Third-ranked UVA weathered an early North Carolina firestorm with a dominant second-half performance, and left Chapel Hill with a big road win over the Tar Heels, 75-64.
Virginia (20-1, 8-1 ACC) trailed by six early as UNC made seven of its first nine shots from the field, but the Pack-Line defense tightened up from there. The Cavs rallied to take a lead late in the first half before going into the locker room down one, 33-32.
It was 44-42 Virginia with 12:55 left when the Cavalanche ran down the hill. A 22-6 Wahoo run over the next 8:44 that saw UVA score nine times in a 14-possession stretch while limiting the Heels to 3-of-11 shooting with four turnovers in the stretch that ended with the Cavs leading 66-48 at the 4:11 mark.
After trailing by as many as North Carolina (17-6, 7-3 ACC) was able to cut the margin to nine twice in the final 1:20, but that was as close as the Tar Heels would get.
After the 7-of-9 start from the field, Carolina finished 25-of-56 (44.6 percent). Virginia shot 51.6 percent (29-of-56) for the game.
Malcolm Brogdon led four Cavs in double figures with 17 points. Justin Anderson had 16 points, 11 in the first half, and dished out seven assists. London Perrantes had 15 points and six assists, and Anthony Gill had 13 points off the bench.
Marcus Paige led North Carolina with 15 points, but 10 of those points came in the final 2:23 after the game was already out of reach.
Brice Johnson had 14 points and eight rebounds for UNC, which outrebounded Virginia, 34-27.
The rebounding advantage didn’t translate into an advantage in points in the paint, with UVA actually getting the better in that stat line, 40-34.
UVA outscored Carolina 18-8 in points off turnovers (UNC had 13 turnovers; Virginia had eight).
Virginia had a 9-3 advantage in steals and a 7-3 advantage in blocked shots.
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