Cavaliers rip Heels 75-60; Williams accepts blame

CHAPEL HILL -- Virginia tore into North Carolina immediately after halftime last night, seized control and never let up to take a 75-60 win in the Smith Center.

Led by forward Sylven Landesberg and guard Sammy Zeglinski, Virginia allowed UNC to score the first basket of the second half and cut its lead to 35-32, and then went on an 18-0 scoring run that proved decisive.

Virginia's defense was throttling as well, and held UNC to one field goal and four points in the first 8:59 of the second half.

Coach Roy Williams of UNC took the blame for the loss, UNC's worst at home since an 81-66 setback to Maryland on Jan. 22, 2003, when Matt Doherty was the coach.

"Ol' Roy's been awfully lucky in his entire life and things have been very smooth, but right now they're not," Williams said. "I've got to do a better job with my team than what I'm doing right now."

UNC fell to 13-8 overall and 2-4 in the ACC, and suffered a third conference loss at home. Virginia improved to 13-6 and 4-2 under Tony Bennett, its first-year coach.

"I really thought that we would play well, but we didn't come out with the intensity (we needed) and being very sharp and executing properly," Williams said.

Landesberg led Virginia with 29 points and Zeglinski added 19, both season highs. Zeglinski points were a career ACC high.

Virginia won for the sixth time in 69 games in Chapel Hill. Bennett was making his first visit to the Smith Center. He considered the first five minutes of the second half the key to the win.

"We made them earn, and I think that was important," Bennett said. "And I understand, too, that they were cold and they didn't play one of their best games. I really understand that.

"We did take advantage of the opportunities that we had. And we didn't stop cutting hard and moving hard and defending hard. That's always our goal and it doesn't change, but I thought there was more purpose coming out (after halftime) because sometimes you can tighten up a little bit."

Virginia led 35-30 at halftime. Will Graves and Larry Drew led UNC with 15 points each. UNC shot 35.7 percent from the field, a season low, committed 17 turnovers and never led.

Virginia took its five-point halftime lead behind the scoring of Landesberg, who had 16 points in the first half, and sharp play that answered each UNC run.

UNC did force three ties in the first half. Each time UNC tied the score, Virginia responded with a basket to regain the lead.

Landesberg sliced through UNC's defense to make eight of 11 shots from the field. Graves drew the defensive assignment on Landesberg, but could not slow him down. UNC turned to Marcus Ginyard, its defensive ace, in the final minutes of the first half, but he, too, could not slow Landesberg.

Virginia led 30-27 when Landesberg had the ball on the right wing. He launched a long jump shot, with his right foot just stepping on the 3-point line, over Ginyard to build the lead to five points.

Graves hit a 3-pointer for UNC with 35 seconds left, hitting his last of four 3-pointers in the half, and getting the last of his 14 points before halftime. Virginia did not rattle and worked the ball to Mike Scott, who drilled a 3-pointer to build the lead back to five points.

VIRGINIA

Min FG-A M-A OR-T A PF Pts

Scott 27 4-8 2-2 2-5 3 1 11
Meyinsse 22 3-4 1-1 2-5 0 4 7
Landesberg 34 11-18 7-8 0-5 2 0 29
Zeglinski 27 5-9 4-4 0-2 4 2 19
Evans 31 2-4 0-0 0-2 6 2 4
Farrakhan 9 0-3 0-0 0-1 1 2 0
Sherrill 17 1-2 0-0 1-4 1 3 2
Baker 18 1-2 0-0 1-1 1 1 3
Sene 7 0-1 0-1 0-2 0 1 0
Jones 3 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Tat 1 0-0 0-2 0-0 0 0 0
Spurlock 1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Jonke 1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Kody 1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Browman 1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0

Totals 200 27-52 14-18 8-30 18 16 75

Percentages: FG .519, FT .778. 3-Point Goals: 7-17, .412 (Zeglinski 5-8, Baker 1-1, Scott 1-1, Evans 0-1, Sherrill 0-1, Landesberg 0-1, Jones 0-1, Farrakhan 0-3). Team Rebounds: 3. Blocked Shots: 5 (Meyinsse 3, Landesberg, Scott). Turnovers: 16 (Evans 4, Baker 3, Zeglinski 3, Landesberg 2, Kody, Meyinsse, Farrakhan). Steals: 9 (Zeglinski 4, Landesberg 2, Scott 2, Tat).

NORTH CAROLINA

Min FG-A FT-A OR-T A PF Pts

Thompson 29 2-7 3-6 2-4 1 1 7
Davis 21 1-3 2-6 2-7 0 3 4
Graves 31 5-15 1-2 3-5 1 0 15
Ginyard 28 0-3 2-4 1-4 3 2 2
Drew II 31 5-13 1-2 1-2 3 4 15
TWear 16 2-5 0-0 4-6 0 2 4
Henson 5 1-3 0-0 1-1 0 0 2
Strickland 20 1-2 2-2 0-1 2 2 4
McDonald 8 1-2 0-0 0-0 0 1 3
DWear 6 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Campbell 1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Petree 1 2-3 0-0 1-2 0 0 4
Watts 1 0-0 0-0 0-0 1 0 0
Thornton 1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 1 0
Gallagher 1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0

Totals 200 20-56 11-22 16-35 11 16 60

Percentages: FG .357, FT .500. 3-Point Goals: 9-22, .409 (Drew II 4-8, Graves 4-9, McDonald 1-1, T.Wear 0-1, Strickland 0-1, Ginyard 0-2). Team Rebounds: 3.
Blocked Shots: 1 (Davis). Turnovers: 17 (Thompson 4, Davis 3, Drew II 3, T.Wear 2, Ginyard 2, Strickland, Watts, Graves). Steals: 8 (Thompson 4, T.Wear 2, Campbell, Graves). Technical Fouls: None.

Virginia 35 40 — 75
UNC 30 30 — 60

A—14,437.