Can Virginia keep its road magic at UNC on Saturday?

By Jerry Ratcliffe

With five games remaining in the regular season, Virginia has a difficult, but not impossible stretch coming up beginning Saturday afternoon at the Dean Dome in Chapel Hill (4 p.m., ESPN2).

The Tar Heels (16-11, 9-6 ACC, sixth place in the league, NET 45) are coming off their most impressive performance of the season, a 97-73 domination of rival NC State this past Wednesday. UVA (13-13, 6-9 ACC, tied-11th in the conference, NET 105), was demolished last time out, losing a lopsided game to No. 3 Duke. However, the Cavaliers did upset Virginia Tech on the road last Saturday.

UNC, a 10.5-point favorite, is still hoping to qualify for the NCAA Tournament, but has its work cut out, considering the Heels are 1-10 against Quad 1 opponents. They can’t afford a home loss to Virginia, so Carolina is expected to bring the same kind of intensity to the Dean E. Smith Center that it did against the Wolfpack earlier in the week.

That’s when Carolina made 57.4 percent of its field-goal attempts, its highest number in an ACC game this season. The Tar Heels also posted season highs in rebounds (40-21), points in the paint (52-26) and second-chance points (21) vs. State.

R.J. Davis set the pace for UNC in the game, scoring 21 points. The 6-foot-7 Davis is averaging 17.5 points per game.

Where the Tar Heels have been most vulnerable for the majority of the season has been in the frontcourt that features 6-10 Jalen Washington (UVA fans will remember him from a couple of seasons when he replaced Armando Bacot early in the game and enjoyed a good first-half performance), 6-8 Ven-Allen Lubin and Jae’Lyn Withers.

Virginia, which has improved in the frontcourt (Duke game was the recent exception), has started Blake Buchanan and Jacob Cofie in the frontcourt and brought in a physical 6-10 Anthony Robinson and former starter Elijah Saunders off the bench.

Saunders has slowly recovered from a lower leg injury and clocked 23 minutes against Duke, albeit not one of his better nights (7 points, 4 of those free throws, 3 rebounds). Robinson, on the other hand, has come on strong, and has Wahoo fans clamoring for him to replace Buchanan in the starting lineup because of his physical presence.

Regardless of who starts, UVA coach Ron Sanchez can throw all four of his big men at the Tar Heels in hopes of finding an advantage in the matchups.

The Cavaliers may need to rely on their perimeter shooting to steal a road victory in Chapel Hill, where Virginia has experienced very little success outside of the Tony Bennett era. UVA is 9-68 all-time in Chapel Hill and 7-26 at the Dean Dome, most of those wins coming during Bennett’s 15-year career.

Virginia ranks 26th nationally in 3-point shooting percentage (37.6) and has made 10 or more triples in six of its last eight games. Isaac McKneely leads the way with a 13.7 points-per-game average and also leads the Cavaliers in 3-pointers (82) and 3-point percentage (42.3). McKneely needs only 16 points to become Virginia’s next 1,000-points career scorer.

Sophomore guard Dai Dai Ames has come on strong over the past five games, averaging 16.4 points per game during that stretch. He’s making 40 percent of his 3-point attempts.

Following the Carolina game, Virginia travels to Wake Forest on Wednesday (9 p.m. start), which will be the Cavaliers’ third road game over its last four outings.

ACC Saturday Schedule

Florida State at Louisville, Noon (The CW Network)
Wake Forest at NC State, 2 p.m. (ESPN2)
Georgia Tech at Boston College, 2 p.m. (ACC Network)
Pitt at Notre Dame, 2:15 p.m. (The CW Network)
Virginia at North Carolina, 4 p.m. (ESPN)
Clemson at SMU, 4 p.m. (ACC Network)
Virginia Tech at Miami, 6 p.m. (ACC Network)
Duke at Illinois, 8 p.m. (FOX)
California at Stanford, 10 p.m. (ESPN2)