Chansky's Notebook: The Stronger Survived

Photo by Todd Melet

Ol’ Roy needed to channel his inner Belichick.

As Carolina moves on to a winnable visit to Wake Forest Saturday, bloggers were still analyzing how usually composed Virginia coach Tony Bennett reacted to his players turning the ball over too much in falling behind at UNC by seven points.

He said he felt the veins in his neck begin to pop when one of his assistants suggested he calm down. So Tony began to channel his inner Dick Bennett — his great coaching father. During a timeout he said to his team, “We’re okay, just take care of the ball and make some plays.”

And did they ever. The fourth-ranked Cavaliers put together a 11-4 run in which their three stars Kyle Guy, Ty Jerome and De’Andre Hunter combined to make all six of their shots to only one for the suddenly struggling Tar Heels, who went stone while losing their lead. And it got worse from there as Virginia finished the game without another turnover.

The Cavs closed with a 12-2 run, and guess who did most of the damage? Their three best players took control while our big three (Cam, Coby and Luke) missed 29 of their 43 shots in the 69-61 loss, Virginia’s fourth straight win over UNC.

Roy Williams summed it up by saying, “Their defense was better than our offense and their offense was better than our defense.”

That’s what makes Virginia so hard to play, and Carolina made it harder by not stopping any of UVa’s big three. Like Garrison Brooks scored 12 points on layups and put-backs, the Tar Heels failed to take away Guy or Jerome or Hunter with double-teams or a zone and forcing their weaker scorers to shoot the ball more.

Patriots coach Bill Belichick has become famous for building game plans around stopping the other team’s best player, be it Patrick Mahomes or Todd Gurley or Deshaun Watson. He will let the lesser players try to beat his team because they aren’t as dangerous or proven and, overall, it takes them all out of their comfort zone.

Except for a 17-3 run in the 2nd half, the Tar Heels looked and played erratically while the Cavaliers found their comfort zone early and late behind their three studs on both ends of the court, who combined for 55 of their 69 points.

If there is a next time in the post-season, much better execution will be needed and perhaps a different game plan.