UVa. lacks rhythm against UNC

Charlie Everett stood up on his toes to peek over the horde of scribes in the North Carolina players’ lounge and identify the teammate seated in the center of the mass of tape recorders.

As much as he tried to shun the accolades, Rashad McCants could do nothing to avoid becoming the center of attention after the Tar Heels’ 85-61 win against Virginia on Wednesday.

McCants scored 23 points, his highest point total in nearly a month, and dished out six assists to lead North Carolina (21-3, 9-2 in the ACC) to its 15th straight victory at the Smith Center.

“You guys are watching the games, but I’m playing, so I don’t pay attention to all that stuff,” McCants said. “As long as we keep winning, I really don’t care about anything else.”

MEN'S BASKETBALL Virginia 61 UNC 85

Virginia (13-10, 4-8), which suffered a demoralizing 34-point loss to the Tar Heels in Charlottesville in January, tried to slow the pace to contain the high-flying UNC offense — and it succeeded, to a degree.

But the Cavaliers also had to hit shots from outside to keep the game close, and they never found the rhythm they needed. Leading scorer Devon Smith shot 3-of-12 — including 1-of-6 from 3-point range — and finished with eight points in his second consecutive disappointing performance against the Tar Heels.

“There’s a scoreboard for a reason — you have to put the ball in the basket,” said Virginia coach Pete Gillen. “We didn’t do that today.”

North Carolina, meanwhile, patiently waited with a smothering defense on the perimeter and Sean May in the paint.

Even with Marvin Williams sidelined with a sprained toe, May continued his recent domination of the interior at both ends.

He did not block a shot for only the second time in seven games, but he did grab 16 rebounds to lead all players by a wide margin. And when the Tar Heels got to the offensive end, May established himself under the basket well enough to score 17 points — though he did turn the ball over eight times.

But McCants, who shot a combined 3-of-20 from 3-point range in his previous three games, created the Tar Heels’ first 11 points.

“He’s a big part of our team, but at the same time, if he’s having a bad game, we have people who can pick up the slack,” said guard Raymond Felton. “Of course, we definitely need his offense, and we definitely need that type of play from him, but if he slacks or if he has a bad game, we have people to pick it up for us.”

McCants’ pass — and a T.J. Bannister foul — sent Jawad Williams to the free-throw line 45 seconds into the game, and he found May twice for layups in the next minute. He later took a pass from Jackie Manuel and threw down a two-handed dunk. He sealed the strong stretch when he fed Felton for an open 3-pointer with less than five minutes gone in the half.

“Everyone’s trying to make it out that he’s been struggling, but I think he’s been playing pretty well,” said Coach Roy Williams. “He realizes with this team that he doesn’t have to score as much as he did with some other teams.”

But the talented scorer wasn’t finished at that early stage. His 3-pointer from the top of the arc and runner off the glass keyed a 12-0 run late in the first half that effectively put the game away.

“(Roy Williams) told me he wanted me to be more aggressive on the offensive end, and I told him I didn’t want to ruin any chemistry by forcing any shots,” McCants said. “If we keep doing what we’ve been doing throughout the whole year, we’ll keep winning games.”

Contact the Sports Editor at sports@unc.edu.