I can’t front, I didn’t think the Tar Heels would handle their regular season finale win over Duke well. It’s often hard to refocus after such an emotional high. A scrappy, defensive-minded (albeit less talented) Virginia team may be the squad to bring the Tar Heels back to reality in the ACC Tournament quarterfinal. Boy, was I wrong. UNC not only defeated the Cavaliers, it was a 63-43 rout – validating their March 5th victory and shutting down any questions about how they’d handle success.
“So many people had asked how are you going to bounce back and how are you going to adjust after the emotions from the game this past Saturday,” head coach Hubert Davis said after the win. “And I just didn’t understand that. It was an emotional game, but it was just a game. Our attention, our focus, our preparation and our practice from last Saturday has been squarely on the ACC Tournament.”
“Something we’ve talked about the entire season is validating a good performance, validating a win and validating who we are as a team,” Davis continued. “One of the things that we talked about is we’ve played really well over the last month and a half, and specifically we played really well this past Saturday. Let’s validate the win that we had this past Saturday by playing extremely well today.”
And they did just that. The Heels opened eyes with their win over Duke, but Thursday night’s win over Virginia put everyone on notice. North Carolina is legit. The Tar Heels are clicking at the right time – March – and have become a team nobody will be happy to see as their next opponent.
UNC will continue their ACC Tournament play against Virginia Tech. Tip off is at the 9:30pm on ESPN.
Notes:
- This was Carolina’s first neutral-site win of the season (1-3).
- This was Carolina’s sixth straight win, the longest win streak of the season.
- The Tar Heels have won 12 of their last 14 games.
- Carolina allowed 43 points, fewest in an ACC Tournament game by a UNC opponent since Georgia Tech scored 39 in the 1982 ACC quarterfinal.
- The 43 points were the fewest allowed by UNC in an ACC Tournament game in the shot clock era (which began in 1985-86).
- They were the fourth fewest allowed by UNC in any ACC Tournament game all-time (21 by Duke in a 21-20 Blue Devil win in 1966; 39 by Georgia Tech in 1982; 41 by Clemson in a 76-41 UNC win in 1971; and 43 tonight).
- UNC had played 97 ACC Tournament games since allowing the 39 points by Georgia Tech in 1982.
- The 43 points are the fewest allowed by UNC in any game this season (previous was 47 by BC in Chapel Hill) and the fewest since a 65-41 win over Virginia on 2/18/2017 in Chapel Hill).
- Virginia’s 13 points were the fewest in a first half in the shot clock era in any ACC Tournament game (Maryland scored 14 against UNC in the first half in Atlanta in 1989).
- The 13 points were the fewest by a UNC opponent in any half since East Tennessee State scored 12 in the first half on 12/8/2012.
- Brady Manek out-scored Virginia, 19-13, in the first half. It was the first time a Tar Heel out-scored an opponent in a half since Reggie Bullock out-scored Maryland, 21-20, in the first half in Chapel Hill on 1/19/2013.
- Manek led UNC with 21 points. It his third straight game with 20 or more points and seventh of the season.
- Armando Bacot had 10 points and a game-high 11 rebounds. It was his 24th double-double, which set the UNC single-season record.
- Caleb Love had five assists. UNC is 14-0 this season when he has five or more.
- Leaky Black played sensational defense against Virginia point guard Kihei Clark, limiting him to seven points on 3 of 9 shooting and three turnovers.
- Black had three steals and three assists. UNC is 14-0 this year when he has three or more assists.
- Virginia shot 18.5% (5 of 27) from the floor in the first half.
- Carolina is 105-49 all-time in the ACC Tournament.
- Carolina is 48-13 in the quarterfinals of the ACC Tournament.
- This is the eighth straight year UNC has won at least a game in the ACC Tournament.
- Carolina had seven turnovers and has 12 in the last two games.
