Virginia vs. North Carolina Score Updates | ACC Men's Basketball Tournament

Score updates, play-by-play, and live analysis for the Virginia men's basketball game against North Carolina at the ACC Tournament

Matt Riley/Virginia Athletics

The No. 2 seed Virginia Cavaliers (24-6) defeated the No. 7 seed North Carolina Tar Heels (20-13) 68-59 in the quarterfinals of the 2023 ACC Men's Basketball Tournament on Thursday night at Greensboro Coliseum. See a full play-by-play and live analysis for the game below. Most recent updates are at the top of the page. 

Read a full recap of the game here: Virginia Shows Toughness in "Slugfest" Win Over North Carolina in ACC Quarterfinals

Final Score: North Carolina 59, Virginia 68

RJ Davis drives down the lane and is fouled by Isaac McKneely, making 1/2 free throws. Gardner gets a clean look from the left elbow but his shot rims out and Virginia has gone more than three minutes without making a field goal. Beekman comes up with a steal, but then misses a jumper from the free throw line. Caleb Love is fouled by Armaan Franklin and North Carolina is in the double bonus. Love misses the first, but makes the second and the lead is down to three for the Cavaliers. Armaan Franklin ends the scoring drought with a tough basket, driving on Davis and scoring off the glass with a right-handed floater. UNC answers on the other end, as Davis drives on McKneely and scores off the backboard plus a foul on McKneely. Davis completes the three-point play and it's 57-55 Virginia lead with two minutes left. Virginia breaks the full-court press and Davis fouls Kihei Clark, who goes to the line for a one-and-one. Clark swishes both free throws to push the lead back to four. Puff Johnson misses a three-pointer and UVA secures the rebound. Virginia breaks the full-court press and runs clock. Beekman drives baseline and dishes to Gardner, who is fouled from behind by RJ Davis. Gardner makes both free throws and Virginia leads 61-55. Love misses a deep three-pointer and Gardner grabs the rebound before getting fouled again. Gardner goes 1/2 from the line and the UVA lead is seven points. RJ Davis steps back for a three-pointer, but it's off the mark and Gardner gets the rebound again. UNC fouls Kihei Clark, who goes to the line and makes both free throws. Shedrick blocks Davis' layup attempt and Beekman collects the rebound, before sending a long pass down the floor to Franklin, who dishes to Shedrick for a dagger of a slam dunk. Shedrick is called for goaltending on Johnson's layup. UNC fouls Gardner, who goes to the line and makes both free throws. Caleb Love makes a driving layup, but the clock runs out and Virginia wins 68-59. 

North Carolina 59, Virginia 68 | Final

Johnson misses the first free throw, but makes the second. Virginia then turns the ball over in the back court as Franklin's pass is too low for Clark. Clark drives the lane and kicks to Franklin, who knocks down the corner three for his first three-pointer of the game. North Carolina turns it over and then Beekman drives to the basket, drawing a foul on Pete Nance. Beekman misses the first, but makes the second and UVA leads 55-47. Shedrick blocks a layup attempt from Davis off the backboard, but Nance collects the rebound and kicks out to Love, who hits the open three-pointer. Hubert Davis calls timeout with his Heels trailing 55-50 with four and a half minutes remaining. 

North Carolina 50, Virginia 55 | 4:32 2H

D'Marco Dunn goes to the foul line after the Shedrick foul and misses both free throws. Isaac McKneely comes free off of a screen and knocks down the catch-and-shoot three off the feed from Beekman. D'Marco Dunn misses a layup off the glass but Bacot is left uncontested for the offensive rebound and putback. Gardner drives hard to the rim and draws a foul on Bacot, making both free throws to push the Virginia lead to 49-39, the largest of the game. Dunn is called for a foul trying to contest Nance at the rim and Nance makes both free throws. Kihei Clark pulls up from just inside the three-point arc and hits the jumper. Caleb Love pulls up from the left wing and splashes the three, his first made field goal of the game. UNC runs the pick-and-roll to perfection with Love finding a rolling Nance for the easy layup, cutting the deficit to just five points. Gardner misses his second jumper in a row and North Carolina capitalizes on the other end. Love misses a three, but Puff Johnson is there for the offensive rebound and he draws a foul on McKneely. 

North Carolina 46, Virginia 51 | 7:40 2H

Love makes both free throws. Clark misses a mid-range jumper and then Love fires a bullet pass to Pete Nance, who finishes off the glass plus a foul on Ryan Dunn. Nance completes the three-point play and the lead is down to two for UVA. Franklin finds an open Kihei Clark under the basket and Clark finishes for his first points of the game. Virginia comes up with back-to-back steals and Beekman glides to the rim for a layup. Beekman stays aggressive and drives to the rack, drawing a foul on Love. Beekman makes the first free throw, but his second free throw rolls around the entire rim before falling out. Ryan Dunn is fouled by Pete Nance on a dunk attempt, but he misses both free throws off the back iron. Shedrick is whistled for his third personal foul. Nance appears to have an open layup, but Ryan Dunn rotates over and swats it out of bounds. RJ Davis picks off Franklin's pass and takes it the other way, drawing a foul on Franklin in transition. That's six team fouls for Virginia with 12 minutes left in regulation. Davis makes both free throws. Beekman curls around a screen and then throws a perfect lob to Shedrick, who finishes the alley-oop with a slam dunk. It's a short victory lap for Shedrick, who is called for his fourth personal foul contesting a shot at the rim and catches an elbow to the face, drawing blood. 

