UNC Basketball Moments After – UNC vs. Virginia 54-44 Win
UNC Tar Heels Basketball Team Takes Command of the Cavaliers and Wins for the First Time in John Paul Jones Arena Since 2012
by Derrick Isaiah Clyburn
After a week of rest, the North Carolina basketball team returned to action against Virginia on Saturday afternoon, where they had lost 8 straight games on the road at Virginia. Coming into this game, Virginia had been holding their opponents to under 60 points per game so the Tar Heels knew they would need to be ready for that style of play. It was a very slow-paced game in the first half. Both teams were playing physical, stifling defense, making each other use basically the entire shot clock to find quality shots.
North Carolina did a much better job of finding quality shots against the aggressive Virginia defense than the Cavaliers did against the Tar Heels’ defense and were able to take an early lead as a result. Cormac Ryan had his best half as a Tar Heels, hitting 5 threes in the first half alone. However, the story of the first half was UNC’s tremendous defense. The Heels held Virginia to just 5-made field goals resulting in 16 points on 16% from the field, which was the lowest field goal percentage a Carolina basketball team had held an opponent since 2022. The Tar Heels shot a little better from the field at 37% and had 6 assists on their 10 made baskets, leading to their 10-point advantage at halftime.
In the second half, the Tar Heels’ defense continued to be the story for both teams. Each team had to work for every basket they made and had to capitalize on any mistakes that were made defensively. The game came down to which team would execute better offensively to create some open or quality shot for a basket and whoever committed the least number of errors or miscues on the floor. Virginia made more mistakes than Carolina did, and the Tar Heels made sure to make them pay for it. The Heels and Cavaliers shot poorly from the field 32% and 28% respectively, resulting in a very ugly low-scoring game.
North Carolina gained an early lead in the first half because they found a way to execute and score offensively even with the difficult defense they were facing. Nevertheless, UNC kept that lead for the remainder of the game and was led by Cormac Ryan who had 18 points on 6 threes. All 6 of those threes were critical for the Tar Heels. RJ Davis and Armando Bacot also made huge baskets and plays to help North Carolina seal the victory being the only other two UNC players scoring in double figures. The rebounding in this game was a major factor for the Heels as key offensive rebounds from Armando Bacot gave the Heels extra possessions to score in a game where it was very difficult to score. The Tar Heels had a 6–10-point lead for most of the second half and were the better team pretty much from the start of the game as Virginia just didn’t have enough offensively to keep up with Heels even with their great defense. North Carolina would go on to pull through and snap their 8-game losing streak at Virginia with their hard-fought 54-44 win over the Cavaliers.
UNC Game Stats
| 1 | 2 | T | |
| 10 North Carolina 21-6 | 26 | 28 | 54 |
| Virginia 20-8 | 16 | 28 | 44 |
| STARTERS | PTS | REB | AST | FG | 3PT | FT | PF | MIN | STL | BLK | TO |
| C. Ryan | 18 | 1 | 0 | 6/12 | 6/11 | 0/0 | 4 | 34 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| R. Davis | 12 | 4 | 1 | 1/14 | 1/8 | 9/10 | 2 | 37 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| A. Bacot | 10 | 13 | 2 | 4/7 | 0/0 | 2/2 | 3 | 27 | 0 | 2 | 1 |
| H. Ingram | 7 | 10 | 1 | 3/6 | 0/1 | 1/3 | 2 | 34 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| E. Cadeau | 4 | 2 | 6 | 2/8 | 0/2 | 0/0 | 3 | 27 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| BENCH | PTS | REB | AST | FG | 3PT | FT | PF | MIN | STL | BLK | TO |
| J. Withers | 2 | 5 | 0 | 0/1 | 0/0 | 2/2 | 0 | 12 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| J. Washington | 1 | 6 | 0 | 0/1 | 0/0 | 1/2 | 1 | 12 | 0 | 4 | 2 |
| J. Okonkwo | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0/0 | 0/0 | 0/0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| S. Trimble | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0/1 | 0/0 | 0/0 | 1 | 14 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| P. Wojcik | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0/0 | 0/0 | 0/0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| D. Farris | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| R. Landry | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| Z. High | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| C. Lebo | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| Total | 54 | 43 | 11 | 16/50 | 7/22 | 15/19 | 18 | – | 2 | 10 | 9 |
| STARTERS | PTS | REB | AST | FG | 3PT | FT | PF | MIN | STL | BLK | TO |
| J. Minor | 12 | 10 | 0 | 5/9 | 0/0 | 2/3 | 4 | 25 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| R. Beekman | 10 | 7 | 5 | 4/14 | 0/1 | 2/2 | 3 | 37 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| I. McKneely | 7 | 1 | 0 | 2/9 | 1/5 | 2/2 | 2 | 35 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| A. Rohde | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1/4 | 1/4 | 0/0 | 0 | 15 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| R. Dunn | 2 | 4 | 0 | 1/5 | 0/1 | 0/0 | 3 | 24 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| BENCH | PTS | REB | AST | FG | 3PT | FT | PF | MIN | STL | BLK | TO |
| E. Gertrude | 6 | 3 | 0 | 1/7 | 0/2 | 4/8 | 2 | 19 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| B. Buchanan | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1/3 | 0/0 | 0/0 | 1 | 15 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| D. Harris | 2 | 4 | 0 | 1/4 | 0/0 | 0/0 | 0 | 9 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| T. Murray | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0/0 | 0/0 | 0/0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| J. Groves | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0/3 | 0/1 | 0/0 | 2 | 19 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| T. How | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| L. Bond III | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| A. Robinson | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| C. Bliss | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| D. Roberts | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| B. Walker | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| Total | 44 | 33 | 5 | 16/58 | 2/14 | 10/15 | 17 | – | 5 | 7 | 5 |
UNC Bright Spots
Cormac Ryan had 18 points, 1 rebound, and 1 block.
RJ Davis had 12 points, 4 rebounds, and 1 assists.
Armando Bacot had 10 points, 13 rebounds, 2 assists, and 2 blocks.
Needs Work
The Tar Heels need to make sure they cut down on the stretches where their offense gets stagnant and settle for bad shots. They’re at their best when the ball is moving to the open man and when they’re getting downhill in the paint to create quality shots. They must be more consistent in that area.
Final Observations
North Carolina improves to 21-6 on the season, 13-3 in ACC play. They now have a 2-game lead in first place over second-place Duke. This was a great win for the Tar Heels because they finally broke through with a win and ended that 8-game losing streak in Virginia after all these years. This goes to show the type of squad this Carolina basketball team is. They are just built differently than the last couple of UNC basketball teams. They continue to show their toughness and resiliency as a team to win in adverse situations. The Heels find different ways to win and have different players step up and take over games and be the x-factor in these victories.
In this game, it was Cormac Ryan, who had struggled all season long with his three-point shot, but in this game made 6 threes and every one of those shots was critical for the Tar Heels. Coach Hubert Davis and his staff are doing an excellent job with this team and they still, even this deep in the season, haven’t reached their full potential yet, especially offensively. Their excellent defense is what made this team special and one of the elite teams in the country. But with the level they could possibly reach offensively with everyone clicking at the same time along with their elite defense, the Tar Heels would firmly put themselves as one of the top two teams in the country along with UConn. Next up is Miami on Monday, February 26 at 7:00 P.M. on ESPN.