North Carolina (20-3, 8-2) vs. Virginia (13-9, 4-7)
Chapel Hill, N.C. - Dean E. Smith Center
Wednesday, 7 p.m., ESPN
Quotables
"Virginia has won its last three games, so we know we've got them on an upswing. ... In
this league, you hope that your kids are mature enough to understand that Wake Forest
loses at Florida State and it's a 40-point game the second time. So the point swings can
be huge in this league, depending on how your team is playing at that particular moment.
Sometimes you catch a team at a bad time, and then they come back around and they're
playing real well." -- Roy Williams
"I don't think [a blowout] will happen again. They've got a phenomenal team. They have
some great, great players; and yeah, the last time we played them they played great and we
were very poor. We put our heads down and got a little discouraged. They shot the ball
great. We played Virginia Tech and had gotten back at 1:15 in the morning [on the Friday
before Saturday's noon tip in Charlottesville]. It's a fact. We had to get up at 7:30 on
Saturday, so we weren't fresh at all. But no matter what happened, they would have
whacked us that day." -- Pete Gillen
PREGAME NOTES
First Meeting with UNC: The Tar Heels quickly ended their U-Hall losing streak,
jumping to a 35-10 lead, which grew to 62-26 at halftime and ended up a 110-76 final score. The Tar Heels
shot 60% FG (61% 3pt) for the game and held Virginia to 25% first-half shooting. Jawad Williams (23
pts) and Sean May (20 pts) led the UNC scoring assault.
Season To Date: The Cavs showed early promise with a November win over Arizona,
but barring a miraculous late-season turnaround they'll miss on the NCAA Tournament yet
again -- and head coach Pete Gillen will exit Charlottesville. From Jan. 2 to Feb. 2,
Virginia went 2-8, likely sealing their fate. Why the struggles? Lack of depth and
committing more than twice as many turnovers as opponents are two clear reasons.
Injury Report: Freshman forward Adrian Joseph (5.1 ppg) has missed the last four
games with a quadriceps injury and hopes to return Wednesday. Senior defender/rebounder
Jason Clark (6.7 ppg, 5.2 ppg) was dismissed from the team six week ago for academic
reasons.
Slow Down: While he's not proud to admit it, Pete Gillen has found a successful
offensive formula for making his team competitive in the ACC -- play a guard-heavy lineup,
spread out and slow it down. This approach has produced three straight wins over NC
State, Florida State and Virginia Tech by limiting turnovers and frustrating opponents.
But Gillen notes that he actually did it for defensive reasons. “We’re playing this new
style to play better defense," he said. "If we play fast, some of our fast-paced guys get
tired and then they can’t play defense. We play tag and we’re not going to outscore teams
in the ACC, we’re not that type of team. We just try to give ourselves a chance every
game. I think our style is not so much helping our offense, I think it’s improving our
defense a little bit so we have more energy to play defense.” The Cavs' opponents are
shooting 41.3% over the three-game stretch and averaging only 18.3 field goals per game.
For the sake of comparison, UNC had 39 field goals in its win at UVa earlier this season.
One-Two Punch: With a team short on reliable contributors, Devin Smith and Elton
Brown have been pretty consistent in filling the box scores. The seniors are UVa's top two
scorers and rebounders. Smith has the ability to score in bunches, as evidenced by his
40-point outing at Iowa State earlier this season. Brown, at 6-9, 255 pounds, is a load
in the post and when he maintains his focus can post double-doubles.
Emerging Star?: Smith and Brown are UVa's top producers, but if last Saturday was
any indication, Gary Forbes could be next in line. The 6-6 sophomore swingman scored 16
of UVa's 21 points during a second-half stretch to lead the Cavs to victory over Virginia
Tech. It was the third 20-plus scoring effort of his career and served as a reminder why
he was all-NYC two years ago.
Projected Starters:
44 Sean Singletary (6-0, 180, G, Fr.) - 9.7 ppg, 4.0 apg
15 T.J. Bannister (5-10, 170, G, So.) – 4.1 ppg, 3.5 apg
2 J.R. Reynolds (6-2, 200, G, So.) – 10.6 ppg, 2.7 rpg
33 Devin Smith (6-5, 242, F, Sr.) – 16.9 ppg, 6.3 rpg
43 Elton Brown (6-9, 255, C, Sr.) - 14.3 ppg, 8.8 rpg
Key Reserves:
23 Gary Forbes (6-6, 210, F, So.) – 9.0 ppg, 3.8 rpg
30 Adrian Joseph (6-7, 200, F, Fr.) – 5.1 ppg
32 Jason Cain (6-10, 205, F, So.) – 2.5 ppg, 2.5 rpg
55 Donte Minter (6-8, 245, F, So.) – 1.5 ppg, 0.6 rpg
UVa Info
Schedule
Stats
Roster &
Bios
Photo Gallery
Brown ... Smith
Singletary ... Forbes
Reynolds ... Gillen