Virginia Loses 54-44 to No. 1 Again Due to a Lifeless Offense…..

At John Paul Jones Arena, North Carolina defeated Virginia for the first game since February 25, 2012.

The Tar Heels defeated the team they hadn’t defeated in almost a decade by ten points, even though they shot only 32% from the field

overall and had their two greatest players limited to two points apiece in the first half.

No. 10 North Carolina (21-6, 13-3 ACC) defeated Virginia (20-8, 11-6 ACC) 54-44 on Tuesday night. Cormac Ryan gave UNC an

unexpected and significant lift with 18 points on six threes, and although the Cavaliers’ defense gave themselves a chance to win the

game down the stretch, they couldn’t quite make enough shots to fully close the gap.

The way the Cavaliers played in their most recent game—a 75-41 thumping of in-state rival Virginia Tech—completely destroyed any

confidence UVA basketball fans may have had in this matchup. In the first half of that game, Virginia failed to score for almost nine

minutes and had only sixteen points at the break.

In the first two minutes of this game, Reece Beekman made two short jumpers in the paint, giving some hope that UVA’s offense was

going to see a comeback just by playing at home. Rather, and this is almost unbelievable, the Cavaliers went on to play nearly the exact

same offensive game in the first half of their subsequent game.

Seven minutes and fifty-eight seconds later, Beekman reached the paint and dished to an open Blake Buchanan for a slam, ending

Virginia’s scoring drought. However, the Cavaliers went through another scoring drought of over four minutes just after that, making

just one of their 23 field goal tries during that period of play.

The Cavaliers were fortunate that their defense kept them in the game. Armando Bacot, who had just two points and played just seven

minutes in the first half after committing two personal fouls, was effectively contained by UVA. Reece Beekman kept RJ Davis

scoreless, despite his being the ACC’s top scorer with 21.3 points per game entering the contest.

Cormac Ryan was the only significant issue on that end of the floor. The Notre Dame transfer has a dismal season three-point

percentage of 31.7%, but he has recently improved, making four threes in his past two games. In the first half, Ryan was unstoppable,

scoring 15 of North Carolina’s 26 points on five three-pointers.

Despite its offense’s inability to establish any kind of rhythm, UVA was able to maintain a lead because Bacot and Davis appeared to be

non-factors on the offensive end. With little over three minutes remaining in the half, Jordan Minor scored after grabbing an offensive

rebound to cut Virginia’s deficit to 10 points. Small andNorth Carolina Tar Heels

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