#4 Virginia Bounces Back From Duke Loss, Wins at #8 North Carolina

Posted on Monday, Feb. 11, 2019, 10:25 pm

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The road in the Atlantic Coast Conference is never friendly. At times during the second half of No. 4 Virginia’s Big Monday showdown at No. 8 North Carolina, it was downright rude.

The Cavaliers (21-2, 9-2 ACC) committed several sloppy turnovers, allowing the Tar Heels to erase a 7-point halftime deficit and lead by as many as seven themselves, but UVA closed the game on a 10-2 run over the final four minutes — behind a pair of clutch Kyle Guy 3-pointers — and left the Dean Dome with a 69-61 comeback victory.

It was the fourth straight win over UNC (19-5, 9-2), and ended the Tar Heels’ seven-game winning streak as Virginia’s big three of Guy, De’Andre Hunter and Ty Jerome helped the Wahoos storm back.

It didn’t look good midway through the second half, as Virginia missed 8 of its first 10 shots and went scoreless for 4½ minutes, while the Heels used a 17-3 run to go from trailing by eight to leading by six, 49-43, with just over 12 minutes to play.

Five minutes later, down 55-48, the Cavaliers started to get back to their game and slowly chip away. Guy jump-started a quick 9-2 spurt with a long ball, his third of the night, before Jerome rattled off six straight to tie the game at 57-all with 5:02 to go on a tough high-arching drive off the glass.

A Wahoo defensive stand led to Carolina freshman point guard Coby White’s heave from the timeline that appeared to swish through and beat the shot clock, but the play was reviewed and waived off, as the ball was still in White’s hands as the red light lit up the backboard and the horn sounded, leaving the game knotted up at 59-apiece with 3½ minutes remaining.

It was pretty much all Wahoos from there.

On the ensuing trip, Hunter made a heads-up pass out of a drive to the hole while double-teamed, finding Jay Huff for the go-ahead bucket — it was his only one of the game, but it was a big one, giving the ‘Hoos the lead for good.

After an important steal by Huff on the other end, Guy streaked to the corner and sank an open triple with just under two minutes to go to push the lead to five.

Garrison Brooks cleaned up a miss on the next possession 20 seconds later, and that turned out to be the last basket of the night for the Heels.

Guy put the icing on the cake as he was fouled on another dagger 3 with 1:10 to play. He didn’t connect on the freebie, but his gritty, timely basket gave the ‘Hoos a two-possession lead and left the Heels scrambling in the waning moments.

UNC made just one of its final 11 shots — and missed all five of its 3-point attempts — over the last four minutes of the contest.

The Heels shot 35 percent for the game (23 for 65) and 30 percent from downtown (9 for 30). UNC grabbed 41 rebounds (18 offensive), a dozen more than the Cavaliers (29).

White finished with 17 points to lead Carolina, while Cameron Johnson had 16 points and 7 boards, and Brooks added 12 and 8 rebounds. Senior All-ACC First-Teamer Luke Maye was shut down, scoring just 4 points on 2-for-10 shooting after averaging 23.7 points over his last three games.

UVA was 53 percent from the field (24 of 45) and 55 percent from deep (11 of 20), committing double-digit giveaways (10) for the fourth straight game.

Hunter (7-10 FG, 3-3 3PT) and Guy (7-13, 5-9) each put up 20 points to lead all scorers. Guy’s total gave him 1,078 career points, propelling him ahead of Gene Engel (1961-63) up to 44th on the school’s career scoring list. His five 3-pointers moved him past Sammy Zeglinski (2008-12) into seventh place on the UVA career triples list with 202 makes.

Jerome (5-9, 2-3) added 15 points and 11 assists, one shy of his career high set against Virginia Tech earlier this season.

Kihei Clark got the start in place of Mamadi Diakite and nabbed 3 steals, all in the opening half, finishing with just 3 points on 1-for-4 shooting. Diakite, who knocked heads with Hunter two days ago against Duke and didn’t return, came off the bench Monday to score 6 important points and swat away 4 Carolina shots, matching his career high, in 23 minutes.

The Cavaliers return to action Saturday at John Paul Jones Arena at 2 p.m. against Notre Dame.