Hubert Davis celebrates after North Carolina’s big win over Virginia
North Carolina had a long wait in between games with a whole week off after beating Virginia Tech last Saturday. And as they waited a week to face off against Virginia, the Tar Heels left Charlottesville with a big win on Saturday.
It was an ugly first half for both teams but it saw the Tar Heels take a 26-16 lead into the break. UNC’s defense was fantastic as Virginia struggled from the field. However, the Tar Heels couldn’t put it away and had to hold off a Cavaliers team that cut the lead down to 5 late in the second half.
But a win is a win and the Tar Heels will take it, especially after seeing RJ Davis only go 1-of-14 from the field. Still, they got the win as Cormac Ryan lead the way with 18 points.
Before we look ahead to the Miami game on Monday night in Chapel Hill, let’s see what Hubert Davis had to say about the win on Saturday.
“Against Virginia, you’re gonna have to knock down some shots and he was the only one that consistently was able to shoot the ball from three. And that was huge for us from the standpoint of him making them, but him making them I think stretched out their defense. And so when we had Cormac coming off those screens, they were so aware of where he was. We were able to get in the second half some baskets around in the paint, because of Cormac and his ability to shoot the basketball today.”
“Going into this game, you know, one of the things that we consistently said to each other is whatever it takes on both ends of the floor. Whatever it takes to get through a screen, to box out, to rebound, to talk on defense and dive on loose balls. Offensively, whatever it takes to come off those screens, to post up hard, to get second chance opportunities, to knock down open jumpers, to get to the free throw line, whatever it takes. And so, I think I mentioned it before, we’ve been in games like this where you just had to find ways to be able to win and just another gritty win for us and I’m just really proud of this group.”