Two Split Seconds Prove Costly
CHAPEL HILL - While it was eight points that separated North Carolina and Virginia in the Cavaliers’ 69-61 win on Monday night, two big plays near the end of each half had a huge impact on the Tar Heels.
The most crucial and devastating for UNC came with 3:29 remaining on the Smith Center clock when Coby White made a desperation 3-pointer from the Roy Williams Court logo as the shot clock expired.
At first, it appeared that White got his shot off just in the nick of time to give UNC a 62-59 lead. But following a review by the officials, the call was reversed, much to the dismay of the Smith Center crowd.
“It kind of stopped our momentum a little bit but we’ve just got to finish the game,” White said following the defeat. “We’ve just got to move on to the next possession.”
That call alone didn’t determine the outcome, but it did have a noticeable effect on how the Tar Heels played down the stretch as they were outscored 10-2 to end the game. A few of them acknowledged it gave UVA a psychological edge.
“They (the officials) made the right calls but, yea, it definitely hurts because you get so much momentum off of the shot,” Kenny Williams said. “That’s a shot that can swing momentum enough to where we can finish the game.”
The other close call that affected UNC’s momentum occurred less than six seconds before halftime when Virginia’s Ty Jerome mishandled a between-the-legs dribble, White scooped up the ball and raced in for a layup and needed momentum for the Tar Heels.
As the freshman grabbed the ball, however, Virginia's shot clock expired, meaning the play was dead and UNC would have to inbound the ball with just two seconds remaining.
The subsequent play led to a Williams 3-pointer that nearly banked in but didn’t fall. This meant that the Tar Heels went into the break behind 36-29, a deficit they would eventually come back from but could never get over in the end.
“It hurts, especially going into the half, I think that would have gave us a lot more momentum coming out of halftime,” White said. “But, nobody had possession so the shot clock ran down. There’s nothing you can do about it, the refs made a call. You can’t take it back now.
Looking back, if White was just a split second quicker on both plays, UNC would have likely had five more points to add to its total and the final minute could have played out differently. Still, the final margin was eight points, showing that neither of those calls cost UNC the game.
“I would like to have some of those possessions over,” UNC head coach Roy Williams said. “But, the bottom line is they ended up with more points on the scoreboard than we did.”