Home Virginia wins third ACC Tournament title: ‘Hoos defeats UNC, 71-63
Sports

Virginia wins third ACC Tournament title: ‘Hoos defeats UNC, 71-63

Contributors

virginia 2018 acc tournament champsAn 11-3 run broke open a close game, and top-ranked Virginia closed out North Carolina by hitting on 10-of-12 free throws in the final 1:57, in winning the program’s third ACC Tournament title, 71-63, Saturday in Brooklyn.

UVA (31-2) won a conference-record 20 of its 21 ACC games in 2017-2018, and led this one most of the way, but it wasn’t easy.

North Carolina (25-10) trailed by as many as 10 in the first half before closing out the opening 20 minutes on a 6-0 run that narrowed the deficit to 34-30 at the break.

After the ‘Hoos went up by nine with 15 minutes left on an Isaiah Wilkins dunk, Carolina would get the deficit back to three on a Joel Berry II jumper with 8:17 left.

Back-to-back jumpers by Kyle Guy made it 56-49 with 6:50 to go, and North Carolina went scoreless for more than five minutes before a Luke Maye three made it 58-52 Virginia with 3:16 left.

Ty Jerome and Berry traded threes, but UNC was forced to foul to try to extend the game, and Virginia, which shot just 3-of-8 from the charity stripe in the semifinal win over Clemson on Friday, was deadly from the line Saturday, going 20-for-22 on the night.

Guy, the ACC Tournament MVP, had 16 points to lead UVA. Devon Hall had 15, Jerome 12, and De’Andre Hunter had 10 off the bench, shooting 8-of-10 from the free-throw line.

Maye had 20 points for North Carolina, but had just five on 2-of-6 shooting after a hot first half.

Highlights

#ACCTourney Notes

The No. 1 seeded Cavaliers (31-2) claim their third New York Life ACC Tournament Championship and their second in the last five years under current head coach Tony Bennett.

Virginia is now 41-62 all-time in the ACC Tournament … Virginia also won the ACC Tournament title as the No. 6 seed in 1976 in Landover and as the No. 1 seed in 2014 in Greensboro.

North Carolina slipped to 100-46 in ACC Tournament play and remains tied with Duke for the most number of all-time tournament wins … UNC is 18-17 all-time in the ACC Tournament title game, 0-1 as a No. 6 seed.

The No. 1 seed is 3-5 all-time vs. the No. 6 team in the ACC Tournament.

Virginia’s 31 wins are a new program single-season record.

Virginia is now 3-6 all-time in the ACC Tournament championship game.

The No. 1 seed is 32-15 all-time in ACC Tournament title games … This is the third time that the No. 1 seed has beaten the No. 6 seed to claim the championship.

Virginia is 8-2 all-time as the No. 1 seed in the ACC Tournament.

The Cavaliers are 8-1 all-time at Barclays Center.

With tonight’s win Virginia is 2-0 versus North Carolina in 2017-18 after winning the regular-season meeting Jan. 6 in Charlottesville by a 61-49 score.

After compiling a 17-1 ACC regular-season record and sweeping three ACC Tournament games, the Cavaliers become the first team to post 20 wins against fellow ACC schools in a single season … North Carolina posted 19 such wins in 2016 (14 regular-season, three ACC Tournament, two NCAA).

This is the sixth time Virginia and UNC have played in the championship game … The Cavaliers won the first time they played in the finals (1976), and the Tar Heels won the next four (1977, 1982, 1994, 2016) prior to tonight.

The ACC Tournament has now gone seven consecutive years without a repeat champion (2012 – Florida State; 2013 – Miami; 2014 – Virginia; 2015 – Notre Dame; 2016 – North Carolina; 2017 – Duke; 2018 – Virginia).

With tonight’s win over the No. 12 Tar Heels, this year’s Virginia team has beaten five nationally ranked opponents.

The Cavaliers ended a seven-game postseason losing streak versus UNC.

Virginia limited its 32nd opponent of the season to less than 50 percent shooting (UNC shot 40.8 percent), shot 20-of-22 from the foul line and committed just four turnovers.

ACC Tournament MVP Kyle Guy scored 15 points and handed out four assists … Guy has reached double-figures in 27 games and has connected on 83 shots from 3-point range this season … Guy averaged 16.3 points in Virginia’s three ACC Tournament games and went 9-for-17 from 3-point range.

Virginia senior Devon Hall led Virginia’s scoring with 16 points … Hall reached double figures for the 23rd time this year.

Virginia sophomore Ty Jerome (12 points) reached double figures for the 17th time this season and handed out a team-high six assists … Jerome had 20 assists in Virginia’s three ACC Tournament games.

North Carolina junior Luke Maye led all scorers with 20 points … Maye scored 15 of those points in the first half, which ended with Virginia in front 34-30 … The double-figure scoring game was Maye’s 28th of the season.

With 17 points, UNC senior guard Joel Berry II hit double-figures for the 29th time this season and the 91st time in his career.

Kenny Williams reached double figures for the fourth time in the ACC Tournament and for the 25th time this season with 12 points … UNC is 21-4 this year in games in which the junior guard has scored 10-or-more points.

The 18,157 fans in attendance for Saturday night’s New York Life ACC Tournament championship game tied the record for attendance at college basketball event at Barclays Center, set 24 hours earlier in the tournament’s semifinal session … The ACC broke its own record set during the semifinals and finals of the 2017 tournament at the arena.

UVA Team Notes

  • Virginia captured its third ACC Tournament title (1976 and 2018 vs. North Carolina and 2014 vs. Duke)
  • Virginia has won a school-record 31 games
  • The Cavaliers captured the ACC regular-season and tournament titles for the second time (2014 and 2018)
  • UVA ended its seven-game postseason losing streak vs. North Carolina, posting its first win against the Tar Heels in the ACC Tournament since 1990
  • UVA is 4-13 against UNC in the ACC Tournament
  • The Cavaliers own an eight-game winning streak and three-game winning streak vs. North Carolina
  • UVA is 28-3 all-time record as the No. 1 team in the nation.
  • UVA is 8-1 record at Barclays Center (5-0 this season)
  • UVA improved to 41-62 all-time at the ACC Tournament
  • UVA is 5-1 vs. ranked opponents
  • UVA led 34-30 at the half and improved to 28-0 when leading after the first 20 minutes
  • Virginia limited its 31st opponent to less than 50 percent shooting (North Carolina – 40.8%)
  • UVA matched a season low with four turnovers
  • UVA went 20 of 22 (90.9%) from the free throw line
  • UVA tied a season high with 20 made free throws
  • UVA went shot 50 percent or better from 3-point range for the sixth time this season

UVA Player Notes

  • Kyle Guy (16 points) led UVA in scoring for the 14th time, reaching double figures for the 27th time
  • Guy (two 3-pointers) moved into fifth on the UVA single-season 3-pointer list with 83
  • Devon Hall (15 points) reached double figures for the 23rd time
  • Ty Jerome (12 points) reached double figures for the 17th time
  • De’Andre Hunter (10 points) reached double figures for the 16th time
  • Isaiah Wilkins played in his 131stcareer game at UVA, tying him with Bryant Stith for 10th on the all-time list
  • ACC Tournament MVP Guy was joined on the all-tournament first team by Hall, while Jerome was named to the second team

Contributors

Contributors

Have a guest column, letter to the editor, story idea or a news tip? Email editor Chris Graham at [email protected]. Subscribe to AFP podcasts on Apple PodcastsSpotifyPandora and YouTube.