Tar Heels fall to Virginia in Charlottesville

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — After avoiding an 0-4 start to ACC play Saturday, North Carolina seemed to breathe a sigh of relief.

Maybe the season was turning around. Maybe all hope wasn’t lost on a team struggling to find its identity.

Monday night, however, the Tar Heels (11-7, 1-4 ACC) were left gasping for air as Virginia delivered a sucker-punching 76-61 loss for the program’s first 1-4 ACC start since the 2001-2002 season.

“Virginia was the more efficient team,” said coach Roy Williams. “The missed opportunities really hurt us tonight, and we are not taking advantages of the mistakes the other team makes.”

The two teams’ opening possessions ominously foreshadowed a long evening for the Tar Heels. Senior Leslie McDonald attempted and missed two 3-pointers in the opening 30 seconds before finally scoring inside. Virginia (14-5, 5-1) responded with a 3-pointer from Joe Harris, his first of three consecutive threes.

UNC set the tempo early, coercing Virginia to play out of its comfort zone. But the Cavaliers took the reins late in the first half with a 12-2 run, capped with a 3-pointer from point guard London Perrantes to snatch any momentum away from UNC going into the half.

“It’s sort of like a dagger, that’s what it is,” Williams said.

After Harris cooled from 3-point range, his teammates picked up the slack. Three other Cavaliers scored 3-pointers and three finished in double figures.

“You’ve got Joe Harris running around like a chicken with his head cut off,” said sophomore Brice Johnson. “He’s just running around and running around, he never stops. Either he’s going to be open or he’s going to get somebody else open.”

UNC couldn’t find an answer on the other end of the court, connecting on only four of 15 3-pointers. McDonald and guard Marcus Paige, combined to shoot three of 13 from deep.

After giving McDonald the starting nod for the second consecutive game, Williams benched him for a long stretch in the second half, sitting him for nine minutes.

“I just didn’t feel like he was shooting the ball in the hole,” Williams said. “I just didn’t feel like he was playing well, and I wanted to give somebody else the chance.

“Guys get an opportunity to start, you better act like Lou Gehrig. If you give me a chance to start in front of somebody, I’m going to play my butt off to try and make sure I stay there, and that has not happened yet.”

When McDonald returned, he immediately made his second 3-pointer of the evening before missing his final two shots .

“(Defenses) know he’s supposed to be a shooter, so they’re doing some things. He’s got to get a little bit better shot selection,” Williams said.

Paige, who finished with nine points on four-of-14 shooting, said UVa.’s stifling defense forced UNC to settle for bad shots.

“When we take good shots, we usually make them,” he said. “Some of them are maybe a little early or forced or not balanced. But we really weren’t getting anything going on offensively so that makes us have to take tough shots in low clock situations.”

Like last week, the Tar Heels have a long stretch between games. In six days, Clemson will travel to the Smith Center and a 56-game home win streak against the Tigers will be on the line.

“We’ve got to go back to the drawing board and understand this can’t be a point in the season where we just fold,” Paige said.

“We’ve really got to dig deep and decide what kind of season we want to have … You can’t use losses all of the time. We’ve got to start winning some more games.”

sports@dailytarheel.com