Tale of the Tape: Virginia at North Carolina

Virginia will be shooting for its first regular-season sweep of longtime conference rival North Carolina in 18 years tonight when the two teams clash at 8 p.m. at the Dean Dome.

The Cavaliers (16-7, 8-5 ACC) have won five meetings in a row and seven of the last eight regular-season matchups against the struggling, injury-plagued Tar Heels (10-14, 3-10), who have dropped their last four contests overall and nine of their last 11.

The Wahoos claimed Round 1 over the Heels at JPJ in early December, 56-47. At the time, both teams were ranked in the top 10. Needless to say, both teams have experienced a few bumps in the road since.

Heading into Saturday’s action, Virginia ranks 51st overall according to KenPom (3rd AdjD, 250th AdjO), while the Heels are at No. 95 (73rd AdjD, 142nd AdjO). In the latest NCAA NET Rankings, UVA is No. 56, UNC is No. 95.

The ‘Hoos can take another significant step towards a possible top-four seed and double-bye in next month’s ACC Tournament in Greensboro with a win tonight. Virginia sits alone in fourth place with a one-game lead over NC State and Syracuse, both 7-6 in league play entering the weekend.

UNC’s Roy Williams would probably love to fast-forward to next season when he’ll be acquiring four McDonald’s High School All-Americans, but the legendary coach has stated publicly that neither he nor his team will give up on the current campaign. The Heels gave a top-10 Duke team all it could handle a few weeks back, but suffered a heartbreaking defeat in overtime and are essentially down to seven healthy scholarship players.

Star point guard Cole Anthony (19.5 ppg, 6.7 rpg, 3.5 apg) is back in the mix after missing 11 games in the middle of the season, and big man Garrison Brooks is one of the guys who has stepped up his play offensively in Anthony’s absence.

Brooks, a 6-foot-9, 235-pound junior, has scored in double figures in 13 of his last 15 games, with nine double-doubles during that stretch.

Another Carolina freshman, forward Armando Bacot, wasn’t at 100 percent the first go-round in December, but unexpectedly suited up and scored 11 points in 25 minutes. Bacot has posted double-figures scoring in eight of his last 10 contests.

Charleston Southern transfer Christian Keeling has put up double-digit points in each of his last three games after doing so only once over his previous 21 games as a Tar Heel, in the absence of starter Brandon Robinson, who was lost to injury on Feb. 1.

Leaky Black, Andrew Platek and William & Mary transfer Justin Pierce are also important pieces in Coach Williams’ game plan.

Virginia returns home for a rematch with Boston College Wednesday (8 p.m., ACC Network) after the Eagles prevailed with the upset in Chestnut Hill last month.

Player Stats

As of Feb. 15