Stevenson's second half lifts No. 22 UNC past No. 14 UVa
Despite trailing by as many as 16 late in the first half, No. 22 North Carolina got 17 second-half points from Jarin Stevenson and 20 from freshman phenom Caleb Wilson to beat No. 14 Virginia 85-80 on Saturday.
The Tar Heels got the win in large part because of the play of Stevenson, who helped them put up a dominant second-half performance in which they outscored the Wahoos 51-37.
“The defensive intensity was not where we needed it to be,” head coach Ryan Odom said postgame. “The communication was lacking and really, in general, poor defensive performance overall, and in retrospect, it started out pretty well.”
Thijs De Ridder had a game-high 20 points for UVa (16-3, 5-2 ACC).
UVa got off to a hot start in the first half, taking a 10-2 lead early and never giving it up despite the Tar Heels (16-4, 4-3) tying the game at 14-14 with a 12-4 run. The Cavaliers responded with a 7-0 run of their own to reclaim their lead, which ballooned to 16 with 2:05 remaining in the half.
Despite the terrific half for the home team, the Tar Heels regained momentum before the break, ending the half on a 7-0 run to cut the lead back to single digits before the break.
“We like to pride ourselves on closing out halves the right way, and unfortunately we didn’t,” Dallin Hall said after finishing with 8 points and 4 assists for the Hoos.
De Ridder led all scorers with 13 at half. Luka Bogavac had 11 and Wilson had 10, but no other Tar Heel has more than five.
North Carolina’s momentum carried after the halftime break, and Stevenson gave the Tar Heels just their second lead of the night with a dunk with 11:57 to go. The Wahoos took the lead back with just over seven minutes to play but a Stevenson and-1 with 2:51 remaining gave UNC the advantage for good.
Despite UVa’s 16-8 advantage in second-chance point, turnovers were a key difference maker in the game. UVa committed 11 to UNC’s four, only one of which came in the second half. And the Tar Heels capitalized, scoring 19 points off of of them compared to Virginia’s four. Carolina also had 21 fast-break points to the Hoos 10.
UVa also struggled from beyond the arc, going just 8-for-27 for the game and 2-for-12 in the second half. On the other end, the Cavaliers held UNC to just 10-for-22 from 3.
In addition to De Ridder, UVa got 11 points from the trio of Sam Lewis, Malik Thomas, and Chance Mallory in the loss.
