Huff goes for double-double as Wahoos capture seventh straight win — easily — over Tar Heels

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No. 9 Virginia 60, North Carolina 48

Jay Huff totaled 18 points, 12 rebounds, and four blocks, and No. 9 Virginia picked up another ho-hum win over North Carolina on Saturday at John Paul Jones Arena.

After a scoreless first three and a half minutes for the Cavaliers (15-3, 11-1 ACC), in which the Tar Heels (12-7, 7-5) also only managed 2 points, UVa catapulted itself to a 21-4 lead and mostly cruised from there, as UNC was able to cut the lead to 7 late in the first half but could get no closer.

With the score 22-15 with under five minutes left before the break, Sam Hauser hit a 3 to move the margin back to 10. Virginia took a 27-18 edge into the locker room.

In the second half, the Wahoos quickly built the lead to 14 after a Hauser 2-pointer and 3-pointer, and a Trey Murphy III two-handed dunk off a nice half-court pass from Reece Beekman (did someone say fast break?). After that point, UNC whittled the margin to 9 just twice, and two times in the last six minutes, Hauser and Murphy hit 3s that boosted the lead back to 14. On the other end after Murphy’s 3, Huff (below) blocked an Armando Bacot attempt under the basket, and the possession arrow went Virginia’s way after the tie-up.

“I thought a number of guys were solid,” Virginia coach Tony Bennett said. “It’s always a battle of kind of imposing your will or systems against them, so I liked how we had a level of patience and movement offensively, that helped us, and then we didn’t give up too many easy breakdowns. A couple at the rim but not too many.”

It was Virginia’s seventh straight victory in the series, and it has won 10 of the past 13 meetings against North Carolina dating to the 2013-14 season (start of the Peak Bennett Era). This is the Cavaliers’ longest string of wins in the rivalry since taking the first eight games from 1911-16. Incredibly, the Tar Heels still have won 68.6% of the teams’ matchups, holding a 131-60 record.

But right now, it is commonplace for Bennett’s ‘Hoos to beat Roy Williams’ Tar Heels.

Virginia and North Carolina fans on social media reacting to the win realized that UVa is now expected to defeat North Carolina. Virginia supporters of a certain age of course remember when any victory against the Heels was cause for a massive celebration.

For myself, I am 33, and growing up and even while I was at UVa, it was always a big deal to defeat UNC, and if it happened once out of every four meetings, I felt pretty good. After this one, I did not even get a text from my dad.

So let’s just soak in this moment a little bit and try to not take it for granted, because it is easy to do that, right? I’m sure a mostly empty JPJ had something to do with it, but didn’t the game just seem to lack that little bit of hype that came with some of those UNC-UVa matchups from early in the Peak Bennett Era when it felt like our program was attempting to overtake their program? Now, it is about keeping our place above them; facing the Heels is not quite as much of a huge “event,” though certainly their bad record last season and good-but-not-great results this season play a part in that.

A majority of the past 13 meetings with North Carolina have ended up with similar storylines. UNC seems to usually have the same plan: bully the ‘Hoos inside with their bigs, and it often does not work. Virginia is ready. The Tar Heels’ post players are very good, especially on the boards, but they are traditional big men who are not able to step out and hit a 3-pointer. They aren’t very dynamic and don’t stretch the Pack Line. On the other side of the coin it is difficult for them to guard the perimeter. The Cavaliers often double the big men in the paint, hold their own on the glass, and make the guards beat them. Frustrated Carolina fans have noticed Williams’ stubbornness, inability, or apathy in employing a different strategy.

The story was the same Saturday as Virginia held its second straight opponent to fewer than 50 points. The Heels won the rebounding battle 39-32 and recorded only seven turnovers, but those positives were hardly noticeable because the Heels did not shoot well. In recent history, their guards almost never shoot well against the ‘Hoos. Rarely over the past several years has UNC been able to beat UVa simply because it has more star talent.

“You can see how big and physical Carolina is, and they got a few offensive rebounds, but we tried to be attentive to really try to block out and do the things that we thought were so important,” Bennett said. “[We trapped] when we could and then [we made] enough plays. I thought a number of guys were solid.”

UNC shot 34.5% from the field and 2 for 16 (12.5%) from beyond the arc. Much to the chagrin and disbelief of Tar Heels faithful, the Cavaliers mostly avoided fouling the Tar Heels, but it didn’t matter much anyway, because they couldn’t shoot free throws either: 6 for 12.

The Heels missed 10 of their first 11 shots when the game got away early.

“We needed to make some of those early shots, and it would’ve helped just to say the least,” Williams said.

