A spirited second-half effort on Thursday night in Greensboro helped guide the No. 6 seed UNC men’s basketball team to an 81-73 victory over No. 3 seed Virginia Tech in the ACC Tournament Quarterfinals.
Virginia Tech (15-6) sprinted out to an eight-point lead early in the game and appeared to be the much more physical team, despite playing just two games over the last month and UNC riding high after a 42-point win over Notre Dame on Wednesday.
The Tar Heels (18-9) had just two offensive rebounds in the first half and struggled to get any kind of rhythm, doing just enough to go into halftime down by only three on the scoreboard.
In the second half, though, everything started clicking once again. The frontline pairing of Armando Bacot and Day’Ron Sharpe put their massive size advantage to work, while freshman guard R.J. Davis came off the bench and scored 14 of his career-high 19 points in the final period.
Davis was the spark-plug for a critical 11-2 UNC run midway through the second half, which turned a back-and-forth game into one where head coach Roy Williams’ Tar Heels were comfortably in control.
“At halftime, to be honest with you, I felt very lucky that we were just down three,” Williams told reporters afterwards. “We told them that if they change that and get a greater sense of urgency in the second half—and stop turning the ball over—that we’d be there at the end and have a chance to win.”
Davis’ performance was representative of what the Tar Heels have been this year, a team lacking a true star but possessing a deep roster with a variety of options on any given night.
Like Davis, Bacot also keyed a late UNC run in addition to posting a double-double for the second straight night with 17 points and 13 rebounds. Sharpe added 10 points as the only other Tar Heel to score in double figures, but a total of nine different players scored for UNC.
Fresh legs seemed to be the difference down the stretch, as Virginia Tech had four players log more minutes than any single player on UNC provided.
Justyn Mutts led the Hokies with 24 points, while Tyrece Radford added 20—but there wasn’t enough help elsewhere to hold off a Tar Heel team which also used a strong second half to pull away from Notre Dame the night before.
“I think this was a tougher test on something like that,” Williams said. “I thought we handled it pretty doggone well. But we still have to make some shots. We can’t keep shooting 44 percent for the game.”
Up Next:
The Tar Heels take on No. 2 seed Florida State in Friday night’s ACC Semifinals. Tip-off is scheduled for 9 p.m.
Game Notes:
- Senior forward Garrison Brooks returned to the UNC starting lineup after missing Wednesday’s game with an ankle injury. He was largely ineffective, finishing with five points and three rebounds in 21 minutes.
- R.J. Davis has scored in double figures in four of the last six games after going through a six-game stretch where he failed to score more than six points.
- The Tar Heels turned the ball over just 11 times for the second night in a row, after closing the regular season with four consecutive games of at least 19 turnovers.
- This was the first meeting between UNC and Virginia Tech this season after the originally scheduled game on Feb. 16 between the two schools was postponed and never rescheduled.
- Roy Williams earned career win number 903, passing Bob Knight for third on the NCAA’s all-time list.
Photo via ACC Media
Chapelboro.com does not charge subscription fees. You can support local journalism and our mission to serve the community. Contribute today – every single dollar matters.
Comments on Chapelboro are moderated according to our Community Guidelines