Already without one big man in Pete Nance, North Carolina lost its top player, Armando Bacot, early at No. 13 Virginia and couldn’t stop the Cavaliers in the second half on the way to a 65-58 loss. (1/10)
Bacot left with an ankle injury 1:19 into the game and never returned. Jalen Washington stepped into his shoes and did well for a while, scoring 12 on the way to Carolina 29-27 lead at the half. Washington scored just one point the rest of the way.
Carolina led by as many as nine in the first half after Leaky Black hit a three from the left corner to give the Heels a 24-15 lead with less than four minutes left in the first half. UNC led UVA from the 9:32 mark of the first half until the 12:50 mark of the second half when Ben Vander Plas drained a three from the top of the key for a 42-40 Virginia lead.
The Tar Heels never led again as the Cavaliers extended the lead to as many as 10 points at 52-42 with nine minutes to play.
Caleb Love, who returned to his poor-shooting ways, managed to get hot down the stretch with three three-pointers that pulled the Heels to 61-58 with a minute to play. But then Love’s man, Reece Beekman, blew past him for a dunk and then Love threw an inbounds pass away and Vander Plas dunked it to put the game out of reach.
Love had been 0 of 6 from beyond the arc before the three-late triples. He scored 13 points but hit only four of 13 shots. R.J. Davis, who picked up three fouls in the first half, led the Tar Heels with 16 points.
Despite being without Bacot and Nance, Carolina looked to have a good chance to win after the Heels held Virginia to shooting 37.5 percent in the first half, including just two of 11 from three-point land.
But the Cavaliers got hot in the second half, going on a 17-2 run and shooting 54 percent from the field, including four of eight from the three-point line.
Carolina outrebounded Virginia 36-32 but were beat on points in the paint, 32-20. Also, UNC’s 13 turnovers led to 19 Cavalier points.
UNC coach Hubert Davis said Carolina let too many guys get past them on defense for easy shots while not getting to enough loose balls.
“On the offensive end, we had the shots, opportunities,” he said. “We just weren’t good enough tonight.”
Virginia, now 12-3 overall and 4-2 in the ACC, was led by Vander Plas’ 17 points.
Carolina, now 11-6 overall and 3-3 in the conference, plays at Louisville on Saturday at 2 p.m.
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