Stopping Bacot is high priority for Virginia in tonight’s big battle with visiting Carolina

By Jerry Ratcliffe

Virginia will likely throw everything — including the kitchen sink — at Carolina big man Armando Bacot in tonight’s ACC showdown at soldout John Paul Jones Arena (9 p.m., ESPN). But will it be enough?

In a big-time setting, attracting legendary broadcaster Dick Vitale for the first time since his successful bout with cancer, this game should give both programs an indication of where they stand and what’s necessary for them to live up to preseason expectations.

The Tar Heels, preseason No. 1 and with practically its entire team returning from last year’s national championship loss to Kansas, have struggled to an 11-5 record against a challenging schedule (UNC is 3-2 in ACC play), particularly on the road. Virginia climbed as high as No. 2 nationally a few weeks ago before losing to high-calibre Houston, and stands at 11-3, also against a challenging schedule. (UVA is also 3-2 in the league).

See a complete breakdown and statistical comparison of the teams, standings and more in our Wahoo Preview.

Bacot is an imposing 6-foot-11, 235-pound figure from Richmond, who leads the ACC in both scoring (18.8) and rebounding (11.2) per game. Last year, he absolutely demolished Virginia in the lone regular season meeting in Chapel Hill (29 points, 22 rebounds) as the Tar Heels dominated UVA. In the postseason rematch, an ACC Tournament quarterfinals game in Brooklyn, UNC again embarrassed Virginia, which only scored 13 points in the first half and finished with 43, the lowest by a Cavaliers team in the tournament since 1998.

In that rematch, UVA somewhat controlled Bacot, limiting him to 10 points (5 of 12) and 11 rebounds, but Carolina won by 20, sending the Cavaliers to the NIT.

Certainly one of the keys tonight will be containing Bacot, who in five career games against UVA has averaged 13 points and 12 rebounds. He is capable of taking over the game down low if the Cavaliers can’t build a wall around him.

Doing so is easier said than done. Bacot draws around seven fouls a game on average, which shows the kind of damage he can cause in the post.

Part of Tony Bennett’s philosophy in the “Pack Line” defense is to not allow an opposing big man to beat you, and that usually results in doubling the post.

The strategy will likely require the combined efforts of 6-11 Kadin Shedrick, 7-1 Francisco Caffaro, 6-6 Jayden Gardner and 6-8  Ben Vander Plas all helping against Bacot most every time the ball goes inside.

“It’s never a one-on-one matchup, all the time,” Bennett said of Shedrick faced with the challenge of defending Bacot. “It’s going to have to be our team defense [Bacot], but you just want to try to stay out of picking up any foolish fouls or unnecessary ones.

“It takes incredible disciplined position defensively, to not pick up fouls, and [Bacot] can create contact, so it’s a matter of trying to be in great position and to have the right kind of help.”

Bacot, who was the preseason favorite to repeat as ACC Player of the Year, has had to grow his game in the face of attracting so many double teams, something UNC coach Hubert Davis pointed out this week.

Davis said Carolina has worked with Bacot in practice on passing the ball effectively when he is double-teamed on post traps.

“We have worked on him getting more comfortable in handling double-teams, where the help is coming from, working extremely hard before he gets the ball, so that he can catch the ball closer to the basket where he can do something before a double-team comes, and I think those are things that have improved this year, and specifically he’s improved since he came back after missing the Virginia Tech game,” Davis said of his big man. “He’s running the floor better, working harder to post up and get the position that he wants.

“Not only is he more comfortable passing the ball out of the post, I think he’s become a better passer. I don’t think Armando would have felt comfortable doing that at the beginning of the year, and so that’s definitely an area that he’s getting better at distributing the ball, and I’m really proud of him and his growth in that area.”

Last year, when UVA somewhat contained Bacot in the matchup, Carolina’s perimeter shooters killed the Cavaliers, specifically the now-departed senior Brady Manek, a hired gun from Oklahoma. UNC brought in Pete Nance to take Manek’s place, but Nance doesn’t own the perimeter game to match, plus is questionable for tonight’s game.

Davis said Monday that it would be a game-time decision on Nance, who is suffering back issues.

Meanwhile, don’t be surprised if the Tar Heels chose 6-8 Leaky Black to again defend UVA point guard Kihei Clark, a successful strategy Carolina used in Brooklyn last March. Clark, giving away a lot of size to Black, was only 3 for 6 shooting in that matchup, while Black prohibited Clark to distribute the ball and get Virginia’s offense set in his normal fashion.

One of the keys, should that occur, will be UVA’s other point guard, Reece Beekman, who has the ability to straight line drive the Tar Heels, who are vulnerable in that department. However, it will require Beekman to become more aggressive than normal and take charge the way that Bennett has encouraged.