Virginia Falls At North Carolina

The Virginia basketball team scored more points in the paint, gave up just three offensive rebounds, and allowed zero fastbreak points Saturday against North Carolina. Despite the near ideal recipe for dealing with the Tar Heels, however, the Hoos could not overcome continued shooting woes and fell 71-63 in Chapel Hill.

“You’d like your chances,” Bennett said with a chuckle when asked about some of the box score notes. “And you keep them off the glass. But again, credit to them and that’s our league. We’ll just keep battling. The second half, the numbers are where we wanted it defensively. We’ll watch the film and maybe I’ll change my stance a little bit, but I want to keep encouraging those guys to keep laying it down everything they’ve got. That’s what we’ll have to do.”

Encouragement may be needed for the Cavaliers as they try to weather a multi-game offensive slump. Over the last four games, Virginia has shot 44.2% or worse from the field with Saturday’s 63 points representing the best scoring production of the stretch. The four games together add up to 38.1% shooting (88-231).

Against UNC, Virginia generated 68 shot attempts but struggled to get the ball in the basket. The Wahoos landed at 39.7% shooting (27-68) overall with issues both near the rim and far away. They converted just 8 of 25 layups (32.0%), 4 of 12 3-pointers (33.3%), and 5 of 11 free throws (45.5%). Certainly, North Carolina’s defense had something to do with those numbers as the hosts blocked 8 shots with 4 each from Leaky Black and Pete Nance.

Jayden Gardner and Armaan Franklin had the most luck among the Cavaliers. Gardner made 9 of 17 shots to finish with 19 points and 12 rebounds, his second straight double-double. Franklin hit 6 of 14 shots to record 14 points and 4 rebounds. Kihei Clark added 9 points on 3-9 shooting to go with 5 assists. Reece Beekman tallied 8 points, 6 assists, and 4 rebounds while shooting 4-11 (0-2 on 3’s). Ben Vander Plas had 8 points on 3-8 shooting (2-4 on 3’s). Isaac McKneely posted 4 points while going 2-6 shooting, which included an 0-3 outing from 3-point range.

UVA opened up the floor with some screens and drives in the second half while trying to attack some mismatches from switches by North Carolina’s defense, but just could not consistently finish things offensively. Still, the visitors did trim a 16-point halftime deficit into single digits several times in the second half only to see the Tar Heels respond.

With the deficit hovering at 12 points late in the second half, one possession summed up the frustrations quite well. With 6:00 to go, Beekman had a layup blocked by Nance but UVA kept the ball with an offensive rebound. Vander Plas then drew a foul only to miss both free throws. The Hoos still had the ball after another offensive rebound, though. This time, Nance blocked a dunk attempt by Ryan Dunn. Moments later, Beekman missed the front end of a 1-and-1 opportunity too. Both Beekman and Clark missed the back end of and-one free throw trips later in the second half as well.

Multiple chances. No points.

“Everybody will look and say you’re struggling to score. True. You’re missing some layups and finishes. But you just keep knocking and try to make little adjustments and I told the guys there’s a lot of basketball left,” Bennett said. “We’ll get after it and keep trying to find ways. I keep hoping one of these days we’re going to break out of that little shooting slump. It’ll happen. But I credit our guys for how hard they played and I thought Carolina played in desperation mode and they made some tough plays.”

Playing from behind did not help either. Much like the loss at Boston College, Virginia trailed for 37:50 of the 40 minutes.

Carolina created that predicament with a scorching first half where it shot 57.7% from the floor. Much of that firepower came from an unexpected source as the Tar Heels knocked down 9 of 16 3-pointers before intermission, a 56.3% clip that nearly doubled their season average of 30.0% entering the game. They had made 9 3-pointers combined in the previous two games against NC State and Notre Dame on 44 attempts.

Nance led the way with 4 triples without a miss in the first half, including a difficult buzzer-beating attempt just before the break. Nance ended his night with 22 points on 7-10 shooting. RJ Davis and Puff Johnson nailed 2 3’s in the first half as well; Johnson made his on consecutive possessions to first grow the lead to double digits. Davis finished with 16 points and 4 assists, while Johnson had 8 points and 5 rebounds. Armando Bacot added 11 points and 6 rebounds. Caleb Love recorded 10 points, 8 rebounds, and 2 assists.

Virginia found a way to slow down the Carolina offense in the second half as it allowed just 33.3% shooting with a single 3-pointer in the mix. Fouling to extend the game late helped UNC get past the 70-point barrier, but most of the damage came long before that strategic choice. Bennett appreciated the fight from his group as the Hoos will try to reverse their recent skid with two homes games remaining in the regular season.

“I thought the way Carolina played in the first half shooting the half was tough. It put us in the hole and Nance was hitting some shots,” Bennett said. “I told our guys I appreciated, I thought we fought like crazy in the second half. Played hard in the first half, but really fought in the second half and touched on a level of tenacity on the defensive end keeping them off the glass, keeping them out of transition, and limiting the quality looks for the most part that we needed to. No one’s trying to miss a layup or miss a free throw. I thought we ran good, tough, hard offense and produced pretty much quality shots. If we could’ve played two halves quality like that, maybe it’s different but we didn’t.”

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