Virginia’s NCAA Hopes Crash and Burn in Catastrophic Loss to North Carolina in ACC Quarterfinals
It was a must-win game - the most important game of the season. The Cavaliers needed a solid showing and an upset win against the Tar Heels to keep their NCAA Tournament hopes afloat.
Instead, Virginia had its worst offensive outing of the season and the game was essentially over by halftime.
The Cavaliers scored just 13 points in the first half in a catastrophically-poor performance as No. 6 seed Virginia (19-13) fell to No. 3 seed North Carolina 63-43 in the quarterfinals of the ACC Tournament on Thursday night at the Barclays Center.
With the season on the line, UVA came out of the gate out of sync on both ends of the floor.
Virginia even struggled on the defensive end, which has kept the offensively-challenged Cavaliers in several games this season. UVA had no answer for Brady Manek, who scored 19 points on 7/11 shooting in the first half. The Tar Heels did not get much offensive production outside of Manek, as the rest of the team went 6/23 from the field in the first half. However, that did not prevent UNC from taking a massive twenty-point halftime lead, as the Cavaliers were ice cold.
UVA made five shots and scored just 13 points in the first half, the lowest scoring first half of an ACC Tournament game in the shot-clock era. Brady Manek made more field goals (7) and scored more points (19) than Virginia did as a team in the first 20 minutes of the game. The Cavaliers shot 18.5% from the floor and trailed 33-13 at halftime.
The game was never close after that.
Despite shooting less than 40% from the floor, North Carolina led by as many as 24 points and cruised to the blowout win.
Manek finished with 21 points and seven rebounds and Armando Bacot had a 10-point, 11-rebound double-double for the Tar Heels. Jayden Gardner led the Cavaliers with 17 points, 11 of which came in the second half after the game was essentially out of reach.
UVA finished the game shooting 34.6% from the field, as the entire team, outside of Gardner, was out of rhythm on the offensive end for the majority of the game. Virginia's 43 points scored is the lowest scoring total of the season for the Cavaliers.
Virginia's loss drops the Cavaliers to 19-13 on the season and reduces their already-slim NCAA Tournament chances to a zero-sum.
North Carolina advances to play No. 7 seed Virginia Tech in the ACC semifinals on Friday night.
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