North Carolina Tar Heels @ Virginia Cavaliers Basketball Recap

North Carolina 62 – Virginia 56

North Carolina (11-4, 1-0 ACC) defeated Virginia (10-6, 1-1 ACC) at John Paul Jones Arena in Charlottesville, VA to open play in the first full weekend of conference competition.

Tony Bennett’s Cavalier squad - still without standout forward Mike Scott (16 points per game, 10 rebounds) - has struggled earlier this season; and although notching an impressive conference win at Virginia Tech to open their conference schedule, many have dismissed them from the NCAA Tournament bid discussion.

Roy William’s Tar Heels have been improving as a young team, and continue to build a record to stand them firmly in the second tier of ACC contenders.

Carolina ran out to a nine point lead with 10 minutes remaining in the first half, but the Cavaliers found the proper defensive pressure and finished the first 20 minutes on 16-2 run to take a seven point lead 37-30 into the intermission. Cavalier K.T. Harrell led all scorers with 11 points; freshman Harrison Barnes had six to lead the Tar Heels.

The second half was filled with turnovers and missed shots. North Carolina did not score until five minutes into the second period with a Tyler Zeller lay-in, nearly 10 minutes of game time since the Tar Heels had last scored, making the score 40-32.

Virginia led by as many as 11 points before Carolina finally started to claw back into the game. John Henson’s layup with 3:10 remaining in the game finally put Carolina in the lead 52-50. The Tar Heel hit their shots from the foul line from there – making the final score 62-56.

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UNC shot 46.4 percent in the first half and an abysmal 26.9 percent in the second half, finishing 20 for 54, or 37 percent.

UVa shot 53.6 percent in the first, and an astoundingly horrible 26.1 percent in the second, finishing 21 for 51 - an only mildly more respectable 41.2 percent for the game.

Forward Tyler Zeller had 12 points to lead the Tar Heels, and was the only Carolina player in double figures, although nine others contributed points.

Four Cavaliers finished in double figures, led by K.T. Harrell with 13. He was followed by Jontel Evans and Mustapha Farrakhan with 11 and Joe Harris with 10. Four others found the basket for the Wahoos in their John Paul Jones Arena home.

The Tar Heels were 19 for 27 from the foul line (70.4 percent), the Cavaliers were 8 for 12 (66.7 percent). Key fouls to Virginia big men Assane Sene (four fouls) and Will Sherrill (three fouls) limited their ability to counter Zeller’s presence in the post. Sherrill also suffered leg pain that limited his minutes.

The ACC is an open contest for second place (behind Duke) at this early point in the league schedule. UNC has been an early candidate for that title, but their performance in their conference road opener did not bolster much confidence in that scenario. Virginia, on the other hand, managed to hold the fast-break Tar Heels to a turtle’s pace in this game and – despite the continued absence of Mike Scott – fell just short of upsetting the Tar Heels, and could sneak out of the dismal bottom of the conference.

By: David Minter
DFN Sports Staff Writer