The No. 15 Virginia men's basketball team narrowly escaped North Carolina at University Hall last night.
"We played with fire and almost got burned," Virginia coach Pete Gillen said.
Luckily for Virginia, freshman point guard Keith Jenifer was able to douse the flames.
With little over a minute left Virginia was up by only two. They found themselves with the ball while the shot clock wound down, on the heels of a 24-second violation. Jenifer drove the baseline for a five-foot running lay-in that put Virginia up by four.
"The play of the game was when Jenifer drove to the basket," Gillen said. "For a freshman playing against Carolina that a very courageous shot."
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"The clock was winding down," Jenifer said. "I had to make a move, so I did."
Courtesy of three three-pointers from guard Roger Mason Jr., Virginia (16-6, 6-5 ACC) jumped out of the gate to a 19-3 advantage. But an effective Tar Heel zone coupled with persistent Virginia fouling allowed North Carolina (6-16, 2-10) to battle back into the game. The Cavaliers failed to remain un-scorched as they beat North Carolina 73-63 in front of a less-than-capacity U-Hall crowd.
"When we were up big it was fools' gold," Gillen said. "We got hesitant. I think our guys thought the game was over, we thought we could cruise."
The Tar Heels certainly did not cruise as they made the defensive adjustments necessary to slow down Virginia.
"We were concerned about their athleticism, so we slowed them down with the zone," North Carolina coach Matt Doherty said. "It put the pace of the game in our favor."
UNC controlled the game's tempo and in doing so battled their way back into contention. The Tar Heels chipped away at the Cavalier lead, finding themselves down 12 at the half.
It didn't get better for Virginia in the second half as North Carolina took the lead courtesy of a 20-5 run capped off when Adam Boone took a turnover coast-to-coast for the lay-in to give the Tar Heels the 56-55 advantage.
North Carolina did most of their damage from the charity stripe. Virginia's soft zone defense too often put the Tar Heels on the free throw line. North Carolina had 33 free throw attempts, compared to Virginia's 19.
"We fouled too much," Gillen said. "Between their free throws and the zone we couldn't get into a rhythm."
Virginia's ineffectiveness against the zone resurfaced as they could not execute their offense effectively and struggled for almost every point.
"They were aggressive with their zone," Mason said. "It slowed us down."
Although the Tar Heel defense stifled Virginia, the Cavalier defense allowed North Carolina many open shots.
"I was not pleased with our defense," Gillen said. "I though they had some really good looks."
Chris Williams and Travis Watson each recorded double-doubles for Virginia as they both pulled down ten boards and netted 18 and 17 points, respectively. Mason also contributed 18 points to the Cavalier victory.
Though satisfied with the win, Gillen expressed disappointment that his team did not secure the outcome earlier in the evening.
"Teams have to put people away, we should have played with more passion," he said. "I was disappointed that we didn't have that killer instinct"
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