Charlottesville, VA. (AP) – There are little less in a challenging first half with his two star players, number 10 Northern Carolina needed someone to emerge as an alternative against Virginia.
Enter Cormac Ryan.
He scored 18 points in the first half-15 points on-six-3-pointers and the Tar Heels at the Atlantic Coast Conference on Saturday with a 54-44 victory.
“Against Virginia, you are going to drop some shots down,” said Hubert Davis, the coach of Tar Heels. “And he was the only one who was able to shoot 3 to 3 consecutive balls. And it was huge for us to make them. But they think they feel that their defense has increased.”
Ryan, who created four 3s in his last two matches, led Tar Heels in Scoring for the first time, and his first half shooting opened the things inside after the HafTime.
“We were able to get some baskets in paint due to his ability to shoot Cormac and Basketball,” Hubert Davis said.
RJ Davis added 12 points-all in the second half-and Armando Bekot had 10 points and 13 rebounds for Tar Heels (21-6, 13-3), which went to the top position alone as the number 8 was lost in the day first in the Wake Forest. The victory also eliminated the eight-game losing streak at John Paul Jones Arena for North Carolina, but Hubert Davis said his team’s mentality would not change with four regular season games.
He said, “Can be said and much more is to be done.”
Jordan Minor had 12 points and 10 rebounds for cavaliers (20–8, 11-6), which could not recover from a 15-minute stretch in the first half, during which he missed 23 out of 23 fields, leading to 16–4 northern Carolina runs.
The more disappointing for Virginia was that it came with Becot on the bench in trouble on dishonesty.
“The day of crime was difficult. Yes, it is a common thread in the previous doubles games at that end, ”coach Tony Bennett said that he credited his defense to keep it near. “I think defense, a couple’s breakdown, was important. And we put a lot of pressure on our defense. We had possession or we had lost a man, but Raksha caught us a lot there.”
Northern Carolina never trapped after a starting minute. This was just 26–16 in Haftime, and Virginia closed six-three times in the second half, and with just two minutes to play within 47–42, but the Minor missed one end with one and one with 1:50 and Harrison was freed for an easy le-in at the other end.
Eliza was again found within five after a basket by Gartrude, virginia found a free throw, Tar Heels rebound her miss and RJ Davis made a pair to seal it.
Tar Heals were playing for the first time in a week after a 96-81 win against Virginia Tech. Two nights later, Hokies defeated cavaliers 75–41.
Big picture
Northern Carolina: RJ Davis (ACC-Hahai 21.3 PPG) was scorched on Hafatime and 1 ended for 14 from the ground. Backot (14.6 PPG) had only two points in the break after playing more than seven minutes before taking his second dishonesty.
Virginia: Cavalers’ aggressive Tars are re -re -acquiring late before the first half against the heels. Two games first, he missed his first 10 free throw in a 49–47 win against Wake Forest. He then scored just 41 points on shooting 32.4% in his 34-point loss in Virginia Tech.
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Northern Carolina is at home against Miami on Monday night.
Virginia plays at Boston College on Wednesday night.