Chapel Hill, N.C. -- The Tar Heels were the better team tonight. While North Carolina was calm, collected and businesslike, Virginia was sloppy, frantic and in shambles.
It's not that the Cavaliers couldn't have won this game; it's not even that North Carolina was too deep, too strong or too athletic for Virginia to keep up. The Cavaliers simply allowed themselves to get flustered, and they gave the game away to North Carolina.
Virginia's turnover tally? 27. That number -- a season-high -- tells the entire story. Virginia had as many or more turnovers each half as the Tar Heels had the entire game.
In fact, two Virginia players combined for more turnovers than the North Carolina team. The same stat was true for Virginia's men's team when they lost to Virginia Tech. Turnovers lose games, and when LaTonya Blue and Brandi Teamer combine for 13 turnovers, the Cavaliers will not beat the worst team in the ACC, nevermind the No. 7 team in the nation.
No matter how well you play the rest of the game, no matter what talent or enthusiasm you play with, nobody wins when they lose the turnover battle 27-12 -- nobody.
The Tar Heels scored 48 second-half points after being held to just 26 in the first half. That's nearly double. But what can the Cavaliers expect when they give up 24 offensive rebounds?
Carolina's defense was perhaps the toughest the Cavaliers have faced all season, and it seemed the only points Virginia could get without extreme difficulty were in transition. Virginia's half-court offense was unable to crack the stingy Carolina D.
Cherrise Graham, Virginia's leading scorer this season, went one for nine from the field tonight, while Virginia's best shooter Anna Prillaman only got two looks, connecting for three on one of them.
Maybe it's just me, but when a team is struggling in half-court sets, wouldn't it be beneficial to try to get their best shooter more looks? On the other hand, the Cavaliers didn't seem to be holding onto the ball long enough to get anybody good looks.
There is no excuse for sloppy play. As coach Debbie Ryan herself admitted, most of the turnovers were not forced, but were rather the result of rushed, careless play by the Cavaliers.
If there's one place that such haphazard play will definitely cost you the game, it's on the road. At least in your own arena, you have the crowd, the home court calls from the officials and the familiar surroundings. The Cavaliers lost to Carolina just like they did to Florida State on the road -- due to inexcusable turnovers.
The team believes that they can still run and beat any team left on their schedule, "including Duke" according to Ryan.
Well, if the Cavaliers continue like they did tonight, turning the ball over, playing sloppily and with seemingly no purpose, they can lose to every team left on their schedule. The Cavaliers are already 2-6 in the ACC and playing like they did tonight won't help them at all. If the Cavaliers have any dreams of resurrecting their season and at least playing for pride, those dreams are drying up very quickly. If they don't turn things around from where they were tonight, they can most certainly kiss those hopes good bye.
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