UVA Holds North Carolina to Season-Low Point Total in 60-48 Win

The UVA basketball team got right down to business on Saturday night against North Carolina and never looked back. They raced out to an early 21-4 lead over the Tar Heels en route to a 60-48 victory at John Paul Jones Arena in Charlottesville. North Carolina scored the first bucket of the game but that was the only time they led all game.

Virginia, who has now won four consecutive games, locked a good Tar Heels’ offense up early and maintained their grip throughout. They allowed only two three-point field goals from their longtime rivals (2-for-16) and held them to just 34.5 percent shooting overall (20-for-58). It was North Carolina’s lowest scoring output of the season. On average, UNC is scoring over 74 points per game this season.

“We won the majority of the possessions,” head coach Tony Bennett said after the game. “That’s always the goal, to make the opponent earn a quality shot.”

No Tar Heels player scored in double figures on Saturday night.

Virginia has now held back-to-back opponents under 50 points. Overall, they have held four teams under 50 this season (William & Mary, Boston College, Georgia Tech, and North Carolina).

Offensively, the Wahoos were led by the one-two punch of Jay Huff (18) and Sam Hauser (17), both of whom were coming off quiet games vs. Georgia Tech. They each hit a three early on to account for Virginia’s first six points and eventually finished with the two highest point totals in the game. From downtown, they combined to hit seven of their 11 attempts; Huff was 4-for-6 while Hauser was 3-for-5.

Huff, it should be noted, also grabbed 12 rebounds and blocked four shots.

Trey Murphy III was the only other double-digit scorer on Saturday, finishing with 12 points on a nearly perfect night. He hit both of his two-point field goal attempts, 2-of-3 of his three-point attempts, and both of his free-throw attempts. He’s now scored in double figures in five of his last six games.

Freshman Reece Beekman, playing his most minutes since February 3rd against NC State, also had a standout night despite only scoring one point. He had the most rebounds (8) and assists (7) of his young career, while playing his brand of white-on-rice defense fans have become accustomed to.

“It started on our defensive end,” Beekman told Virginia Sports. “When we’re playing great defense, I feel like our offense is much better.”

Bennett has now used the same core group for Virginia’s last three games — the starting five of Beekman, Huff, Hauser, Murphy III, and Kihei Clark, plus sixth-man Tomas Woldetensae. All six have played 20+ minutes each in the Hoos’ last three with a sprinkling of sophomore Casey Morsell, who played eight minutes on Saturday. For the season, they’re the only seven Virginia players to play in at least 15 games and the only players averaging better than 13 minutes per game.

Virginia, now 15-3 overall and 11-1 in conference play, is still the highest-ranked ACC team by KenPom, sitting at No. 9. They have two big of their biggest tests right ahead of them as they play both Florida State (No. 20 by KenPom) and Duke (No. 36 by KenPom) on the road this coming week. The road trip to Tallahassee is right around the corner on Monday night at 7:00 p.m. on ESPN, then they’ll have the rest of the week to prepare for their Saturday night primetime showdown at Duke.