Dominant Cavaliers Smack Down Tar Heels

The No. 12 North Carolina men’s basketball team fell flat in the second half for the second straight game, falling to No. 3 Virginia, 75-64, Monday night in the Smith Center to drop to 17-6 overall and 7-3 in ACC play.

With the victory, the Cavaliers improved to 20-1 on the season and an 8-1 mark in conference action.

***Listen to the story***

Yet again, it was a tale of two halves for the Tar Heels, who couldn’t buy a basket in the final 20 minutes of play. The Cavaliers, meanwhile, used a characteristically efficient offense to speed away and put the game to bed. It was only UVA’s fourth all-time win in the Smith Center.

***Click here for the full game photo gallery***

“They fought. I think we got back to the mentality that we needed to.  I said in the postgame interview after that our way is a blue-collar way.  It’s a fighting way.  Our guys, I think, responded well and really rallied,” Virginia head coach Tony Bennett says.

The Cavaliers used a balanced scoring attack to great effect. Junior guard Malcolm Brogdon led the way with 17 points, but junior Justin Anderson was impressive as well, tallying 16 points and adding in seven assists.

As for the Tar Heels, it was junior guard Marcus Paige’s 15 points that topped the stat sheet. Junior forward Brice Johnson added in 14 points of his own to go along with a team-leading eight rebounds.

But it wasn’t nearly enough to keep UNC in contact down the stretch. Once again, UNC head coach Roy Williams was left to question his team’s toughness.

“I’m disappointed in our sense of urgency at some points during the game. I’m disappointed that we gave in. I’m sitting here thinking that we need some practice time. Bottom line is I admire what Tony [Bennett’s] team has done. He does a great job coaching and his kids have bought into it completely. They share the basketball, they don’t turn it over,” Coach Williams says.

***Listen to Roy Williams’ postgame remarks***

Carolina, though, appeared to come out of the gates with an urgency that Coach Williams thought was lacking against Louisville, surging to a 14-8 lead with 12:41 on the first half clock. In fact, Coach Bennett was forced to call a timeout to regroup his bunch of Cavaliers.

But it was Anderson who kept his team in the contest in the in the early going. With 8:41 to play, the Cavaliers had scraped out a tie with the Tar Heels thanks in large part to Anderson’s nine quick points.

From there, the Cavaliers got extra production from sophomore guard London Perrantes to take a 30-27 advantage with 3:27 to go before halftime.

But after enduring a shooting drought that saw the Tar Heels go one for six from the line in one stretch, a last- second make by Kennedy Meeks gave UNC the 33-32 lead at intermission.

Out of the break, it was Virginia that stamped its authority, taking quality shots and taking a 42-38 lead with 13:42 to play in the contest.

Meanwhile, Carolina looked sluggish and out of sorts, failing to build any rhythm on the offensive end. In fact, in the first ten minutes, the Tar Heels connected on a mere four out of their first 14 shots.

With 9:38 to play, Virginia held a commanding 54-44 lead.

From there, the Cavaliers coasted to the final buzzer for a stress-free victory and a rare one at that, in the Smith Center.

Leading UNC scorer Paige says things aren’t going to turn around unless the entire squad goes all-in.

“We’re trying to figure out how to do that.  Like I said, we have talent, we have pieces.  But if you don’t have five guys buying in, playing every possession the way coach preaches.  It sounds cliché, and that’s boring talk for media, it’s not anything juicy for you guys, but it’s the truth,” Paige says.

The struggling Tar Heels will now get some time to regroup. UNC won’t return to action until the weekend, with a road game at Boston College Saturday at 3 p.m.

FINAL BOX SCORE