Ryan's Stroke Huge Lifting Heels
CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA – Cormac Ryan knew all too well about the importance of knocking down rare open jumpers when facing Virginia’s stingy defense.
The Cavaliers don’t give up too many open looks, especially on the perimeter, so when a player gets one or more, they need to make the shots. And that’s exactly what Ryan did Saturday at John Paul Jones Arena.
Ryan led all scorers with 18 points, all coming on six made 3-pointers, in UNC’s 54-44 victory over UVA. Five of his threes came in the first half, helping the Tar Heels to a 10-point halftime lead.
One might say without Ryan’s marksmanship, Carolina wouldn’t have ended an eight-game, 12-year losing streak to the Wahoos inside JPJ.
“Cormac, I mean it’s an amazing performance,” Armando Bacot said. “When he’s shooting the ball like that, that’s hard to beat us. For him to pick up the offensive end when me and RJ (Davis) didn’t have the biggest game offensively, especially in the first half, shows the depth on this team.”
Bacot sat the last 12:39 of the first half with two fouls, and finished with 10 points. Davis didn’t score until a few minutes into the second half and had just one field goal on the afternoon.
So, in such a low scoring game, any made three factors more than in more conventional games. UVA entered the game last in the nation in tempo, so Ryan’s barrage, especially late in the half, helped the Heels maintain balance.
His first three came 89 seconds into the game, and his second put UNC up 12-4 with 11:30 left before halftime. Then he had a true eruption not often seen against the Wahoos.
Ryan sank one for an 18-6 lead with 6:17 left before halftime, then again for a 21-8 advantage with 4:48 left. And he capped the stretch with a trey with 2:01 remaining for a 24-14 lead.
“I was just glad that I was able to help the team, especially in the first half knocking down shots,” Ryan said. “It opened up the floor a little bit. Just providing scoring against a good defense.”
His final three of the day gave tenth-ranked UNC (21-6, 13-3 ACC) a 31-22 lead with 16:40 remaining in the contest. Ryan didn’t score again, but it didn’t much matter. He did so much damage that UVA adjusted defensively, putting more emphasis on him, even face guarding him much of the time.
The result was UNC’s last four field goals of the game were three dunks (all by Armando Bacot) and a layup. It also converted six free throws when fouled near the rim. The middle of the lane occasionally opened, and the Heels took advantage enough to get a win.
And for Ryan, who was 3-for-14 from the perimeter against UVA when playing at Notre Dame, his outside shooting performance was a continuance of something launched two weeks ago in Coral Gables when he sank two against Miami.
In the last four games, Ryan is 16-for-32 from the perimeter and raised his season percentage from 26 percent to 33.3 percent.
“Honestly, the biggest thing is to remain steady and stay confident, and this is the product of that,” Ryan said. “Not getting too high, not getting too low, and just trusting the hard work that I’ve put in.”
That work is clearly paying off of late.