UNC Falls To Virginia, Could Miss NCAA Tournament

GREENSBORO, N.C. — Virginia wing Jayden Gardner had 17 points and 10 rebounds, and No. 13 Virginia dealt a damaging blow to North Carolina’s already shaky NCAA Tournament hopes, beating the Tar Heels 68-59 in the Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament quarterfinals on Thursday night.

Reece Beekman added 15 points, five assists and five steals for the second-seeded Cavaliers (24-6), who finally wrestled away control of the game with a 9-0 run in the final two minutes after the Tar Heels had cut a 10-point deficit to 57-55. Much of that production came at the foul line, where the Cavaliers made 9 of 10 as UNC finally ran out of gas.

RJ Davis scored 24 points to lead the Tar Heels (20-13), who shot just 35.8% to lose for the second time in three meetings with the Cavaliers.

Virginia big man Kadin Shedrick put the final touches on the win, swatting away Davis’ driving layup at one end and then sprinting the floor to take a feed from Armaan Franklin for a two-handed dunk with 27 seconds left.

Shedrick, who did not play in the previous two games, had five blocked shots while being pressed into a larger role due to an injury to starting forward Ben Vander Plas.

Franklin finished with 14 points for Virginia, which scored on 13 of 16 possessions coming out of halftime and stretched its lead to 10 points on three occasions. The Cavaliers shot 58.3% in the second half.

UNC also continued a season-long trend of struggling to hit outside shots, making 8 of 27 3-point attempts.