Wahoo Preview: No. 6 Virginia at North Carolina

By Scott Ratcliffe

Longtime rivals Virginia and North Carolina will lock horns for the second time this season on Saturday at 6 p.m. in Chapel Hill, with the home team desperately needing a win to help its postseason aspirations.

The Cavaliers (21-5, 13-4 ACC) had their four-game win streak snapped on Wednesday at Boston College, dropping them out of first place in the league standings with just over a week left in the regular season. UVA shot just 32 percent from the field (19 for 59) and 19 percent from downtown (4 for 21) in the 63-48 loss to the Eagles, in arguably its poorest overall performance of the season.

If the Wahoos are to cling onto any remaining hopes of reclaiming the top spot by next Saturday, they simply can’t afford another loss. Both first-place Miami and Pitt — which UVA is tied with for second — defeated the Cavaliers this season, and therefore own any tiebreaker in such a scenario. If the Hoos aren’t careful, they could fall out of the top four and let their double-bye in the ACC Tournament slip away.

The Tar Heels (17-11, 9-8), meanwhile, losers of five of their last seven games, are firmly on “the bubble.” Currently in a three-way tie for 7th place in the conference, UNC is hoping to avoid falling into 10th (or worse) and having to play an extra game in Greensboro on Tuesday.

In the NCAA NET rankings — which nobody involved in the sport seems to understand how they work — Carolina is 0-9 against Quad-1 opponents in 2022-23, and could use a signature win (or two, or five) to boost its resume after falling all the way out of the rankings from its preseason No. 1 status.

It has been another season full of ups and downs for Hubert Davis in his second year at the helm at his alma mater. Not many people thought the Heels would qualify for last year’s Big Dance, and they wound up in the national championship game.

This year’s sputtering UNC team seems even less likely to pull off a similar feat, or anything close to it, but if a borderline team catches fire heading into the end of February, knocks off a quality opponent or two and stays hot, good things tend to happen in terms of postseason chances.

Along those lines, the Cavaliers could use a good shot in the arm themselves as they look to get back on track after three-straight subpar performances against inferior competition. UVA will be looking for a sweep of the Tar Heels after claiming the first meeting in Charlottesville on Jan. 10, 65-58.

The main storyline in the initial episode was that Carolina played nearly the entire contest without reigning ACC Player of the Year Armando Bacot, who turned his ankle in the opening minutes and didn’t return.

The 6-foot-11, 235-pound Richmond native tore the Cavalier defense to shreds last season when fully healthy, putting up 19.5 points and 16.5 rebounds in the Heels’ two wins over the Hoos.

He is averaging 17.3 points and 11.1 rebounds per game, and has posted nine more double-doubles (in 11 games) since returning from the injury.

Virginia’s “small-ball” starting lineup, which features the mismatch advantage of 6-8 Ben Vander Plas at the 5-spot in favor of 6-11 rim protector Kadin Shedrick down low, has not been nearly as effective of late, and simply put, Bacot could have another field day if and when Shedrick’s not on the floor.

Carolina 6-11 grad transfer Pete Nance (Northwestern) was also not available the first time around against the Cavaliers, as he was dealing with back issues. Nance is back in the lineup, and will provide another big body for the Wahoo defense to worry about in the paint. In his 10 games since returning from injury, Nance is averaging 7.8 points and 6.1 rebounds.

The explosive backcourt duo of Caleb Love (17.1 ppg) and R.J. Davis (15.6 ppg) is capable of going off in the scoring column on any given day, while defensive specialist Leaky Black (7.1 ppg, 6.5 rpg, 1.4 spg) rounds out the starting five.

Carolina is a 4.5-point favorite to prevail against the Hoos as of Saturday morning, according to Caesars Sportsbook. For more on the matchup, you can read Hootie’s pregame column here, or check out a pair of Jerry Ratcliffe Show podcasts. To get the inside scoop on the Heels, click here as Hootie chats with Carolina insider Andrew Jones of Tar Heel Illustrated. For the UVA spin, click here to hear Hootie and Chris Graham of the Augusta Free Press discussing the loss to Boston College, and what the Cavaliers need to do to right the ship before March Madness gets underway.