By Jerry Ratcliffe
Ryan Odom wasn’t pleased with how the Cavaliers ended the first half, particularly defensively. Even a halftime talk didn’t solve the problem as North Carolina surged to open the second half.
UVA blew a 16-point lead in the final two minutes of the first half with the visiting, underdog Tar Heels nailing back-to-back 3’s to change the momentum. Trailing 43-34 at the break, it took Carolina only five minutes out of the locker room to whittle the Cavaliers’ lead to 3 points.
Eventually, 14th-ranked Virginia’s defensive effort imploded, particularly in transition, leading to an 85-80 upset loss to the Heels in a Top 25 matchup on Saturday.
It was UVA’s (16-3, 5-2) first home loss of the season, ending an 11-game winning streak at John Paul Jones Arena.
As Odom pointed out, ultimately, Virginia scored 80 points for the 14th time in 19 games this season. Usually that leads to victory. Not this time.
Not when No. 22 Carolina shot 63 percent in the second half (19 for 30) and scored 19 points off 11 Cavalier turnovers, and beat the brakes off UVA in transition, producing 21 fast-break points.
All that in spite of Odom’s team dominating the glass by a whopping 44-28, winning the paint 40-34 and outscoring UNC in second-chance points 17-7, off 16 offensive rebounds.
“Our transition defense was not where it needed to be throughout the entire night,” Odom bemoaned. “The defensive intensity was not where we needed it to be. In general, a poor defensive performance overall.”
Odom directly pointed to the end of the first half and the start of the second as “killers.”
After the Wahoos had dominated the Tar Heels the first 18 minutes of the game, they took their foot off the gas and gave Carolina what it needed most, an escape route.
Remember what Hemingway wrote … never leave a wounded lion. That’s exactly what Virginia did, leading 43-27 with 124 seconds left in the first half, and didn’t finish the job.
Carolina hit back-to-back 3-pointers in the final 55 seconds, cutting UVA’s lead to 43-34.
“Killer,” said Odom afterward. “Seven [points] to one (over the last 2:04 of the half).”
Carolina’s Hubert Davis, whose team had won only once on the road this season, couldn’t have agreed more.
“That was big,” Davis said of the triples. “I think we were down 15 (actually 16), then Luke (Bogavac) hit a 3, and then Derek (Dixon) hit a 3. So, I think going into the half only down by nine was a huge momentum. That was huge.”
The Heels (16-4, 4-3) didn’t allow the flame to burn out during the break. They hit three triples in the first four minutes out of the locker room, and along with a couple of free throws by sure-fire NBA lottery pick Caleb Wilson, Carolina had clawed its way back to 54-51 within the first five minutes. By the 12-minute mark, UNC had its first lead, 59-58, on a Jarin Stevenson dunk.
Virginia fought back to lead 69-67 and would lead again at 74-72 with 3:51 to play, but that was it.
Carolina, which scored an eye-popping 51 points in the second half, went on a 9-0 run, led 81-74 and never looked back.
Stevenson, who Virginia attempted to recruit out of high school before he signed with Alabama, then later transferred to Chapel Hill, scored all of his 17 points in the second half (6 for 9 FG, 2 for 4 on 3’s), one of five Heels in double figures, led by Wilson with 20.
Davis used that late, first-half surge to his advantage during his halftime address to his team.
“I think Virginia’s physicality overwhelmed us in the first half,” Davis shared. “I told [the team], the only road, the only route is you raise both those fists, you start swinging. You’ve got to compete. If you want to win this game, it’s going to be won in the trenches, making tough plays on both ends of the floor.”
Other than the final couple of minutes, Odom was fairly pleased with the Cavaliers. They were doing almost everything right, although the defensive slippages were a tale-tell sign things could go sideways.
While Carolina was preaching aggression during halftime, Virginia sleepwalked.
“We did not come out with a fire on the defensive side of the ball to make things harder for them,” Odom said.
The Thijs De Ridder vs. Wilson matchup was an entertaining sidebar as the two essentially were a standoff, 20 points each while playing prominent roles, but De Ridder didn’t get as much help from his teammates with only three other Cavaliers in double figures: Malik Thomas, Sam Lewis and Chance Mallory all with 11 points each.
For game story, box score, video highlights, team and player notebooks, ACC standings, UVA schedule, click here. Also, check out award-winning photographer Jon Golden’s photo gallery of the game, also on this site.
