GAMEDAY Mens Basketball
Virginia 65, North Carolina 59
(AP Photo/Mike Kropf)
By HANK KURZ Jr.
AP Sports Writer
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. - Ben Vander Plas had 17 points and eight rebounds and No. 13 Virginia used a 17-2 second-half run to rally for a 65-58 victory over North Carolina, which lost leading scorer and rebounder Armando Bacot to a left ankle injury early in the game.
Reece Beekman scored 13 points and Armaan Franklin had 12 points and nine rebounds as the Cavaliers (12-3, 4-2 Atlantic Coast Conference) won their eighth straight meeting with the Tar Heels at John Paul Jones Arena. Freshman Isaac McKneely scored 11 for Virginia, going 3 of 4 from 3-point range.
Bacot rolled his ankle 1:18 into the game and did not return, but North Carolina went on a 21-5 run in the first half and led by seven points early in the second. Franklin started Virginia's rally with a putback dunk, and Vander Plas also had a putback dunk and a pair of 3s, putting Virginia ahead 52-42 with nine minutes left.
RJ Davis led the Tar Heels (11-6, 3-3) with 16 points and Caleb Love and Jalen Washington added 13 each. Washington, a freshman, played 27 minutes in Bacot's absence and matched his season total for field goals with five.
The Tar Heels closed within 58-55 on Love's 3-pointer with 2:47 to go, but McKneely hit a deep 3 in front of the Virginia bench to restore the lead to six. Love made another 3, but Beekman drove an open lane for a dunk, Vander Plas made a steal and dunked, and Kihei Clark forced a turnover to seal it.
Trailing 10-3 after a slow start for both teams, the Tar Heels surged to a 24-15 lead with just under four minutes left in the half. Washington scoring nine in the flurry. Virginia scored 12 of the last 17 points to get within 29-27 at the half.
BIG PICTURE
North Carolina: Justin McCoy, who played two years at Virginia before transferring to North Carolina before last season, was booed when he entered the game. McCoy had been little-used, making only seven appearances and totaling seven points in those games.
Virginia: With the Cavaliers shooting poorly in the first half (9 of 24, 38%), Beekman highlighted his importance with two steals and fast-break layups, and then another steal that led to a two-on-one break with Clark scoring.
January 10, 2023
| North Carolina | ||||||||||||
| Player | Pos | Min | FG-FGA | FT-FTA | 3P-3PA | OR-TR | Ast | Blk | Stl | TO | PF | Pts |
| A. Bacot | F | 1 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 1-1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| C. Love | G | 36 | 4-13 | 2-2 | 3-9 | 1-4 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 2 | 13 |
| R. Davis | G | 35 | 6-12 | 1-2 | 3-5 | 1-3 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 3 | 16 |
| L. Black | G | 30 | 3-8 | 0-0 | 1-5 | 0-6 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 7 |
| S. Trimble | G | 16 | 0-2 | 2-2 | 0-0 | 1-1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 2 |
| J. Washington | 27 | 5-11 | 3-6 | 0-2 | 1-6 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 13 | |
| D. Dunn | 21 | 2-4 | 0-0 | 1-3 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 5 | |
| J. McKoy | 15 | 1-3 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 1-6 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| P. Johnson | 14 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | |
| T. Nickel | 4 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Totals | 199 | 21-53 (.396) |
8-12 (.667) |
8-24 (.333) |
8-36 | 9 | 2 | 5 | 13 | 19 | 58 | |
| Virginia | ||||||||||||
| Player | Pos | Min | FG-FGA | FT-FTA | 3P-3PA | OR-TR | Ast | Blk | Stl | TO | PF | Pts |
| K. Shedrick | F | 18 | 1-2 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 2-2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 2 |
| J. Gardner | F | 15 | 1-2 | 1-2 | 0-0 | 0-1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 3 |
| R. Beekman | G | 38 | 5-12 | 3-4 | 0-2 | 0-2 | 5 | 1 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 13 |
| K. Clark | G | 38 | 3-8 | 1-3 | 0-1 | 0-2 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 7 |
| A. Franklin | G | 36 | 4-13 | 4-7 | 0-5 | 1-9 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 12 |
| B. Vander Plas | 27 | 6-10 | 2-3 | 3-7 | 1-8 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 17 | |
| I. McKneely | 21 | 4-5 | 0-0 | 3-4 | 0-1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 11 | |
| F. Caffaro | 5 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 1-3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | |
| R. Dunn | 1 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Totals | 199 | 24-52 (.462) |
11-19 (.579) |
6-19 (.316) |
6-32 | 11 | 8 | 9 | 8 | 12 | 65 | |
