Saturday night’s ACC Tournament championship game seemed to be a matchup made in heaven — the top-two teams in the nation’s premier league slugging it out with conference dominance on the line. The dream slowly devolved into a nightmare for second-seeded Virginia.
The Cavaliers (26-7, 13-5 ACC) set the rules of engagement in the first half but could not pull away from top-seeded North Carolina. Then, Virginia lost all of their steam. The gassed Cavaliers simply could not buy a basket.
The Tar Heels (28-6, 14-4 ACC) capitalized on their opponent’s offensive misfortunes and escaped the Verizon Center with their 18th ACC tournament title.
While a 21-13 North Carolina run over the game’s final 9:51 was instrumental in crowning a champion, 10 minutes of basketball should not alter the way fans, the media and other teams view the Cavaliers. The Tar Heels deserve credit for their performance, but no one should think less of Virginia after Saturday night.
“Two teams playing their hearts out,” coach Tony Bennett said. “Carolina deserved it.”
To put it bluntly, North Carolina simply was the better team on Saturday night. Although the Tar Heels had their ups and downs over the regular season, they remain one of the most talented and dangerous teams in the nation — a team that opened the season at the head of the AP Top 25. A legitimate title contender.
Senior guard Malcolm Brogdon — the heart and soul of the Cavaliers — had a most forgettable night on the offensive end. The ACC Player of the Year ended the first half with 10 points on 4-of-13 shooting. Brogdon could not break out the funk and finished the game with 15 points on 6-of-22.
“Your confidence doesn’t really waiver,” Brogdon said. “You just have to keep shooting, even on tough shooting nights. You have to believe the next shot is going in.”
The Atlanta, Ga. native was on an all-world tier entering into Saturday night. Brogdon appeared to show the physical wear of being his team’s go-to option, but the Tar Heels also worked their tails off to make every look difficult.
To borrow from one of Bennett’s favorite adages, North Carolina made Brogdon earn.
“I wanted to make everything tough and contested,” senior guard Marcus Paige said. “I did a pretty good job of using my quickness.”
But Brogdon was not the only Cavalier to slump. Junior guard London Perrantes missed 11 of his 14 shot attempts and was only two-of-eight from deep.
The Tar Heels’ commitment to defense has been questioned throughout the season, but in fact North Carolina is second in the ACC in field goal percentage defense — limiting teams to 41.1 percent shooting. In the championship game, Virginia shot only 36.5 percent.
“I’ve been harping on, pushing them, cursing them, kicking them, pleading with them, begging with them all year long to understand how important the defensive end of the floor is,” coach Roy Williams said.
With their offense faltering, the Cavaliers were forced to rely on their defense to stay in the game. The Tar Heels worked hard to get the shots they wanted, and shot 54.5 percent from the field in the first half. However, eight turnovers kept North Carolina from pulling away.
Williams’s squad committed two more turnovers early in the second half, but after Brice Johnson gave the ball away at the 17:53 mark, the Tar Heels did not commit another turnover.
“You could tell it’s a good team because they exploit you, make you pay when you aren’t there on a rotation, on a trap,” Bennett said. “For the most part we fought and made it hard. That’s a team that certainly can score.”
Now both teams are consigned to play the waiting game. Selection Sunday awaits, and the Tar Heels are almost certainly destined to earn a No. 1 seed. Despite encountering a bump in the road, Virginia deserves a top seed too.
“Well, I do think Virginia deserves [a No. 1 seed] as well,” Williams said.
This is the simplistic beauty of sports. One team must win, while another team must lose. A somewhat weary Cavalier team ran up against a motivated North Carolina team that is just beginning to meet its full potential.
While the defeat stings, Virginia should not feel shame in their loss to the Tar Heels — a loss that reinforces North Carolina’s ability more than it should call the Cavaliers’ ability into question.
A new phase of the season begins Sunday, and the Cavaliers enter the NCAA Tournament armed with an All-American guard, a talent-laden roster and a brilliant coach.
“Tony is one of the giants,” Williams said. “And what he’s done with the Virginia program is just off the charts.”
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