North Carolina Tar Heels Draw Virginia: Tough Matchup

The North Carolina Tar Heels went toe to toe with Louisville yesterday, and the reward was a matchup with number one seed Virginia. The Virginia Cavaliers, coached by Tony Bennett, represent the most difficult matchup possible in the tournament for the Tar Heels.

The first reason is the style of Coach Tony Bennett himself. Bennett coaches an offense based on the offensive system of Bo Ryan at Wisconsin. It relies on being patient, slowing down the game, and taking a good shot. Bennett, like Ryan, has a number of shooters to take advantage of open jumpers. Injured James Anderson also makes his return for the Cavaliers.

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The patient plodding style of Virginia does a couple of things that North Carolina is not comfortable with. The Tar Heels rely on hustle points coming in a fast paced environment. Points off turnovers and second-chance points are key to a Tar Heel stat line. Both are more prevalent when you play with a quicker pace.

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Virginia’s style limits turnovers, which means that breakaway action to rush the tempo is unlikely. Virginia’s team defense has been good enough that no team has really imposed themselves on the Cavaliers. The weakness for Virginia is a matchup one. Only two teams were able to pound Virginia with that problem, Duke (Jahlil Okafor) and Louisville (Montrez Harrell).

North Carolina’s preference, the secondary break, requires action early in the possession to be effective. Getting caught in a half-court duel with Virginia will not favor the Heels. The Tar Heels need to avoid playing Virginia’s pace and try to force the game into the 70s and 80s, where Virginia would rather a game in the 50s and 60s.

So what does this mean for the Tar Heels? It means the first ten minutes of the game at critical. The Heels need to seize the pace AND gain a good lead early. That will force Virginia to play catchup, something that their system is not designed to do. Of course limiting turnovers and fouls will be important too, as they always are.