CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — Despite racking up nine points in the first six minutes of its contest against UVA, the No. 10 UNC basketball team slowly became stagnant.
The classically strong Virginia defense, spearheaded by head coach Tony Bennett, began to kick in, and neither team could get shots to fall.
Eventually, however, it was North Carolina (21-6, 13-3 ACC) that persevered and emerged victorious, displaying just a bit more grit to edge out Virginia (20-8, 11-6 ACC), 54-44, Saturday afternoon in UNC's first win in Charlottesville since 2012. Graduate guard Cormac Ryan led the Tar Heels in scoring with 18 points and six 3-pointers.
"We did a good job," Ryan said. "We were locked in. It's not a fun defense to play against, that's why they make the game ugly and they do a good job at that."
Play got off to an uncharacteristically fast start against the famously low-scoring Cavaliers. Junior wing Harrison Ingram was able to notch a quick layup on UNC's second possession, which UVA immediately responded to.
A back-and-forth game ensued, but it didn't last long. After the first time out, both teams went cold. Virginia used its strong defense to force North Carolina to take bad shots, and UNC gave it right back to them at the other end of the court.
"We really just tried to match that energy on defense," graduate center Armando Bacot said, "and get as many stops as we could, and try to extend the lead offensively."
Towards the end of the half, it was the Tar Heels that were able to break through the Cavalier wall, capitalizing on last minute fast-breaks into the paint and step back jumpers to pull away from UVA. But, by the time the first 20 minutes had concluded, the scoreboard only read 26-16.
UVA's 16-point performance was the lowest scoring performance from any DI team in a single half in the past two years.