Virginia Looks to Play Spoiler at North Carolina

The Virginia Cavaliers will look to play the spoiler role on Saturday when they travel to Chapel Hill to take on the North Carolina Tar Heels.  Tipoff is scheduled for 4:00 PM Eastern, televised on ESPN 2.  

North Carolina currently occupies sixth place in the ACC standings, with a record of 9-6.  While the Cavs are 6-9 in conference play. 

About North Carolina

The Tar Heels are led by fourth-year head coach Hubert Davis.  A former UNC star player, he went on to play 12 seasons in the NBA.  Davis returned to Chapel Hill as an assistant coach, then took over when Roy Williams retired.   He’s had an up and down tenure as head coach.  There have been great highs, a surprise Final Four run in his first season and an ACC regular season title a year ago.  But also disappointing results mixed in. 

UNC enters with a 16-11 overall record, 9-6 in ACC play.  They’ve only lost one home conference game, to Stanford on a buzzer beater.  The Tar Heels are in an uphill fight to earn an NCAA Tournament bid.   They currently sit at 45 in the NCAA’s NET rankings, badly in need of quality wins to enhance their resume.   Adjusted efficiency metrics show them being solid on both ends of the floor, with a top 40 offense.  

North Carolina’s Personnel 

Davis has settled on a primary eight-man rotation.  The starters vary from game to game.  Last time out, they went with the following group.  

G - Elliot Cadeau (6’1” Sophomore, 10.3 points and 6.0 assists per game)

G - RJ Davis (6’0” Graduate, 17.5 points and 3.9 assists per game)

F - Drake Powell (6’6” Freshman, 6.9 points per game, shoots 37% from 3)

F - Ven-Allen Lubin (6’8” Junior, Vanderbilt transfer, 6.9 points and 4.8 rebounds per game)

F - Jae’Lyn Withers (6’9” Graduate, 5.3 points per game, shoots 43% from 3)

Junior guard Seth Trimble (12.1 PPG) leads the team in rebounding at 5.5 per game.  Freshman guard Ian Jackson (13.6 PPG) is a 39% three-point shooter.  And junior Jalen Washington (6.4 PPG) is the true big man in the rotation. 

Spoiler Role

This is a game that North Carolina simply cannot afford to lose.  Their path to an NCAA Tournament at-large birth is already very narrow.  A home loss to a Virginia team currently ranked outside the top 100 would be catastrophic for the Tar Heels.  

UNC is coming off one of their best performances of the year, a 97-73 beatdown of NC State on Wednesday.  Their remaining schedule is very manageable, leading up to a season finale rematch with Duke.  Unfortunately, the metrics show the ACC to be weak this season. The Tar Heels may need to win out the rest of the way, and still perhaps do some damage in the ACC Tournament, to earn an NCAA at-large bid. 

For the Hoos, this is another big test.  They were overwhelmed a bit by Duke on Monday, snapping UVA’s three-game win streak.  Interim coach Ron Sanchez and his staff had them playing pretty well going into that game. They’re in the midst of a very tough stretch of the schedule.  We’ll see if they can prove the progress is real by being competitive against a very talented even if somewhat disappointing Tar Heels squad.    

Up Next

It doesn’t get much easier.  The Wahoos will be on the road again on Wednesday night to face another bubble team, Wake Forest.  Followed by Clemson at home next Saturday. 

Be sure to tune in for the pregame show, starting 30 minutes before tipoff.  Available on the Locker Room Access Facebook page and YouTube channel. 

(Featured Image Credit: Getty)