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GREENSBORO, N.C. – No. 13 Virginia received some bad news Thursday when it learned forward Ben Vander Plas would miss the rest of the season with a broken hand. While disappointed, the Cavaliers weren’t deterred later that night in a 68-59 ACC Tournament quarterfinal win over North Carolina at Greensboro Coliseum.
UVA advanced to play in Friday’s 9:30 p.m. semifinal against the winner of the late quarterfinal between Clemson and N.C. State. It’s the seventh time in the last nine ACC Tournaments that the Cavaliers have advanced to the semis.
Virginia (24-6) defeated a Tar Heels team in dire need of a victory to buoy its NCAA Tournament at-large hopes. UNC (20-13) is left now to wait for Selection Sunday to see if it gets in.
Virginia announced before tipoff that Vander Plas was injured in practice Wednesday. The 6-foot-8, 234-pound forward was with the team during pregame warmups with his hand wrapped in an elastic bandage. He seemed upbeat while coaching his teammates.
They seemed to respond with a strong showing against the Tar Heels. Junior guard Reece Beekman had 15 points, five assists, five steals and no turnovers; senior forward Jayden Gardner scored 17 points and grabbed 10 rebounds, and senior guard Armaan Franklin poured in 14 points.
Senior Francisco Caffaro started in place of Vander Plas and provided some high-energy minutes, finishing with four points and two rebounds in 13 minutes. Junior forward Kadin Shedrick also provided quality play off the bench in his first significant playing time since playing 26 minutes in a home win over N.C. State on Feb. 7.
Shedrick, who played a total of 27 minutes in UVA’s previous five games and didn’t see the floor in the previous two contests, scored four points and blocked five shots in 19 minutes.
The Cavaliers shot 49% and scored 14 points off of 11 UNC turnovers. UVA had eight steals and scored 28 points in the paint.
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Guard R.J. Davis led UNC with 24 points. Senior forward Armando Bacot started, but still showed some effects of the left ankle sprain he suffered in the first half of Wednesday’s second-round win over Boston College. He finished with four points, three rebounds and three turnovers in 21 minutes.
The Cavaliers clung to a 25-24 lead at halftime but opened up a bigger cushion with an 11-2 run near the midway point of the second half. Freshman guard Isaac McKneely punctuated the scoring binge with a deep 3-pointer from the left wing with 11:11 remaining.
But the Tar Heels stuck around, getting as close as 57-55 with 2:03 remaining on a traditional three-point play by Davis. Clark and Gardner combined to go 9 for 10 at the free-throw line in the final two minutes, and Shedrick threw down a monster dunk to seal the deal.
UNC shot 35.8% and made 8 of 27 3-pointers. Davis was 4 for 8 from behind the arc.
Vander Plas averaged 7.4 points and 4.6 rebounds in 29 games this season, including 14 straight starts before getting injured. The transfer from Ohio finishes his five-year collegiate career with 1,787 points, 892 rebounds and 242 3-pointers.
UVA shot 40% and led by as many as eight in the first half, but UNC clamped down on defense and scored on a barrage of 3-point baskets to close to within 25-24 at the break.
Beekman scored 11 points with three assists and no turnovers in the first half. He scored seven points during a 14-2 run that allowed the Cavaliers to turn an 13-9 deficit into a 23-15 lead with 5:25 remaining in the half.