Quick Hitters - North Carolina vs. Virginia (ACC Tournament Quarterfinal)

Isaac Schade presents Quick Hitters from North Carolina’s 63-43 win over Virginia on Thursday night in the ACC Tournament quarterfinals

Author:
Isaac Schade
Mar 11, 2022 4:29 AM EST

Quick Hitters from North Carolina’s 63-43 win over Virginia on Thursday night in the ACC Tournament quarterfinal round.

Highlights:

Condensed Game:

It seemed that Carolina was already securely in the NCAA Tournament following the Duke win, but if there were any remaining questions, they’ve all been answered. The only question now is seeding.
The last time Carolina beat Virginia by 16-plus points in back-to-back games was 2005.
Prior to this season, UNC had lost seven straight against Virginia. Certainly the Cavs are down this year, but Hubert Davis is 2-0 against UVA in his career.
The biggest benefit of the blowout is that no Tar Heel played more than Armando Bacot’s 34 minutes. Great news for the starters: You don’t have to play the entire second like the last game!
The Tar Heels have now won six in a row and have gone 12-2 in their last 14.
Armando Bacot didn’t overwhelm Virginia the way he did the first time, but he did do enough to secure his 24^th double-double of the season, the most ever in a single season in Carolina history. The previous record was 23, set by Brice Johnson in 2015-16.
Bacot also has 398 rebounds and looks to become just the second Tar Heel ever to get 400 in a season (the other is Johnson). The single season record is Johnson’s 416 rebounds from that 2015-16 campaign. Bacot is also just 12 rebounds shy of having 900 in his career. He will be the 13^th Tar Heel to accomplish that feat.

Brady Manek single-handedly outscored Virginia in the first half 19-13. Manek made each of his first three three-pointers and has now made multiple threes in six straight games and at least one three in 23 straight. Manek’s veteran presence will prove huge in the postseason for Carolina.

Caleb Love came into the game having made 36 straight free throws. He made his first four to get to 40, before finally missing what would have been his 41^st straight made free throw.
Neither Love nor RJ Davis had a particularly great shooting night. However, they did a great job valuing the ball. Combined, the back court duo handed out 11 assists and coughed up just one turnover.
Leaky Black didn’t have an eye-popping statistical game, but continues to make winning plays. I’ve talked about this elsewhere, but his versatility in guarding 1-4 should count more in the eyes of the voters. It was pretty comical watching him guard the diminutive Kihei Clark.
Carolina had more defensive rebounds (35) than Virginia had total rebounds (32).
Turnovers have been down the last couple games and they stayed there. The Tar Heels have committed single-digit tunrnovers in three straight games and have averaged 6.7 per game in that span. That’s a healthy number.
Carolina’s two highest assist percentages of the season have come over the course of the last three games. 72.4% against Syracuse and 68.0% against Virginia.
Well Carolina didn’t shoot well, but neither did Virginia. In fact, both teams shot quite similarly from the field and from three. Being able to win ugly is a characteristic of teams that do well in the tournament.
Virginia tied the game at 9, with 13:01 left in the first half. From there Carolina went on a 24-4 run to close out the first half. The Cavs scored just four points in the final 13:00 and zero points for the final 6:00.
If you have a chance, go back and watch RJ Davis’ tip in at 5:27 that made the score 25:13. For my money it was the athletic highlight of the game.
Justin McKoy has made three three-pointers this season, two of which came against his former team. It’s nice to see him now working back into the rotation.
No rest for the weary. Carolina turns around to play Virginia Tech on Friday night at approximately 9:30pm ET. If Carolina wins, they will have swept the two Virginia ACC schools 5-0.

Box Score

Hubert Davis postgame press conference

Brady Manek & Leaky Black postgame press conference

Remember to check in for Quick Hitters after every North Carolina basketball game. Next up is the ACC Tournament semifinal against Virginia Tech on Friday. Tip is at 9:30pm ET on ESPN.