UNC gets rebound win against UVa with help of solid rebounding

Former UNC basketball player Shammond Williams stopped by No. 5 North Carolina’s practice Friday to see how the Tar Heels would respond to their loss to Duke.

Turns out, in talking to Kendall Marshall, Harrison Barnes and Stilman White, he gave them a piece of advice UNC could have used against the Blue Devils.

“He just asked us, ‘Has anybody ever explained to you all how to manage a game? You know, how to win a game?” Marshall said. “As weird as the question sounds, no.”

Williams told the players it was important not to come up with empty possessions.

So was the lesson learned against Virginia on Saturday?

“I think (we did that),” Marshall said. “When we had a 10- or 11-point lead with three minutes to go, we didn’t dwell on it. The lead grew.”

North Carolina finished the game on a 9-2 run from that point to beat the Cavaliers 70-52.

But the Tar Heels didn’t have it as easy as the outcome would suggest. UNC started the game very slowly, scoring just 14 points in the first 11 minutes.

The Tar Heels weren’t shooting well — just 32 percent in the first half — and it never really picked up.

Instead, the Tar Heels simply won Saturday by creating second chances.

“Both teams would have liked to have shot it better, but today the rebounding was the biggest key and it was a big plus in our favor,” UNC coach Roy Williams said.

UNC out-rebounded UVa. 52-32 and grabbed 23 offensive rebounds, just one less than Virginia had on the defensive glass.

That means UNC had a second opportunity for almost every other shot the team missed. Twenty-three of the Tar Heels’ points came off second-chance opportunities.

“All you have to do is look at the stat sheet and they had 23 offensive rebounds, and that’s too many,” Virginia coach Tony Bennett said. “For us to have a chance in a game like this we have to do a better job on the glass and for whatever reason, we struggled.”

Part of those struggles started when Virginia star forward Mike Scott left with 9:10 remaining in the first half with two fouls. He didn’t return until the second half.

“I think foul trouble hurt both of us early, but perhaps hurt UVa. even more,” Williams said. “Mike Scott is really a load, and I was happy to have him over there in foul trouble.”

But even Scott’s absence in the first half couldn’t have played too large a role. UNC led Virginia 35-32 at halftime after Scott played 10 minutes.

He played 17 minutes in the second half, and the Tar Heels outscored Virginia 35-20 and out-rebounded the Cavaliers 29-15.

“I think to hit a wall of adversity on Wednesday night and hit it again in the first half today and still find a way to win, that says a lot about our team,” Marshall said.

The Tar Heels didn’t shoot well in the second half – just 38 percent – but they didn’t go empty on too many possessions. Barnes and John Henson finished with double-doubles and Tyler Zeller turned in another big game, scoring 25 points and grabbing nine boards.

UNC even got some good production from its bench, which was more important than usual for the team with guard P.J. Hairston out. James Michael McAdoo led that group with nine points and seven rebounds in 18 minutes.

“You never want to lose two in a row, so it was something where we all came out with the right attitude,” Zeller said. “We just all wanted to regain a little bit of confidence.”

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