No. 19 North Carolina vs. No. 3 Virginia, 7 p.m. ESPN
Virginia managed to get past Florida State, 58-44, on Thursday in the ACC tournament quarterfinals for the second straight year and now face North Carolina on Friday in the semifinals. The Tar Heels downed Louisville, 70-60.
In the win over FSU, Virginia built a 17-point lead by halftime but saw the 'Noles cut it down to five twice before pulling back ahead by double digits. The defense was fantastic one again, holding Xavier Rathan-Mayes to 13 points and the team to 44 points after holding FSU to 41 points in the regular-season meeting this season. Evan Nolte hit all three of his 3s and finished with 11 points while Malcolm Brogdon scored 10 points, all after halftime, and Mike Tobey had a nice game with 11 points and six rebounds. Justin Anderson surprised probably everybody but himself and returned to the court but played just 12 minutes and was 0 for 2. The most notable thing that happened with him in the game was when he went up for a dunk and it was blocked, he took a hard tumble to the floor but seemed to be ok on the bench and even returned to the game.
North Carolina has a great resume overall, and is firmly in the NCAA tournament, but has stumbled a bit down the stretch, with just one win over a tournament team since a Jan. 14 win over N.C. State, which is expected to make the tournament. But since that win, the Tar Heels' only a victory over a tournament team was, in my opinion, Thursday against Louisville. They beat Miami since Jan. 14, but I don't think the Hurricanes will be making the tourney after their last-gasp loss to Notre Dame in the tournament quarterfinals.
You could say something similar about Virginia. It has only really played two tournament teams since beating UNC on Feb. 2, Louisville twice and N.C. State, splitting the meetings with Louisville and beating N.C. State. In the first Louisville game, Justin Anderson hurt his finger. Since then, there is no doubt Virginia's offense has suffered, but the team has not dropped any games to teams not worthy of inclusion in the NCAA tournament.
The Cavaliers' win at UNC was by a score of 75-64 and the Wahoos have not scored more than 70 points since, touching that mark in beating Wake but mostly scoring in the 50s after that game, representing the offensive push that Anderson provided. In that regular-season meeting, the junior guard had 16 points and made 3 of 5 3s. Malcolm Brogdon led the team with 17 points, London Perrantes had his second-best game of the year with 15, and Anthony Gill had 13. Virginia made five 3s in the game. For North Carolina, Marcus Paige had 15, Brice Johnson tallied 14, and Kennedy Meeks had 11.
Thursday against Louisville, Johnson had 22, Paige scored 13, Justin Jackson had 10, and Kennedy Meeks, fighting off an illness, did not start but scored nine points in 19 minutes.
Obviously, I think that UVa will have to play better defense in this game than the game in Chapel Hill, because I doubt the Cavs can score 70-some points again. UNC's 'D' is not the best, but I just can't see UVa scoring a lot of points against a top-25 team right now -- unless Anderson gets his swagger back really quickly. It didn't appear he was ready to do that against the Seminoles. A solid contribution from Anderson could go a long way in helping the Wahoos pick up this win.
Without him, this game figures to be close, and UNC might even have the edge. However, when the going gets tough, I think Virginia is just more of a hard-nosed team than UNC is and that will factor in down the stretch. Keep in mind this is UNC's third game in three days and only UVa's second so that could make a difference as well. Keep an eye on the refs, too; it seemed as if UVa couldn't breathe without picking up a foul in the second half against FSU. A similarly called ballgame Friday could swing things toward the Tar Heels, who will probably be represented by a large contingent of fans. I'm not saying the refs will favor UNC, but that is always something to keep an eye on in Greensboro.
Gut feeling: Virginia wins by 1-5.
Virginia managed to get past Florida State, 58-44, on Thursday in the ACC tournament quarterfinals for the second straight year and now face North Carolina on Friday in the semifinals. The Tar Heels downed Louisville, 70-60.
In the win over FSU, Virginia built a 17-point lead by halftime but saw the 'Noles cut it down to five twice before pulling back ahead by double digits. The defense was fantastic one again, holding Xavier Rathan-Mayes to 13 points and the team to 44 points after holding FSU to 41 points in the regular-season meeting this season. Evan Nolte hit all three of his 3s and finished with 11 points while Malcolm Brogdon scored 10 points, all after halftime, and Mike Tobey had a nice game with 11 points and six rebounds. Justin Anderson surprised probably everybody but himself and returned to the court but played just 12 minutes and was 0 for 2. The most notable thing that happened with him in the game was when he went up for a dunk and it was blocked, he took a hard tumble to the floor but seemed to be ok on the bench and even returned to the game.
North Carolina has a great resume overall, and is firmly in the NCAA tournament, but has stumbled a bit down the stretch, with just one win over a tournament team since a Jan. 14 win over N.C. State, which is expected to make the tournament. But since that win, the Tar Heels' only a victory over a tournament team was, in my opinion, Thursday against Louisville. They beat Miami since Jan. 14, but I don't think the Hurricanes will be making the tourney after their last-gasp loss to Notre Dame in the tournament quarterfinals.
You could say something similar about Virginia. It has only really played two tournament teams since beating UNC on Feb. 2, Louisville twice and N.C. State, splitting the meetings with Louisville and beating N.C. State. In the first Louisville game, Justin Anderson hurt his finger. Since then, there is no doubt Virginia's offense has suffered, but the team has not dropped any games to teams not worthy of inclusion in the NCAA tournament.
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| Justin Anderson returned for Virginia against FSU but was a non-factor. Now facing North Carolina in the ACC tourney semifinals, a god game from Anderson could go a long way in helping the Cavaliers win. |
The Cavaliers' win at UNC was by a score of 75-64 and the Wahoos have not scored more than 70 points since, touching that mark in beating Wake but mostly scoring in the 50s after that game, representing the offensive push that Anderson provided. In that regular-season meeting, the junior guard had 16 points and made 3 of 5 3s. Malcolm Brogdon led the team with 17 points, London Perrantes had his second-best game of the year with 15, and Anthony Gill had 13. Virginia made five 3s in the game. For North Carolina, Marcus Paige had 15, Brice Johnson tallied 14, and Kennedy Meeks had 11.
Thursday against Louisville, Johnson had 22, Paige scored 13, Justin Jackson had 10, and Kennedy Meeks, fighting off an illness, did not start but scored nine points in 19 minutes.
Obviously, I think that UVa will have to play better defense in this game than the game in Chapel Hill, because I doubt the Cavs can score 70-some points again. UNC's 'D' is not the best, but I just can't see UVa scoring a lot of points against a top-25 team right now -- unless Anderson gets his swagger back really quickly. It didn't appear he was ready to do that against the Seminoles. A solid contribution from Anderson could go a long way in helping the Wahoos pick up this win.
Without him, this game figures to be close, and UNC might even have the edge. However, when the going gets tough, I think Virginia is just more of a hard-nosed team than UNC is and that will factor in down the stretch. Keep in mind this is UNC's third game in three days and only UVa's second so that could make a difference as well. Keep an eye on the refs, too; it seemed as if UVa couldn't breathe without picking up a foul in the second half against FSU. A similarly called ballgame Friday could swing things toward the Tar Heels, who will probably be represented by a large contingent of fans. I'm not saying the refs will favor UNC, but that is always something to keep an eye on in Greensboro.
Gut feeling: Virginia wins by 1-5.
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