#3 Virginia holds off #7 North Carolina, 79-74

Malcolm Brogdon scored 26 points and Anthony Gill had 15 to lead #3 Virginia to a 79-74 win over #7 North Carolina on Saturday before a packed house at the John Paul Jones Arena in Charlottesville.

UVA (22-6, 11-5 ACC) led by as many as 11 points in the second half, but the Tar Heels stayed within hailing distance, and got to within three at 77-74 with 17 seconds left on a three-pointer by Marcus Paige.

Devon Hall hit a pair of free throws with 15 seconds left to push the lead back to two-possession territory, and Carolina (23-6, 12-4 ACC) missed two shots and a pair of free throws in the final seconds.

Virginia led 38-35 at the half, with Brogdon and Joel Barry II lighting it up, Brogdon with 17 and Barry scoring 14, on 4-of-6 shooting from three-point range.

Brogdon finished with a game-high 26. Gill, who had been struggling of late, averaging 8.8 points per game in his last five coming in, had 15 on 6-of-11 shooting from the field and a game-high nine rebounds.

North Carolina got 12 points from Brice Johnson, who scored six points in the first 2:43 of the second half, but then was held scoreless in the final 17:17.

Barry finished with 21 for North Carolina, which shot 9-of-19 (47.4 percent) from three-point range and 29-of-59 (49.2 percent) from the field for the game.

Virginia finished at 44.3 percent (27-of-61) from the field and 7-of-16 (43.8 percent) from three-point range.

 

Virginia Team Notes

• Virginia is 53-129 all-time against North Carolina, including a 33-44 record in Charlottesville; UVA head coach Tony Bennett is 5-6 career against UNC
• Virginia is 34-1 in home ACC games the last four seasons; it is the best mark in ACC history with one loss (Duke 33-1 from 1962-64)
• Virginia has won 19 straight home games dating to the 2014-15 season; the streak dates to a 69-63 loss to Duke on Jan. 31, 2015
• UVA is 137-36 in 10 seasons at JPJ, including 99-20 under Tony Bennett
• Virginia is 75-4 when scoring at least 70 points under Tony Bennett
• Virginia is 5-1 against ranked opponents this season
• Virginia senior class posted its 105^thwin, matching the 2015 team for third most in school history
• UVA won for just the fourth time when the opponent shot better than the Cavaliers (Ohio State, Cal, Wake Forest)
• UNC was just the third team to shoot 50 percent or better against UVA this season; UVA is 3-0 in those games (Ohio State, Wake Forest)

 

Virginia Player Notes

• With 26 points, Malcolm Brogdon recorded his 15^th20-point game of the season, most at UVA since Sean Singletary recorded 16 such games during the 2006-07 campaign
• With 1,652 career points, Brogdon moved past John Crotty (1,646 points, 1988-91) for 13^thon Virginia’s all-time scoring list
• With six assists (403 career), London Perrantes passed Cory Alexander (1992-95, 401 assists) for ninth in career assists at Virginia
• Devon Hall finished with 11 points – matching his high in ACC play this year (Clemson); he was averaging 3.9 points per ACC game this year