Virginia rallied for a big 65-58 win over North Carolina at home on Tuesday night. The victory sent the Hoos to 12-3 overall and 4-2 in league play, and is their second straight win heading into a weekend contest at FSU. Before the Cavaliers move on to a rematch with the Seminoles, We're taking a look back at Virginia's come-from-behind win over the Tar Heels, and five key factors in their rally.
UVa closed the first half strong after trailing by nine.
Virginia started the game great, leading 10-3 about eight minutes into the game. UVa’s defense made everything difficult for Carolina early, and the Heels started the contest with some woeful shooting as a result. And then, UVa’s offense went into a funk, and UNC started scoring. North Carolina erased that 10-3 deficit in less than two minutes, and took their first lead with 9:37 left in the half. Over the next five minutes or so, it was pretty much all Carolina, and a 21-5 run by the Heels put UVa down 24-15 after a Leaky Black three, with 3:55 left in the half.
Then, Tony Bennett took a timeout that ended up paying off in a major way. UVa scored the next five points, all at the, on six free-throw attempts. Carolina would get points at the line too, but over the final two minutes of the half, the Cavaliers gathered some momentum. Ben Vander Plas made a big three to cut UNC’s lead to 27-23 with 92 seconds to play, and after a put-back by former Cavalier Justin McKoy, UVa closed the half on a 4-0 spurt. A Shedrick dunk on a nice pass from Kihei Clark was followed up by a Reece Beekman steal, and an uncontested layup for Clark. Virginia got another stop on an offensive foul, but Vander Plas’ three at the horn didn’t fall.
Still, UVa got the game from 24-15 UNC at the final media timeout of the half, to 29-27 Carolina at the half. A lot of attention will be paid to how UVa closed the game, and rightfully so, but Bennett’s timeout to reset the team certainly seemed to give the team a chance to rally.
BVP and McKneely make major contributions off the bench.
Simply put, UVa’s bench efforts led them to Tuesday night’s win. 28 of UVa’s 65 points came from their bench, led by 17 points from Vander Plas, a game high. Vander Plas has had a rough run of shooting lately, and in the first half, it looked like more of the same. BVP was 1-for-4 from the floor in the first half with that one made three in the final minutes, going into the locker room with just three points. And then, Vander Plas caught fire after halftime and propelled UVa to a victory.
In the second half, Vander Plas shot 5-for-6 from the floor and 2-of-3 from three, while also grabbing five rebounds, two blocks, two steals and an assist. Vander Plas hits big three to give UVa the lead at 42-40, and then made what amounts to the game-clinching play with a late steal and dunk to put UVa up seven points late. It was encouraging to see Vander Plas get back on track, and it’s a reminder of what UVa looked like on offense early in the season when he was hitting shots and impacting the game off the benchIsaac McKneely also made a major contribution off the bench, after suffering an injury scare in the first half. McKneely left with just under nine minutes left in the half after catching an elbow in the face and drawing some blood. Luckily for the Hoos, McKneely was able to return in the second half and made some clutch plays down the stretch. McKneely finished with 11 points on Tuesday night, eight of which were scored after halfime, including a pair of made threes with no misses, and a nifty drive and bank shot as well. McKneely was trusted, playing 15 minutes in the second half, and certainly made a difference in the game. Like with Vander Plas, Virginia saw what their potential looks like when multiple players can get hot and make shots, especially coming off the bench.
UNC went small, and UVa went to the rim.
With 15:12 left in the game, UNC led 36-31. They made a few substitutions, replacing Jalen Washington and Seth Trimble with D’Marco Dunn and Justin McKoy. They then got the lead to 37-31 at the line, and eventually led 40-35 with 14:01 to play. Then, UVa went on their run. Armaan Franklin had a dunk put-back off a Clark miss, and then Beekman took a turnover the other way and got to the rim for two. Vander Plas gave UVa the lead with a three, and then Beekman got to the line for a pair. Vander Plas put back a Beekman miss with a dunk, and suddenly UVa was up 46-40.Hubert Davis subbed Washington and Puff Johnson in after Vander Plas’ three with 12:52 to go, but by then, UVa had figured out what they needed to do. With Armando Bacot and Pete Nance both out, Virginia was able to take Carolina defenders off the dribble straight to the rim, and when they didn’t lead to points, those drives often led to fouls and free throws, or at a minimum, a good look. UVa hit some timely threes too for sure, but their ability to take advantage of smaller Carolina lineups and get to the rim made the difference in the second half, and led to the big 11-0 run.
Virginia found a lineup that was working, and stuck with it until the end.
UVa’s offense was clunky for most of the first half, and despite a strong finish to the first period, the struggles picked back up early in the second half. UVa didn’t score until Clark made a swooping layup with 16:40 to play to pull UVa back within five of the Tar Heels. Just before that, UVa took Kadin Shedrick out for Francisco Caffaro, and Shedrick, who had a rough night, didn’t play again for the remainder of the game. Caffaro would make way for McKneely with 15:12 to play, and McKneely played the rest of the way. Jayden Gardner quietly played just one minute in the second half, too, after picking up an early foul after halftime, getting subbed out for Vander Plas, who played the final 19 minutes.
Ultimately, UVa made their final lineup changes at the 15:12 mark, going with Clark, Beekman, McKneely, Franklin and Vander Plas the rest of the way. Virginia out-scored Carolina 34-22 the rest of the way. Granted, Carolina missing two of their starters in the frontcourt helped UVa be able to run a smaller lineup out there and have success, and this lineup isn’t going to work in every game. But UVa was able to maximize their ability to get to the rim and make outside shots, while not being too vulnerable on the defensive end.
The Cavalier defense figured some things out, and got the stops they needed down the stretch.
Virginia started the game strong on the defensive end, and closed it out strong, too. UNC finished with just .94 points per possession in the second half, and held UNC to just 9-for-23 from the floor. Carolina had just one made assist in the second half, and seven turnovers, which led to 11 UVa points. Carolina also made just five of their 11 layup attempts, and really were only able to stay in the game because of some timely threes, making five of 11 from deep after halftime.
UVa also held freshman forward Jalin Washington down after the half too. Washington was excellent in the first half, scoring a game-high 12 points headed to the break. In the second half, Washington scored just one point in 16 minutes, and wasn’t much of a factor on either end of the floor.
UVa wasn’t perfect on defense Tuesday night, but they were able to create a few “gaps” to give the Cavaliers a chance to go on a run with some better play on the offensive end. Whatever Bennett adjusted at halftime seemed to work well, and helped the Hoos hang on to a late lead against a UNC team capable of making a rally.
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