GREENSBORO, N.C. -- Friday's loss to North Carolina demonstrated the rigors of competing in the ACC are relentless. Only nine days after falling by a 45-point margin to North Carolina in Chapel Hill, Virginia had to face that same Tar Heel squad in Friday evening's quarterfinal round of the ACC Tournament at the Greensboro Coliseum. Riding the momentum created by Thursday's opening round 60-56 win over Virginia Tech, the Cavaliers opened up an early 12-2 lead against the Tar Heels and it seemed as if revenge might be possible.
Revenge, however, was not to be had. Utilizing a well-balanced attack, the Tar Heels overcame their sluggish start and gutted out a 79-67 victory over the Cavaliers. Virginia's overall season record now stands at 15-14, placing them in line for their current position facing an NIT game against Standford tonight.
"I thought that both teams, from an energy standpoint, battled each other pretty hard," Virginia coach Dave Leitao said. "I had a notion that we would have a sharper edge because we had played yesterday and they had been off for the past few days. Maybe that's why we got off to a good start, but they kept coming after us and coming after us."
Sophomore point guard Sean Singletary led Virginia with 29 points on seven-of-16 shooting from the field and 12-for-12 shooting from the free throw line. His offensive explosion was complemented by J.R. Reynolds, who notched 20 points of his own. The junior guard knocked down 12 of his 14 free throw attempts. The aggressiveness of Virginia's guards put the Tar Heels in foul trouble for much of the game. North Carolina's freshman point guard Bobby Frasor fouled out with 2:15 remaining when he knocked down Singletary who was attempting a three-pointer.
"J.R. Reynolds and Sean Singletary make it a load for you," North Carolina coach Roy Williams said. "Dave Leitao did a great job of designing a plan to make sure they kept driving the ball to the basket, and we didn't do a good job guarding them, except for fouling."
Virginia, however, also got into foul trouble of its own, forcing Leitao to utilize a smaller lineup than usual. Reserve guards T.J. Bannister and Billy Campbell saw increased action as the Cavaliers often resorted to a three-guard set. Sophomore swingman Adrian Joseph fouled out of the game, while Jason Cain, Laurynas Mikalauskas and Mamadi Diane all finished the game tagged with four fouls. This created matchup problems for Virginia, especially with North Carolina's versatile junior forward Reyshawn Terry, who led the Tar Heels with 24 points.
"If you look at the statistics of the past few games, [Terry] has been the one guy that has really raised his level of play for them," Leitao said. "He is built like a power forward but has the touch of a perimeter player. He is a difficult matchup not only for us but for a lot of people."
Virginia trailed 39-34 at halftime and was never able to get closer than the five-point margin they held in the second half. Whenever the Cavaliers seemed poised to make a run, North Carolina answered. Freshman phenom Tyler Hansbrough scored 17 points for the Tar Heels in the post and junior guard Wes Miller recorded 15 points from the perimeter.
In Thursday's opening round contest against Virginia Tech, Reynolds scored 23 points to lead Virginia to a 60-56 win over the Hokies. The Cavaliers have now beaten Virginia Tech three times this season. Mikalauskas notched a double-double, scoring 11 points while pulling down 12 rebounds, including seven offensive boards. Against North Carolina, however, the freshman was limited to six points and five rebounds.
Overall, Leitao said he was generally satisfied with the effort put forth in Greensboro by his young squad.
"After the 80 minutes of basketball we had on this stage, we can walk away knowing that we competed hard enough [to be successful] while also learning lessons that will hopefully help us when we are at this point again," he said.
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