Off the cuff: Low-scoring games used to be fun to watch but when a team scores most of its points on three-point shots, to me, that's not as much fun to watch.
As Coach Williams said, a low possession game was bad for Carolina - especially when the other team scores 30 of its 53 points on 10 three pointers.
Kyle Guy, the nipple headed one or "the man bun guy" as he is known, hit five of those three pointers including a couple early - one that banked in and another that was a fade away, heavily covered shot - that got the Cavaliers rolling.
While Virginia shot a low percentage from the field at just 32 percent, they made some big shots late in the shot clock. Coach Williams pointed out that the Cavs hit five shots with less than four seconds left on the shot clock.
It wasn't Carolina's kind of game but the Tar Heels trailed just 40-39 with just over nine minutes to play.
A couple of London Perrantes three points gave Virginia a cushion that they'd never relinquish. In fact, Carolina scored just one basket from the field the rest of the way, and only four total points over the last nine minutes.
Carolina fans can only hope that this helps the Tar Heels play with renewed vigor going into the Duke game, the ACC Tournament and the NCAA Tournament.
Virginia 53, Tar Heels 43 Cavs defense clamps down to beat NC
Virginia, reeling after being clobbered by North Carolina 10 days ago, clamped down defensively to hold the Tar Heels to their lowest offensive output in the Roy Williams era on the way to a 53-43 victory. (2/27)
The Tar Heels, 13-4 in the ACC, must win now in the season finale against Duke in Chapel Hill on Senior Night to win the outright regular season championship.
Carolina, who has been averaging 12 turnovers a game, turned the ball over 12 times in the first half alone to help Virginia set the tone.
The Heels got out to a 7-0 lead before turning the ball over on four straight possessions during a 12-0 Cavalier run.
Carolina only led one more time and that came on a Justin Jackson three with 4:42 left in the first half
that made it 21-20 UNC.
A modest 6-2 run gave Virginia a 27-23 halftime lead. During that first half, Carolina lost the ball on 40 percent of its possessions and the Cavs converted the turnovers in 18 points.
The second half started out poorly for the Heels who missed a couple of open threes while Virginia hit a pair of threes to give the Cavs their biggest lead at 33-23.
The Tar Heels cut back on the turnovers but couldn't get anything going offensively, hitting only 28 percent of
their shots in the half to finish at a 34.7 percent clip.
Carolina held Virginia to shooting only 32.2 percent on the night but the Cavs made more threes than twos. Virginia, which went only two of 20 from beyond the arc in Chapel Hill, hit 10 of 24 this time to account for 30 of its 53 points.
Kyle Guy, the man-bun guy, went scoreless in Chapel Hill but he was five of seven from three-point land in Charlottesville to lead the Cavs with 17 points.
Guy said the "butt-whipping" the Cavs took in Chapel Hill "was good for us" and the reason Virginia responded so well this time.
UNC coach Roy Williams said the first time the two teams played, the double teams on Carolina post players didn't bother the Heels but this time they did as nine of the 14 UNC turnovers were committed by
Tar Heel big men.
"Their defense was stronger and more aggressive than our offense," Coach Williams said adding that, except for a couple of areas, it wasn't so much about anything the Tar Heels did wrong but more about what Virginia's defense did right.
Joel Berry was the only Tar Heel in double figures with 12 points. Jackson tied his season low with just seven points. Isaiah Hicks fouled out in the second half with just two points. Kennedy Meeks had just six points and the other starter, Theo Pinson, failed to score.
The Tar Heels, who fall to 25-6 overall, plays at home Saturday against Duke. Virginia improves to 20-9 and 10-7 in the ACC.
