Quick Hitters - North Carolina at Virginia

Isaac Schade presents Quick Hitters from North Carolina’s 60-48 road loss to Virginia on Saturday night.

Quick Hitters from North Carolina’s 60-48 road loss to Virginia on Saturday night.

Highlights:

Condensed Game:

Quick Hitters

• Here’s the UNC highlight of the game, the first points of the game. Don't blink or you'll miss it, because it's all downhill from here:

• Following Love's dunk, Virginia went on a 21-2 run and the game was effectively over, because, well, Virginia. Carolina helped out by making just two of their first 16 shots.
• Following Virginia’s 21-2 run, the Tar Heels outscored Virginia 44-39 the rest of the way. The problem is that when you dig that big a hole, that early in the game, in a low-possession game, it’s nearly impossible to dig your way out.
• The following sentence is not a typo: North Carolina scored just four points in the first 10:49 of the game and didn’t make it to double-figures until Kerwin Walton’s layup with 6:05 left in the first half.
• This was the fourth straight true road game for the Tar Heels, all of which were ACC games. The last time that happened was 1954-55. More recently, in 1964-65, Carolina played four straight, but non-consecutive, ACC true road games (split by some non-conference games). In 1997-98 UNC played four straight true road games, two of which were ACC, two of which were out of conference. Most recently, the Tar Heels played four consecutive true road games, none of which were conference games, in 2007-08.
• This being the fourth straight road game was due to the Miami postponement earlier in the week. That postponement made this the second time in the last couple weeks that the Tar Heels had a week between games. In neither game on the back end of those two layoffs has Carolina scored more than 50 points (Clemson and Virginia).
• Virginia has absolutely owned UNC of late. The Cavaliers have now won seven straight in the series as well as the last seven in Charlottesville. Carolina’s point totals the last four games at John Paul Jones Arena? 48, 47, 49, 43.
• Playing time was spread out. No one hit the 30:00 mark and Kerwin Walton played the most at 26:02.
• A positive takeaway from the game: Carolina matched their season-low with eight turnovers. Sure it’s a low possession game, but still, only eight turnovers against Virginia is only eight turnovers against Virginia. Perhaps more importantly, Caleb Love was only credited with one of those.
• Another positive: For the 12th time in the last 15 games, the Tar Heels assisted on over 50 percent of their made field goals.
• All right, I’ve buttered us up enough with some silver lining tidbits. Let’s get back to the sadness. Apparent the Tar Heels used up all their three-pointers at Cameron Indoor Stadium last Saturday. Today they were 0-for-9 in the first half and finished 2-for-16, both makes courtesy of Kerwin Walton.
• Staying with the “not-great-shooting” theme, Carolina was just 6-for-12 at the free throw line. That makes the five-game running tally 45 for the last 87, or 51.7 percent.
• Okay just one more shooting percentages note: Carolina held Virginia to just 37.5 percent shooting in the first half (9-for-24), which is great. The problem was that the Tar Heels were even worse at 25.0 percent (8-for-32). Then UNC actually shot better than Virginia in the second half – 46.2 to 41.7 percent. The difference? The Cavs made 10 threes in the game to the Tar Heels’ two.
• Stop me if you’ve read this sentence before: “North Carolina was down by double-digits in the first half to [insert 2020-21 opponent].” Virginia was up 13-2 at the 12:30 mark of the first half today. It just keeps happening.
• Congratulations to Walker Kessler on what was the best ACC game of his young career. He led the team in scoring with nine points (a career high). He played 11:30, his second-most minutes in an ACC game (12:21 at NC State) and third-most in any game (14:10 vs. UNLV).
• If you were on cruise control, go back and re-read the second sentence of the last bullet point. I’ll save you the time: Walker Kessler led the team in scoring (interesting on its own merit) with nine points (9 points?!!?). Yes, that’s right, no Tar Heel reached double-digits in the scoring column. According to UNC’s stats account on Twitter (@UNCMBBStats), the last time no Tar Heel scored in double figures was March 4, 1966 when John Yokley led the team in scoring with six points in a 20-21 loss to Duke in the ACC Tournament.

Walker Kessler led UNC in scoring with nine points at UVA tonight.

The last time no Tar Heel scored in double figures was March 4, 1966, a 21-20 loss to Duke in the ACC Tournament in Raleigh.

John Yokley led UNC with six points in that game.

— Carolina Basketball Stats & Info (@UNCMBBStats) February 14, 2021

• Carolina was never really able to mount any sort of second half surge. They cut the lead to nine on five different possessions and had opportunities to possess the ball on three of those instances. Unfortunately, those three instances resulted in two turnovers and a Virginia offensive rebound that led to a three-pointer.
• By a conservative count, Carolina missed 13 lay-ups. If the Tar Heels make just six of those, it accounts for the margin of defeat.
• 18 first half points tied a Roy Williams-era low for points in a half. The other time it happened? The first half last year at Virginia.
• Yes, Virginia is a great defensive team. But because of it they inexplicably get the benefit of the doubt on many plays that should be whistled as fouls. The Cavaliers are still very capable of fouling their opponents, but apparently, referees tend to disagree. However, on the other side, you can’t breathe on Virginia without a foul being called. All right, I’m done whining. I’m sorry. Please forgive me.
• Congratulations to Creighton Lebo, who scored the first points of his North Carolina career.

Box Score

Roy Williams postgame press conference

Players postgame press conference

Anthony Harris

RJ Davis

Remember to check in for Quick Hitters after every North Carolina basketball game. Next up (unless a make-up is scheduled midweek) is a home game against Louisville on Saturday, February 20. Tip is at 6:00pm ET on ESPN

.@UNC_Basketball's next 🏀 game
(unless a make-up is scheduled midweek):

• vs. Louisville (@LouisvilleMBB)
• 🌎 = Chapel Hill, NC
• 🏟️ = Dean E. Smith Center
• 📅 = Saturday, February 20
• ⏰ = 6:00pm ET
• 📺 = ESPN
• 📻 = TuneIn (https://t.co/skY7AUuAIP)#UNCvsLou

— Isaac Schade (@isaacschade) February 14, 2021

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