North Carolina leading scorer and rebounder Armando Bacot left Tuesday night’s 65-58 loss at No. 13 Virginia just over a minute into the game after injuring his left ankle.
Bacot rolled his ankle 1:18 into the game and did not return. He was replaced by Jalen Washington, a freshman, who played 27 minutes in Bacot’s absence and matched his season total for field goals with five, as North Carolina went on a 21-5 run in the first half and led by seven points early in the second. Armaan Franklin started Virginia’s rally with a putback dunk, and Vander Plas also had a putback dunk and a pair of 3s, putting Virginia (12-3, 4-2 Atlantic Coast Conference) ahead 52-42 with nine minutes left.
Reece Beekman scored 13 points and Franklin had 12 points and nine rebounds as the Cavaliers won their eighth straight meeting with the Tar Heels at John Paul Jones Arena.
The Tar Heels (11-6, 3-3) closed within 58-55 on Love’s 3-pointer with 2:47 to go, but McKneely hit a deep 3 in front of the Virginia bench to restore the lead to six. Love made another 3, but Beekman drove an open lane for a dunk, Vander Plas made a steal and dunked, and Kihei Clark forced a turnover to seal it.
Trailing 10-3 after a slow start for both teams, the Tar Heels surged to a 24-15 lead with just under four minutes left in the half. Washington scoring nine in the flurry. Virginia scored 12 of the last 17 points to get within 29-27 at the half.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.