No. 5 Virginia puts clamps on UNC
Mamadi Diakite scored 12 points and No. 5 Virginia rebounded from a blowout loss with a 56-47 victory Sunday over No. 7 North Carolina.
Tomas Woldetensae added 11 points and Francisco Caffaro had 10 points and six rebounds for the Cavaliers (8-1, 2-0 ACC), who lost 69-40 last week at Purdue in the Big Ten/ ACC Challenge.
Cole Anthony led North Carolina (6-3, 0-1) with 12 points. Fellow freshman Armando Bacot had 11.
The Tar Heels became the seventh team Virginia has held below 50 points this season. With North Carolina’s 74-49 loss at home to Ohio State last week, it was the first time since 1947-48 that the Tar Heels failed to reach 50 in back-to-back games.
“I’ve been very fortunate coaching-wise, but this is the most frustrated I’ve ever been,” North Carolina coach Roy Williams said. “I don’t think we’re playing basketball the way I want us to play and that’s probably the most frustrating.
“We tried to play at a fast pace and we go 1-for-14 (from 3-point range). We had one assist at halftime. One assist . ... We fouled a jump-shooter three times in a row. I’m just, I’m beside myself.”
Virginia coach Tony Bennett empathized with Williams.
“Carolina and us are both trying to keep finding our way,” Bennett said. “You just have to fight. We have to fight and scrap and play with guts, and sometimes we have and sometimes we haven’t.”
Virginia limited the Tar Heels to 37% shooting (17 of 46), and UNC missed 10 of 22 free throws.
Gonzaga state champs: Killian Tillie made a 3pointer as the shot clock expired with 2:55 remaining and finished with 15 points, Joel Ayayi hit another 3 with 24 seconds left and No. 9 Gonzaga held off No. 22 Washington 83-76.
Control of the in-state rivalry remained on the east side of the state as the Bulldogs (10-1) could never pull away but made the key plays in the closing minutes to hold off the young Huskies (7-2). Gonzaga has won six straight in the series.
Isaiah Stewart led Washington with 21 points and 10 rebounds.
Layups: Cassius Winston had 23 points and seven assists, helping No. 11 Michigan State pull away to beat Rutgers 77-65 in the Big Ten opener for both teams. The Spartans (6-3) got a season-high 14 points from Gabe Brown, starting in place of Rocket Watts, expected to be out about a week with a leg injury . ... Jalen Crutcher had a season-high 21 points and tied a career high with five 3-pointers in No. 19 Dayton’s 78-68 victory over Saint Mary’s. Obi Toppin scored 16 points and Trey Landers had 15 points and eight rebounds for the Flyers (7-1) . ... Devin Vassell had 14 points and nine rebounds and No. 17 Florida State made 15 threepointers in a 72-53 rout of Clemson. Anthony Polite had 12 points on four 3s for the Seminoles (8-2, 1-1 ACC) . ... Malachi Flynn hit a 3-pointer with ninetenths of a second left to give cold-shooting San Diego State a thrilling 59-57 victory over San Jose State for the Aztecs’ first 10-0 start since opening 20-0 behind Kawhi Leonard in 2010-11.