Five Takeaways From Virginia Basketball's 81-66 Loss to North Carolina

Virginia (13-14, 6-10 ACC) suffered an 81-66 loss against North Carolina (17-11, 10-6 ACC) on Saturday at Smith Center in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Read below for our key takeaways from the Virginia loss.

A Slow Start Plagues the 'Hoos

It was a tall task to begin with for the Virginia men's basketball squad to travel down to Chapel Hill, North Carolina and escape with a road win over the Tar Heels. Unfortunately for the 'Hoos, that tall task became a nearly impossible one as they started Saturday's contest about as poorly as a basketball team possibly can. Nine minutes into the game, UVA found themselves 1/10 from the field and down 21-2 until an Isaac McKneely bucket ended a 15-0 UNC run. Virginia fans have grown accustomed to long stretches of scoreless basketball from this talent-lacking Virginia offense, but the first ten minutes of ice cold offense from UVA still came as a surprise given stronger production as of late.

Putting the abysmal first ten minutes of the loss aside, the Cavaliers deserve credit for their response to early adversity. Following the 1/10 start from the field, they strung together a much needed, 8/10 stretch of shooting on the offensive end that saw the 'Hoos cut the 19-point Tar Heel lead to as little as eight in the first half.

The Virginia response was a welcome sign of heart for a team that easily could've thrown in the white towel early on and coasted to a loss in a game nobody expected them to win. In the end, the massive, early deficit proved too tall a mountain for the Cavaliers to climb, but the 'Hoos can take a small moral victory as they kept it competitive deep into the second half.

Outshot in Chapel Hill

UNC was was markedly better in most categories on the stat sheet saturday, but the three-point totals and efficiency jump off the page. UVA finished the night just 6/22 from deep (27%), compared to the Tar Heels who finished 9/16 from three, good for a 56% clip, a welcome sign for a team shooting just 33% from behind the arc on the year. Jae'Lyn Withers lead the way for North Carolina, knocking down 4/6 from beyond the arc.