North Carolina, trailing Virginia by as many as 16 in the first half, had just five made buckets in the paint in the first 20 minutes.
The emphasis from UNC coach Hubert Davis in the locker room: we need to get the ball into the paint.
“Jaren (Stevenson) and Caleb (Wilson), their ability to sprint down the middle of the floor, they did exactly what was told of them. They did their job and what was required of them. And we got some pitch ahead and some easy baskets that got us back in the game,” said Davis, whose team got 14 fast-break points in the second half, keying a 51-point explosion that lifted the Heels to an 85-80 win.
It was Stevenson, averaging 6.5 points per game coming in, who was the difference in this one.
The former five-star prep recruit and Tony Bennett-era UVA Basketball recruiting target, who averaged 5.3 points per game in two middling seasons at Alabama before transferring to UNC, was on the floor for all of 3:33 of the first half, with one offensive rebound, one foul and no shot attempts from the floor.
Clearly, his direction when he subbed in with 15:04 to go, Virginia ahead 54-47, was, run down the floor.
If you’ve been watching ACC Basketball long enough, you might remember former UNC All-American Antawn Jamison sprinting down the middle of the floor on opponent misses and made baskets alike, beating the other side’s four down the floor to the rim, and getting plenty of easy buckets.
That was Stevenson in this one – he got four rim-run buckets in the second half, just beating Virginia up the A gap.
“Every time that, you know, we missed a shot, I think they were 1.3 points per possession right after that, throwing it over the top, kicking it ahead, fouls,” UVA Basketball coach Ryan Odom said. “Our transition defense was not where it needed to be throughout the entire night. You know, some key plays, I mean, you know, throughout the game that certainly we’d love to have back. The defensive intensity was not where we needed it to be. The communication was lacking. And, you know, just really in general, a poor defensive performance overall.”
ICYMI
I mentioned that Carolina (15-3, 4-3 ACC) had five makes in the paint in the first half – that was on 5-of-12 shooting in the paint.
Second half: the Heels were 12-of-17 in the paint.
Stevenson, who finished with 17 points, had four paint buckets in the final 20 minutes.
Caleb Wilson, who finished with 20 points, was 4-of-5 in the paint in the second half.
Guards Seth Trimble and Derek Dixon were a combined 4-of-7, beating Virginia’s drop coverage in the high screen-and-roll above the top of the key to get open eight- and ten-footers in the paint.
Virginia (16-3, 5-2 ACC) bolted to a double-digit lead midway through the first half, and led 43-27 inside of two minutes to go, but things broke down in the final 1:32.
Back-to-back threes from Luka Bogavac and Dixon got the margin down to nine at the half.
“We didn’t execute a play that we were trying to run there at the end of the half with a minute left, basically, and it turned into, you know, a couple of quick baskets for them,” Odom said, referencing a missed paint jumper by Thijs de Ridder, who finished with 20 points, but had three critical free-throw misses down the stretch.
“Luka hit a three, and then Derek hit a three. We were actually looking for the pop, for the big, (Ugonna) Onyenso switched and actually took the play away, and Derek just made a basketball play and went one-on-one, hit a three over a seven-footer,” Davis said. “I think going into the half only down by nine was a huge momentum. And you know, if you look at something that was a huge factor in the game, you’re right, those two threes, that last minute, minute and a half, where we cut the lead to single digits, was huge.”
Player notes
- Thijs de Ridder had 20 points (7-of-11 FG, 1-of-1 3FG, 5-of-8 FT) and eight rebounds. The first of the three free-throw misses would have given Virginia a three-point lead at the 3:50 mark. The second and third came with the ‘Hoos down 78-74 with 2:03 to go.
- De Ridder was +9 in his 31 minutes. His backup at the four, Devin Tillis (three points, three rebounds) was -9. Tillis was overmatched on the defense end against the Carolina bigs.
- The seven-footers, Johann Grunloh (six points, 2-of-7 FG, 1-of-4 3FG, 1-of-2 FT, four rebounds, one block in 22 minutes) and Ugonna Onyenso (eight points, 4-of-5 FG, one rebound, one block in 18 minutes) more than held their own against UNC seven-footer Henri Veesaar (seven points, 3-of-7 FG, 1-of-3 3FG, 29 minutes), a projected NBA first-rounder.
- The shooting guards put up points, but it took Malik Thomas 12 shots to get his 11 (3-of-12 FG, 3-of-8 3FG, 2-of-4 FT). Sam Lewis got his 11 more efficiently (4-of-7 FG, 1-of-2 3FG, 2-of-2 FT). Jacari White had two points and two ugly turnovers in 11 minutes off the bench.
- The point guards had good offensive days: Chance Mallory had 11 points (3-of-7 FG, 1-of-4 3FG, 4-of-4 FT); Dallin Hall had eight points (4-of-8 FG, 0-of-2 3FG), along with seven rebounds and four assists.
Team notes
Shooting
UVA: 29-of-64
UNC: 30-of-61
Paint
UVA: 20-of-32
UNC: 17-of-29
Midrange
UVA: 1-of-5
UNC: 3-of-10
Three
UVA: 8-of-27
UNC: 10-of-22
Free throws
UVA: 14-of-20
UNC: 15-of-22
Odom Ball
- Rebounding
Virginia: 44.4% offensive rebound rate
Virginia: 77.8% defensive rebound rate - Points in the paint: Virginia 40-34
- Points off turnovers: UNC 19-2
- Second-chance points: Virginia 17-7
- Points off made threes: UNC 30-24
Video: UNC-UVA Basketball highlights
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Chris Graham