One Carolina beat writer said after the contest that the Heels were 10 for 25 on layups.

“[That’s] extremely frustrating. We work on our post moves every single blessed day — hard — trying to get [our big men] to concentrate on the rim and not see the defensive players come,” Williams said in a way that only he can.

UVa wasn’t that much better on offense, especially on 2-pointers, where the Wahoos shot a pretty subpar 34.6%, but they did make up for it with great shooting from beyond the arc: 10 for 22 (45.5%). Not surprisingly, UNC did not do a good job of sticking with Huff, Hauser, or Murphy, all of whom made multiple treys.

Hauser went 4 for 6 on his way to 17 points, Huff made 3 of 5, and Murphy finished 2 for 3 and recorded 12 points. Tomas Woldetensae had four 3-point attempts, making one under heavy pressure that gave UVa its 21-4 advantage.

“I thought offensively, [Jay] could move and separate out to the [3-point line],” Bennett said. “You saw some of that early. It’s not like we were pounding it inside and going to work in the post but … offensively, we did what we needed to do. [Jay’s] length was good. He was in position, and he and Sam were really trying to block out. I thought Jay really had a nice game for us.”

Hauser added five rebounds, two assists, and a steal, Murphy tallied two steals and an assist, and Woldetensae posted two boards and an assist.

“[Tomas is] really playing within himself,” Bennett said. “He’s trying to find the open guys, taking the rhythm shots when they’re there, making some passes — he’s got a natural flair or feel for the game, and so when he can bring it with some soundness, that really, really helps.”

Virginia also did a good job of limiting turnovers, with only six. Kihei Clark was responsible for four of those, though he did make up for them somewhat with five assists, and he also added 6 points and two rebounds.

Beekman had a single point, but contributed eight rebounds, seven assists, and one steal, with just one turnover.

“Look at Reece’s stat line,” Bennett said. ” … In games like this, you need your guards to really come back and rebound, and I thought he did a good job with that.”

Casey Morsell scored for the first time in four games, slamming home a baseline dunk after Clark found him off lane penetration from the opposite wing. Morsell had one rebound as well.

Kadin Shedrick and Francisco Caffaro were expected to get several minutes to help with post defense. Last year, Caffaro got 21 minutes at home versus UNC and then 18 in the road matchup, while Justin McKoy saw 17 at JPJ last season. But Saturday, with only one foul each called on Huff and Hauser, Shedrick received just six minutes while Caffaro got only three. Caffaro made one free throw and recorded two boards, while Shedrick was just a foul magnet, picking up three.

The final score would’ve been uglier had Virginia shot its normal percentage at the line, but instead it went 12 for 19 (63.2%, nearly 20% below average).

Freshman Walker Kessler led North Carolina with 9 points. It was the first time in the shot clock era (1985-86 season) that UNC failed to have a double-figure scorer. According to GoHeels.com, the last time it occurred was way back in the 1966 ACC tournament versus Duke, when the Blue Devils beat the Heels 21-20. (Yes 21-20 in hoops, not football.)

Big men Armando Bacot (7 points, 10 rebounds) and Garrison Brooks (5 points, six boards) were solid but unspectacular. Freshman Day’Ron Sharpe tallied 6 points and seven rebounds off the bench. Freshman guard Kerwin Walton had 8 points, hitting both of UNC’s 3-pointers (2 of 6). Clark held freshman star Caleb Love to just 4 points, 2 of which he scored on the game’s first basket on a dunk after a sloppy pass and turnover from Beekman.

It was hard to pick a favorite statistic after the game, so here are a few:

“Well, I think our Georgia Tech defense was good, and I thought today was solid,” Bennett said of the Pack Line's progression in 2020-21. “When they struggled to make outside shots, hopefully we had something to do with it. That’s always the goal, just to make that opponent earn a quality shot like it’s got to be contested and the majority of them were. We won the majority of the possessions. And so, it looks better the last two games.”

Next up, Virginia has a quick turnaround and goes on the road for a 7 p.m. ESPN Big Monday matchup at No. 17 Florida State. The Seminoles (11-3, 7-2) are second in the conference and have won 22 consecutive ACC home games, tied for second all time with Duke (2001-04; Duke’s run of 26 wins in a row from 1997-2000 is No. 1). FSU did need overtime to beat lowly Wake Forest in Tallahassee on Saturday; however, the ‘Noles were coming off a COVID-19 pause, so perhaps they were rusty.

The game figures to be a massive test for the Wahoos.

“Now we’ll have a great opportunity to test [our defense] against obviously an excellent team on Monday night,” Bennett said.

Photo credit: ACC

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