North Carolina 37, Virginia 44 | 11:23 2H

On the first possession of the second half, Armaan Franklin gets into the lane and gets a tough hook shot to fall over Leaky Black. Caleb Love misses a deep three and then Jayden Gardner hits a turnaround hook shot over Nance late in the shot clock. UVA leaves RJ Davis open in the corner and he hits his third three-pointer of the game. Franklin answers on the other end, driving on Black and scoring off the glass. Davis turns it over and then Beekman has a layup rolls off the front of the rim, but Francisco Caffaro soars to the rim and for the putback jam. UVA gets a stop and Gardner hits a short jumper from the right baseline. It's a 6-0 run for Virginia to open up a 35-27 lead. Caffaro is called for his third personal foul and is quickly replaced by Kadin Shedrick. Davis is left open again and he drills his fourth three of the game from the right wing. Franklin's layup attempt is well-contested but Gardner is there for the offensive rebound and putback. Caleb Love drives down the lane and draws a foul on Shedrick. 

North Carolina 30, Virginia 37 | 15:31 2H

Virginia gets the final possession of the first half. Isaac McKneely pulls up from well beyond the arc and his deep three-pointer is off the mark. UVA led by as many as eight, but takes only a one-point lead at 25-24 into the halftime break. 

North Carolina 24, Virginia 25 | Halftime

RJ Davis pulls up over Clark and drills the three-pointer from the top of the key. Pete Nance switches onto Armaan Franklin and Franklin crosses over and drives to the basket, finishing with his left hand. UVA had a couple of second-chance opportunities at the rim but couldn't get a shot to fall. Instead, UNC takes it the other way and Love kicks to the corner to Leaky Black, who hits his second three-pointer of the game. Beekman misses an open three from the right wing and then RJ Davis splashes a three-pointer from the right wing. Virginia had a couple of clean looks to extend the lead, but instead allows the Tar Heels to go on a 6-0 run to make it a one-point game. 

North Carolina 24, Virginia 25 | 13.3 1H

The run continues for Virginia as Beekman sends a bounce pass to Gardner, who hits the open jumper from the left elbow. UVA forces a UNC shot clock violation and all the Cavalier fans in the building stand up and make the signal. Clark passes to a cutting Beekman on the backdoor and Beekman passes to Caffaro, who finishes with a flush. North Carolina ends Virginia's 11-0 run as RJ Davis discards Clark and hits a mid-range jumper. With the shot clock dwindling, Reece Beekman pulls up from the top of the key and knocks down the three-pointer. He has 11 points on 4/6 shooting to lead all scorers. 

North Carolina 15, Virginia 23 | 4:00 1H

Black makes both free throws and UNC leads 9-5. Dunn and Gardner double team Nance as he pulls up for a jumper and Gardner blocks Nance's shot. Late in the shot clock, Beekman drives the lane and draws a foul on RJ Davis, making both free throws. D'Marco Dunn drives on McKneely, gets the freshman to bite on a pump fake, and finishes off the glass. Beekman drives to the rack in another late shot clock situation and finishes with his left hand. Clark gets run over by a screen from Nance and Davis coasts to the basket for an easy layup. Beekman picks off a pass and takes it the length of the court for a layup. Virginia gets another stop and then Beekman kicks out to Isaac McKneely, who splashes the three-pointer from the right wing to give the Cavaliers their first lead of the game. Caleb Love turns it over and Clark sends a pass ahead to Beekman, who finishes the transition layup. Caffaro takes a dive as Bacot tried to back him down in the low post and Bacot is called for an offensive foul. Virginia is on a 7-0 run and leads 16-13. 

North Carolina 13, Virginia 16 | 6:35 1H

Franklin makes the first free throw, but misses the second. With the shot-clock winding down, RJ Davis gets into the paint and elevates over Clark for a short jumper. Franklin hits a jumper from the right elbow to end a field goal drought of more than five minutes for Virginia. Ryan Dunn and Isaac McKneely check into the game for UVA. Shedrick has his layup attempt blocked by Armando Bacot and then Leaky Black drives baseline and draws a foul on Ryan Dunn. 

North Carolina 7, Virginia 5 | 11:38 1H

Both teams come up empty on their first possessions as Caleb Love misses a corner three and Jayden Gardner misses a free-throw line jumper. Armando Bacot backs down Francisco Caffaro in the paint and hits a jump hook with a friendly Greensboro roll off the back iron. Gardner steps back and hits a fadeaway jumper from the baseline over Pete Nance. Love drives baseline and kicks out to Leaky Black, who knocks down the open triple from the left wing. Caffaro picks up his first foul and in comes Kadin Shedrick for the first time since playing a few minutes against UNC on February 25th. Reece Beekman and Kihei Clark come up with steals on back-to-back possessions and Armaan Franklin drives and draws a foul on Pete Nance. 

North Carolina 5, Virginia 2 | 14:39 1H