Undeterred by early deficit, UNC rallies past Virginia

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — If there’s one sequence that best summed up No. 22 North Carolina’s helplessness, early on, in its 85-80 come-from-behind victory over No. 14 Virginia on Saturday, it’s this: the time UVA pulled down three offensive rebounds in a single possession.

You read that right. Three rebounds in a single possession.

Just under five minutes remained in the first half when Cavalier junior guard Sam Lewis put up a 3-point attempt. No good. Dallin Hall pulled down the rebound and missed a layup. Despite the effort of Caleb Wilson and Henri Veesaar — both jumping, reaching and tipping the ball around in the air — a Cavalier corralled it and kicked the ball out to Hall for a 3-point attempt.

Coach Hubert Davis punched the air.

Jacari White grabbed the third miss and passed it back to Devin Tillis who, mercifully, sank a 3-pointer to end the possession and put UVA up by double digits.

After a brief course correction against Notre Dame, it appeared North Carolina (16-4, 4-3 ACC) was on its way to a blowout loss and fourth defeat in ACC play. And yet, with 31 seconds remaining, here was Wilson, waving goodbye to the Virginia student section after hitting a layup to put the Heels up by four points.

“Hubert trusted us,” Wilson said after the win. “He told us to keep pushing. It’s still about us on the court. He can say everything he can, but it’s all about us giving our effort and our ability to push through it. And I feel like this shows, really, that he’s a good coach.”

What’s gotten lost amid this recent rough stretch for the Tar Heels — a period marked by historically-poor defensive performances — is how potent this UNC offense is. Since the start of the calendar year, only two other teams in the nation have boasted a better adjusted offensive efficiency than North Carolina, per Bart Torvik: Wisconsin and Florida.

Saturday provided yet another example of how fast this Tar Heels team can heat up. A Jarin Stevenson turnaround jumper midway through the second half capped off a 40-19 run by North Carolina, which started with just over two minutes remaining in the first half. That’s 40 points scored in under 13 minutes of game time.

The Tar Heels piled on 51 points in the second half, which helped them drop the most points by any UNC team in Charlottesville since 2005.

Saturday also showed, once again, the number of weapons UNC has on the offensive end. Wilson led the way for the Tar Heels with 20 — tying Tyler Hansbrough for the most 20 point games by a freshman (14) — but Stevenson was right behind him with a season-high 17. All of Stevenson’s points came in the second half.

After the game, Davis made a point of shouting out the Alabama transfer’s impact on both ends of the floor — especially the charge he took with just under two minutes remaining.

“That charge defensively, you know, he just settles us out there on the floor,” Davis said. “He knows what he’s doing. He’s a good communicator, even though he’s not a big talker.”

Here are some takeaways from North Carolina’s victory:

Early runs power UVA, but Tar Heels adjust

The Cavaliers have a tendency to jump on teams — see their games against Louisville and N.C. State as further examples — and Saturday was no different.

After UNC senior Seth Trimble scored to open the game, UVA raced to a 10-2 lead with the help of 10 unanswered points. Virginia’s Thijs De Ridder ripped off a personal 5-0 run with a layup and a 3-pointer, followed by a hook shot down low from seven-footer Ugonna Onyenso.

Lewis capped off the run with a wide-open 3-pointer in transition, another example of UNC’s communication issues on defense. Nobody picked up the Cavalier outside the perimeter, while two Tar Heels stuck to one of Lewis’ teammates on the other side of the court.

UNC cut back in before UVA mounted another run — this one 14-3 — midway through the first half. That stretch saw the Tar Heels hit just one of seven shots from the field.

“We had a slower first-half start,” Trimble said. “We kind of saw some of the resemblance from the first half at Cal and the whole game at Stanford. But we were able to lock in.”

To North Carolina’s credit, the Tar Heels adjusted. After allowing the Cavaliers to sink three of their first six attempts from distance, UVA only hit five triples the rest of the way on 21 attempts.

Timely shotmaking from Bogavac, Stevenson off the bench

Luka Bogavac subbed into the game after UVA’s 10-0 run and made an immediate impact.

Trimble followed up his two early free throws with a steal on the other end, finding Bogavac in transition for a corner 3.

Swish!

That triple cut UNC’s deficit to three points, helping the Tar Heels briefly respond to the early Cavaliers run. The Montenegrin hooper stayed hot from distance, knocking down another 3-pointer midway through the first half to cut North Carolina’s deficit to four.

Bogavac looked confident throughout the afternoon and finished with three triples on five attempts. His shotmaking helped North Carolina stay in striking distance in the first half and, in the second half, his floater with just over 14 minutes remaining helped the Tar Heels cut their deficit to one.

Stevenson, also coming off the bench, provided a much-needed boost for UNC. He had 17 points in the second half on 6-of-9 shooting. The Alabama transfer got out in transition, posted up down low and made savvy cuts to the basket for easy feeds.

Then, after UVA mounted a late 9-0 run, Stevenson provided the response. His 3-pointer stopped the bleeding and cut UNC’s deficit to one at 71-70 with just over five minutes remaining. He’d add another triple with 1:38 remaining to put North Carolina up, 81-74.

“I knew I could be aggressive from the start, from the moment I was put in. ... I knew coming into the game I had to be aggressive to help this team win,” Stevenson said.

Virginia dominates offensive boards, second chance points

Entering Saturday, UNC had averaged 40.7 rebounds per game and a margin of plus-7.6. The Tar Heels’ twin towers have been a big part of that, with Wilson averaging 10.4 rebounds per game and Veesaar averaging 9.2.

But, come halftime at John Paul Jones Arena, Wilson had only managed to corral one board. Veesaar? Zero.

The Cavaliers entered halftime with an advantage on the boards (31-19), in the paint (26-16) and in second chance points (14-5).

This should come as no surprise. UVA has been dominant on the boards this season — particularly in offensive rebounding percentage, where the Cavaliers rank fourth in the nation. Virginia also started two 7-footers in Johann Grunloh and Onyenso, who seemed to be giving Veesaar fits down low.

The Estonia native finished with seven points, well below his average of 17.1, and was hindered by foul trouble. He recorded just one rebound before subbing out for the final time with five and a half minutes to play.

UVA finished with a 44-28 advantage on the boards, but only managed three more second-chance points in the second half.

“I thought we did a better job of not letting them score when they got offensive rebounds [in the second half],” Davis said. “But we took care of the basketball and we were really efficient offensively.”