It took awhile for Virginia to take control of this game.  At the 15:25 mark, UVa and UNC had combined to go 2 – 13. From then on it was all Virginia as the Cavaliers burst out to a 21 – 4 lead.  Even a notorious 6 minute dryspell (only points coming from a single Francisco Caffaro free throw) only allowed the Tar Heels to get close.  Virginia’s lead remained 8 – 12 points for the rest of the game.

 

Virginia         60
UNC              48

Positive

The numbers tell a wonderful story.  Virginia is now 103 – 2 when they hold an opponent to less than 50 points.  And on this night against UNC, for the fourth straight time at the JPJ, Virginia did just that, also collecting their 7th straight win in the series.

Positive

Team defense.  Virginia held North Carolina to 2 – 16 from three and 34% overall.  UNC is good on the offensive glass and in the second half, UVa allowed only four offensive rebounds.  Obviously, it was a team effort as Trey Murphy and Tomas Woldetensae were active, Jay Huff had 12 boards and Reece Beekman was a revelation, grabbing 8 boards.  Beekman had two other balls that he kept alive that Huff and Kihei Clark were able to corral.

Negative

The ESPN feed was crappy.  Several times ESPN cut out on their own announcers.  Since one of them was Dick Vitale, it had the effect of muzzling him a bit.  On second thought, this may be a positive after all.

Positive

Reece Beekman.  Really fine game from the freshman.  Despite not being able to finish at the rim, Beekman had those aforementioned 8 boards and 7 assists.  He also had a block and a steal.  He and Clark really sealed the perimeter and were largely responsible for shutting down UNC’s Caleb Love and Kerwin Walton.

Negative

Kihei Clark’s growing legion of haters.  I think I’ve discovered why there is a subset of haters out there in Cavalier Nation.  Clark (gasp!) kneels during the national anthem.

It was a weaker effort from Clark on the offensive end, but he still logged 5 assists, only the 41st time he has done that in his career.  If you look at the slam that Casey Morsell got, Clark is really the only guy on the team who can create that kind of look.

Negative

Adventures in taking free throws.  Virginia actually won the free throw battle against the more physical UNC, going to the line 19 times to UNC’s 12 trips.  But Virginia only shot 63%.  For the second straight game, Huff was the beneficiary of a line violation that erased a missed shot.  This game he didn’t capitalize.

Positive

Jay Huff. Really nice game as he scored 18 points, or as many points as Garrison Brooks, Day’Ron Sharpe and Armando Bacot had combined.