Virginia Sputters Against UNC, Quietly Exits ACC Tournament

Virginia
Jayden Gardner scored 17 points to lead Virginia. ~ Photo courtesy of TheACC.com

The Virginia men’s basketball team had scored fewer than 60 points just once in the final 7 weeks of the regular season. The Hoos couldn’t survive their second straight night below that number at the ACC Tournament on Thursday night.

The Cavaliers scored 13 points in the first half, the lowest number by any team in the shot clock era history of the event, and never recovered. The result was a quick exit as North Carolina romped 63-43 despite an average night from the Tar Heels offensively. So while the Wahoos won a 51-50 game against Louisville, a second night with a low-scoring output was too much to overcome.

“Certainly it’s a disappointing loss, and credit to Carolina, how hard they played and how hard they guarded us, and then [Brady] Manek’s first half was special,” UVA coach Tony Bennett said. “You know, when we did get some decent quality looks, we didn’t hit them. That kind of gets into you, and we’ve talked about this a lot, it puts a lot of pressure on our defense. We didn’t have an answer for stretches.”

The offense’s struggles showed up immediately. UVA missed 3 shots and committed 2 turnovers in the first 3 minutes. That didn’t prove instantly costly as the teams see-sawed on the scoreboard en route to a 9-9 tie in the early going. Eventually, however, the offense unraveled further and the deficit grew quickly.

Starting with a blocked shot by Armando Bacot on a Reece Beekman layup attempt, Virginia missed 6 straight shots. A jumper from Jayden Gardner and an offensive rebound tip-dunk from Kadin Shedrick briefly provided a respite, but those were the only baskets in the final 13 minutes of the first half. The Cavaliers also had 3 turnovers during that stretch.

Gardner finished as the only Hoo in double figures with 17 points, 2 rebounds, and 1 assist on the night. Shedrick added 8 points, 5 rebounds, 1 blocked shot, and 1 steal. Beekman had 5 assists. Kihei Clark chipped in 7 points, 4 rebounds, and 4 assists.

UVA shot 18.5% in the first half (5-27) for a dismal .406 points per possession and had 6 turnovers. That was the first time shooting less than 20% in a half since an 18.4% half (5-22) against California on Dec. 22 2015. Those 13 first half points were the program’s lowest in a half since also scoring 13 in a first half against William & Mary on Dec. 5, 1984. That was also the fewest points the Tar Heels allowed in a first half since it held East Tennessee State to 12 on Dec. 8, 2012.

“I mean, that was a tough stretch of the game,” Shedrick said. “What’s going through your mind is we’ve got to keep getting stops to keep us in the game when shots aren’t falling. Hopefully eventually they will fall. They didn’t, but keep shooting good shots. I think we were getting good looks, so keep getting good looks and keep trying to get stops.”

Virginia
Kihei Clark looks for an opening for Virginia. ~ Photo courtesy of David Welker/TheACC.com

Virginia found a little better footing in the second half, but it was far too little too late. For the game, the Cavaliers shot 34.6% for their lowest mark of the season. They flirted with some all-time lows as well. A couple of late baskets in the final 1:12 from Malachi Poindexter and Shedrick avoided any records, but it was in the neighborhood of some the fewest points in the ACC Tournament Quarterfinals – from the ACC Tournament record book, Maryland had 28 in 1982, Clemson had 33 in 1970 and South Carolina had 34 in that same game, Georgia Tech had 39 in 1982, Clemson had 40 in 1968, and NC State had 40 in 1982

It still ended up as UVA’s fewest points at the ACC Tournament since scoring 41 vs. Duke in a first round contest in 1998. The 20-point loss was UVA’s largest at the ACC Tournament since a 37-point loss vs. Duke in a first round contest in 1999.

“The one thing I was hoping maybe we could get some more offensive rebounds because we had a lot of misses and we couldn’t get any extra points that way,” Bennett said. “But you just felt a little bit of a snowball effect where there were some turnovers and how quick Carolina got down the floor, and it kind of expanded quick. And then again, some of the contested shots that Manek made along with their guards putting pressure on you made it hard, and they played very good defense. Their guards are physical and quick. I think they put Leaky on Kihei at times. They made it tough. I didn’t do a great job trying to find different ways for our guys to maybe get some more space or get better shots. I was frustrated with myself.”

While Virginia’s offense was stuck in a first-half bog, North Carolina’s Brady Manek lifted his team with 20 minutes of sterling shooting. Manek went 7-11 in the first half, which included 3-6 shooting from 3-point range, to put up 19 points. Obviously with him carrying the load, Manek had a couple of the key baskets that got his team ahead. When UVA led 7-6, Manek hit back-to-back 3-pointers to put his team ahead for good. A pull-up jumper at the 5:58 mark pushed the lead to double digits for the remainder of the night.

Manek’s final line shook out at 21 points, 7 rebounds, 3 assists, and 1 steal. In addition to Manek’s big night, Bacot finished with 10 points and 11 rebounds to tie North Carolina’s single-season record for double-doubles. Caleb Love had 10 points and 5 assists.

That camouflaged a sub-par night for the Heels for the most part. UNC shot 38.5% (25-65), made just 6 3’s, and earned only 9 free throw attempts (7-9, 77.8%). Carolina did have 17 assists on those 25 buckets and committed only 7 turnovers.

“I guess I’d want to watch tape before I can give it a real answer,” Bennett said. “Yeah, the numbers appear like, okay, you did some stuff. And one of my assistants said, I think the defense wasn’t that bad, but it didn’t feel – I kind of got onto these guys after the game, didn’t feel like it was as sound as it needed to be, allowing some offensive rebounds, getting split on ball screens. We really tried to work hard leading up to this on some of the things that we went against, and I didn’t feel like we executed. The eye test, I thought it was pretty poor. But numbers are one thing, but that’s the eye test. But I might be wrong. I’ll watch the tape. Sometimes when you’re feeling that pressure because we were struggling to score, maybe that was unfair. But I thought they got down the court a couple times and some of [came from] some turnovers and stuff like that, but as they say, the tape won’t lie, so I can answer that better next time.”

The loss likely ended any NCAA Tournament hopes for the Wahoos. While they have several impressive wins, the up-and-down start to the schedule and some tough losses in the metrics blemish the resume. The Hoos are projected on the wrong side of the bubble. Virginia has not missed the NCAA Tournament since the 2013 season.

“I mean, how we looked tonight, no, but I wouldn’t base – I don’t know, probably some things would have to happen for us to even be in it.” Bennett said. “We improved as the season went on and it did not look like it tonight. … I don’t know if we’re in that conversation or not, but stranger things have happened if teams lose. What was our overall record? I don’t know, 19. Didn’t get to 20. But finished above .500 in the conference. Certainly would like a chance at it, but probably today was an important one, but who knows.”

Virginia Basketball Final Stats