CHARLOTTESVILLE —The No. 5 North Carolina men’s basketball team fell 53-43 to No. 23 Virginia on Monday night in Charlottesville. UNC hasn’t beaten UVa. on the road since 2012. Also, North Carolina's 43 points tonight were the fewest points scored since 1979.
What happened?
A whole lot of ugliness, and that goes for both teams. UNC opened the game on a 7-0 run, but then Virginia’s vaunted defense started firing.
Double teams, poking the ball away, tough rebounds — the Cavaliers were nearly impassable on defense, leading to 12 first-half turnovers. Just for comparison's sake, that’s as many as UNC has had in any of its last seven games.
Meanwhile, Virginia’s usually stagnant offense found life with guard Kyle Guy’s deep shooting. Guy buried three 3-pointers, including one fadeaway banked off the glass, to lead all scorers with nine at the half.
After halftime, it was more of the same for the Tar Heels. UNC cut the UVa. lead to one point midway through the second half, but a stretch of three and a half scoreless minutes soon after left the team playing catch-up until the final buzzer sounded.
That desperation style of play further bottomed out when Virginia’s offense picked up again. The Cavaliers started banging 3-pointers — London Perrantes had three in the second half — late in the shot clock to minimize UNC’s touches and grow their own lead.
Who stood out?
For Virginia, Guy’s offense was a buoy when everything else wasn’t working. The first-year guard dropped five of his seven shots from behind the arc and led both teams in scoring with 17 points.
