Poor shooting hurts Cavaliers in 63-43 loss to UNC in ACC quarterfinals

By Scott Ratcliffe

It was a long night for Virginia fans Thursday, as they saw their beloved Cavaliers struggle mightily on the offensive end and North Carolina roll to a 63-43 win in the ACC Tournament quarterfinals in Brooklyn, in a game that was never really close.

The sixth-seeded Wahoos (19-13) stumbled out of the gate and just couldn’t put the ball in the basket, trailing by double digits throughout the majority of the contest. Virginia, which shot a season-low 35 percent (18 of 52) from the field Thursday, is now 2-5 all-time against UNC in the ACC quarterfinals.

The third-seeded Tar Heels (24-8) will face No. 7 seed Virginia Tech in Friday’s second semifinal. Carolina All-ACC First-Teamer Armando Bacot, who put up 29 points and 22 rebounds in the lone regular-season meeting between the longtime rivals on Jan. 8 in Chapel Hill, didn’t have anywhere near that type of production Thursday night, but he didn’t need to.

Oklahoma transfer Brady Manek lit up the Barclays Center nets, pouring in 19 of his game-high 21 points in the first half to lead the charge, as Virginia’s slim NCAA Tournament chances took a major hit.

The Hoos scored more points in the first 10 minutes of the second half (16) than they did the entire first half (13), as Kihei Clark’s 3-pointer with 10:37 to play only cut the Carolina lead to 20, 49-29. UVA got within 19 points on a pair of Jayden Gardner free throws with 6:36 to go, but that’s as close as it would get.

Gardner led the Cavaliers with 17 points, as he was the only Virginia player to reach double figures (Kadin Shedrick had 8, Clark had 7, Armaan Franklin had 5). Reece Beekman finished with 3 points, 4 rebounds, 5 assists, 3 steals and 2 blocks.

Bacot couldn’t get it going early on, but recorded 10 points, a game-high 11 rebounds, 2 blocks and 3 steals, while Caleb Love added 10 points and 5 assists and R.J. Davis had 8 points, 8 rebounds and a game-best 6 assists, as Carolina shot 39 percent (25 for 65) for the game and 26 percent from downtown (6 for 23), outrebounding Virginia, 46-32.

FIRST HALF

For the second night in a row, it took over three minutes for the Hoos to put points on the board, but Gardner followed a pair of Franklin free throws with a tough move inside to give Virginia an early 4-2 lead.

The Heels answered with back-to-back buckets, but Beekman put the Cavaliers back in front with the team’s first 3-pointer of the tournament, and UVA led 7-6 at the first TV break with 15:12 on the clock.

The Hoos did a good job containing Bacot early on, as he missed his first three shot attempts. Gardner’s jumper at the 13-minute mark knotted the score at 9-all, but Manek responded with his second 3-pointer of the half.

Bacot swatted a Francisco Caffaro shot and then slammed it home in transition for his first basket, as the Heels scored seven unanswered to lead, 16-9, at the midway point of the half.

Caffaro redeemed himself moments later, blocking Bacot on the other end, but Virginia missed six-straight shots and went over three minutes without scoring until Gardner sank one out of a timeout with 9:40 left.

Manek gave Carolina a 21-11 lead with his third triple before Shedrick’s putback slam of a Beekman miss with 6:15 remaining. UNC stretched its lead to a dozen, 25-13, with a Manek jumper, followed by a Davis tip-in of his own miss to cap a 16-4 run as the clock went under four minutes.

It only got worse from there, as the Heels tacked on eight more points and went into the locker room with a comfortable 33-13 lead. The Hoos didn’t score for the final 6:15 of the half, missing their last seven attempts from the field and shooting just 19 percent (5 for 27) across the opening 20 minutes.

Virginia’s 13 points marked the lowest-scoring first half of an ACC Tournament game in the shot-clock era (since 1985-86).

Bacot only had 2 points on 1-of-6 shooting in the half, but his teammates, particularly Manek, picked up the slack — Manek outscored UVA by himself, 19-13.

Box Score

Team Notes

Courtesy UVA Media Relations

• The Cavaliers fell to 19-13
• UVA’s 43 points were its fewest at the ACC Tournament since scoring 41 vs. Duke in a first round contest in 1998
• The 20-point loss was UVA’s largest at the ACC Tournament since a 37-point loss vs. Duke in a first round contest in 1999
• UVA’s 34.6 percent field goal shooting marked a season low
• UVA’s 13 first half points were its lowest in a half since scoring 13 in a first half win vs. William & Mary on Dec. 5, 1984
• UVA shot less than 20 percent in a half (5 of 27 for 18.5%) for the first time since shooting 18.4 percent (5 of 22) vs. California on Dec. 22, 2015
• UNC outrebounded UVA 46-32, including 25-18 en route to its 33-13 halftime lead
• UVA is 26-37 mark in the ACC Tournament quarterfinals
• UVA head coach Tony Bennett is 13-9 in the ACC Tournament
• UVA is 9-2 all-time at Barclays Center
• UVA is 3-1 on neutral courts in 2021-22

Series Notes

• UVA is 60-133 all-time vs. North Carolina in the series that began in 1910-11
• UVA is 4-14 all-time against the Tar Heels at the ACC Tournament, including a 2-5 mark in the quarterfinal round
• UNC defeated Virginia 74-58 during the regular season on Jan. 8 in Chapel Hill.
• Bennett is 12-10 all-time vs. North Carolina, including a loss as head coach of Washington State in the 2008 NCAA Sweet 16
• Bennett is 1-2 vs. UNC in ACC Tournament action.

Player Notes

• Double Figure Scorers: Jayden Gardner (17)
• Gardner reached double figures for the 26th time (100th career)
• Reece Beekman (3 steals) has at least one steal in 29 of 32 games

UP NEXT

The Hoos will await word on their postseason fate as the NCAA Tournament and NIT brackets are announced Sunday evening.