UNC survives the ugliness, wins at Virginia for the first time since 2012
During a decade-plus stretch of futility at Virginia, North Carolina had brought all kinds of teams here to John Paul Jones Arena and done all kinds of things in an effort to break the bad mojo. The Tar Heels had tried to force their pace, as always, and had usually failed. They’d stayed in seven different hotels while enduring eight consecutive defeats here.
They’d brought many good teams, with many capable guards, from Marcus Paige to Joel Berry to Coby White to RJ Davis. They’d never won here, not once, with Hubert Davis on the bench, either as an assistant coach or a head coach. It had come to be something of a hex or a curse or maybe it was just one of those weird, befuddling streaks, UNC’s inability to win here.
And then on a cold, gray Saturday, amid the kind of ugliness often characteristic of Virginia basketball games, and after a particularly heinous first half for the Cavaliers, the streak ended. At long last, and not without some late drama, the Tar Heels withstood a late Virginia charge to grab a 54-44 victory.
Pretty, it was not. It hardly ever is here, for UNC or anyone else, but it’ll surely take its win and happily carry it on back to Chapel Hill.
UNC won for the first time in Charlottesville since 2012, back when it had a team with the likes of Tyler Zeller and Harrison Barnes and John Henson, and before even Davis had become an assistant under former head coach Roy Williams. It had been a long, long time. Almost 12 years to the day, since UNC won on a late Zeller dunk.
That victory, 12 years ago, was instrumental in helping UNC secure the ACC regular-season championship. This one, Saturday, could carry a similar kind of weight. The Tar Heels began the day tied with Duke atop the ACC standings. They ended it, after the Blue Devils’ loss at Wake Forest, alone in first, and in control of the conference.
Here are three takeaways from UNC’s victory:
1. You thought you knew what ugly basketball was. But did you, really?
There are many statistics from the first half Saturday that strain the imagination, ones that illustrate just how much of an aesthetic nightmare this game was for long stretches. One of them is this: UNC scored nine points during the first 4:03, then needed another 10 minutes to score its next nine.
That’s quirky and a sign of not-great offensive basketball, but it’s not the telling part. No, the telling part is this: During that 10-minute stretch in which the Tar Heels managed nine points, they still managed to put on something of an offensive clinic compared to the Cavaliers, who at one point were (are you sitting down?) 3 for 25 from the field.
Anyone who has followed ACC basketball for any length of time knows the deal about Virginia. It wants to play slowly, at all times. It wants to force opposing teams to play at its preferred pace. The Cavaliers like it ugly. That’s not revelatory. But the first half Saturday was a new level. Virginia didn’t score its 10th point until 17 minutes into the game.
The Cavaliers scored their fourth point with 18:08 remaining in the first half. They then needed more than 11 minutes to score their next four points. UNC, meanwhile, wasn’t exactly painting a masterpiece on the other end of the court. Except, well, it looked like one compared to whatever Virginia was doing.
How bad was Virginia in the first half? Well, here’s something else that gives you an idea: Davis didn’t score and Armando Bacot sat for more than 12 minutes, with foul trouble, and the Tar Heels still led 26-16 at halftime.
2. And hello, again, Cormac Ryan – your breakout comes at a good time
One game could’ve been viewed as a bit of a fluke. Two consecutive games? OK.
But three in a row, with Cormac Ryan providing a significant contribution on offense? That’s officially a trend, and a welcome (and long-awaited) sustained breakout for Ryan, the transfer from Notre Dame whose perimeter shot has been hit or miss — and, lately, a lot more hit.
Ryan on Saturday made five first-half 3-pointers, more than he’d made in any game this season. Those five 3s were also the most in a half for a UNC player since Caleb Love made that many against UCLA in the 2022 Sweet 16.
In the final minutes of the first half against Virginia, Ryan had outscored the Cavaliers by himself, 15-14. Virginia, like several other teams UNC has faced recently, tried its best to take Davis out of his element, and the Cavaliers were successful. They were unsuccessful, though, with their gamble to make someone else beat them.
Ryan proved more than capable. He finished with a team-high 18 points, after scoring 16 last weekend in UNC’s victory against Virginia Tech, and 18 before that during a loss at Syracuse. It’s the second time this season that Ryan has scored at least 15 points in three consecutive games. He seems to have rediscovered the shooting touch that eluded him throughout January and earlier this month.
3. The Tar Heels are back in control in the ACC
UNC won its first nine conference games, and 10 of its first 11, before hitting a bit of a wall the past couple of weeks, with losses to Georgia Tech, Clemson and Syracuse. That rough stretch opened up the race in the ACC, and Duke, especially, took advantage of the opening.
The Tar Heels had to have ended Saturday feeling as though some order had been restored. With Duke’s loss at Wake Forest, and UNC’s victory at John Paul Jones Arena, UNC reclaimed sole possession of first place in the ACC.
The Tar Heels had spent most of January and February there before their recent rough stretch. Saturday wasn’t pretty by any means, but UNC did what it had to do (and yes, Virginia did little right — especially during the game’s first 20 minutes). UNC has Miami, N.C. State and Notre Dame at home before closing the regular season at Duke.
The Tar Heels haven’t won the ACC’s regular-season title since 2019 (they shared it with Virginia) but that goal is in sight after Saturday.
This story was originally published February 24, 2024 at 7:00 PM.
