UNC men's basketball drops sixth game of season in 79-74 loss at Virginia

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — Since the start of the season, Coach Roy Williams has referred to Virginia as the best team in the country.

And in the North Carolina men’s basketball team’s 79-74 loss to the No. 3 Cavaliers on Saturday at John Paul Jones Arena, the seventh-ranked Tar Heels learned why.

Despite multiple chances down the stretch, UNC (23-6, 12-4 ACC) couldn’t overcome a second-half run by UVa., ultimately dropping its sixth game of the season.

The Cavaliers (22-6, 11-5 ACC) led for a majority of the first half, thanks in large part to redshirt senior Malcolm Brogdon’s offensive success. The guard scored or assisted on 22 of the Cavaliers’ first 29 points, as UVa. raced out to a 29-21 lead.

“Malcolm in the first half was about as a good of a performance as we’ve had against us this season and maybe in several years,” Williams said.

But the Tar Heels stormed back at the end of the first period behind sophomore guard Joel Berry.

Berry finished the first half with a team-high 14 points, and his two 3-pointers in the final minute of the period allowed UNC to trim the deficit to 38-35 entering halftime.

Coming out of the locker room, North Carolina made it a point of emphasis to feed the ball to forward Brice Johnson, who scored UNC’s first six points of the second half.

But after making a pair of free throws with 17:17 left, the senior failed to score the rest of the way and attempted only two more shots.

Despite the lack of offensive production from Johnson, the Tar Heels managed to tie the score at 49 with 13:38 remaining. But sophomore Marial Shayok’s three-point play moments later ignited a 16-5 run by the Cavaliers.

Trailing 65-54, the Tar Heels slowly cut into UVa.’s lead over the next eight minutes before Marcus Paige’s 3-pointer with 14 seconds left pulled UNC within 77-74.

As they did all night, though, the Cavaliers — who shot 18-for-21 on free throws— converted from the charity stripe.

Redshirt sophomore Devon Hall made two free throws with 15 seconds left, giving UVa. the cushion it needed to hand UNC its sixth loss of the season.

Quotable

“I thought the biggest factor in the game was they played with a high level of intensity on both offense and defense. I think they were the actors and we were the reactors the whole night.” — Williams on the biggest difference in the game.

Notable

The Cavaliers outscored the Tar Heels 32-28 in the paint on Saturday night. UNC is now 0-3 when they score less than 30 points in the paint. North Carolina scored 22 points in the paint at Northern Iowa and 28 at Louisville.

Three numbers that matter

22: North Carolina’s six losses have been by a total of 22 points.

21: Berry scored a career-high 21 points during Saturday’s game. He made a career-high four 3-pointers in the first half and made one more shot from behind the arc in the second.

9: UNC’s post players committed nine of the team’s 13 turnovers. Johnson turned the ball over a team-high five times, as the Cavaliers double-teamed the senior forward.

What’s next?

The Tar Heels return to the Smith Center on Monday to face Syracuse on senior night. The game will tip off at 7 p.m. and be televised on ESPN.

@patjames24

sports@dailytarheel.com