It was North Carolina men's basketball coach Matt Doherty's birthday yesterday, but Virginia crashed and spoiled the party.
The No. 9 Cavaliers routed the No. 2 Tar Heels 86-66 yesterday afternoon and handed Doherty his second ACC loss of the season on his 39th birthday. Virginia won its third straight game and its sixth straight at home. The Cavaliers (19-6, 8-6 ACC) have won 13 of their 14 games at University Hall this year.
"We just play really well at home," Virginia coach Pete Gillen - who now has victories over No. 2, No. 3 and No. 4 ranked teams this season - said. "We have some really talented players who step up even more at home and play at a higher level. You also have to give the fans credit. They get everyone going."
The crowd of 8,392 was comprised of students who camped out for as many as eight days to get into yesterday's contest. Also included were fans who drove six to eight hours to attend the highly anticipated and arguably most important game of the year for Virginia.
A 20-point victory, the Tar Heels' largest loss since a 96-73 loss to Duke in the ACC Tournament on March 7, 1999, rewarded the fans' efforts.
"This win was huge, because we finally got to do to [the Tar Heels] what they did to us before," junior guard Adam Hall said, referring to blowout losses to North Carolina during his first years at Virginia. "We never forget those times back then and it's just a big pleasure to be able to return the favor."
Virginia's trademark balanced scoring did the trick against the Heels (22-4, 12-2), as five players scored in double figures. Juniors Adam Hall and Chris Williams each tallied 13 points. Williams also added nine rebounds and four blocks. Sophomore center Travis Watson recorded his 12th double-double of the season with 14 points and 10 rebounds, while senior guard Donald Hand ended a recent slump by putting up 17 points and six assists. Roger Mason Jr. led the way with 18 points on 6-for-14 shooting, including 3-5 from three-point range. Six of the sophomore guard's points came during a 10-0 run at the end of the game that put North Carolina away for good.
"We're a balanced team in general," Mason said. "Our game is about runs and we always have different guys stepping up at different times."
What it came down to, however, was Virginia's defense and intensity. The undersized Cavaliers outrebounded the much bigger Tar Heels, 39-35. Virginia also grabbed seven steals and forced 15 turnovers. After North Carolina cut a 20-point deficit down to just 10 with five minutes remaining, the Cavaliers halted the Tar Heels' momentum and held them scoreless for the rest of the game.
"We just stayed in front of them and tried to deny them," Gillen said. "We kept going at them, and it made them get tired towards the end."
The first half was an offensive explosion on both sides of the court, as North Carolina and Virginia shot 52.9 and 51.4 percent from the floor and 66.7 and 60 percent from three-point range, respectively. During a three-minute span in the half, it rained three-pointers on both ends of the court.
Hand's three-pointer at the buzzer capped off a pivotal 17-5 run to end the half and put the Cavaliers up 56-42 at the break. Virginia's nine threes versus North Carolina's four in the first half was the difference.
"They were a great three-point shooting team tonight," Doherty said.
The last time the two teams played on Jan. 24 in Chapel Hill, North Carolina's Joe Forte single-handedly beat the Cavaliers by scoring a whopping 33 points. This time, the sophomore shooting guard still managed a game-high 28 points, but that was not enough to contain the sharp-shooting Cavaliers.
Seven-foot senior center Brendan Haywood also scored 20 points and grabbed seven rebounds for the Tar Heels.
The win moves Virginia up to third place in the ACC standings, tied with Maryland at 8-6. The loss drops North Carolina to a tie with Duke for first place at 12-2.
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