot the other way when teams just put their head down and go, and Malcolm was very aggressive driving. We got to the free throw line and were better. Yeah that [lead] could have been separated a lot more, but I think at least our guys responded with a tremendous second half effort. That was kind of non-existent for most of the first half.”
The Cavaliers now must regroup and wait for Selection Sunday to determine their NCAA Tournament fate. Regardless of what seeding comes out in the region brackets, however, the Hoos know they will need to be focused on a better effort if they want to win games in the Big Dance.
“We’re all going to sit down and learn from this and talk about it,” Atkins said. “Obviously watch a lot of film and nitpick so we can figure out the things we need to get ready to move on.”
