By Adam Lucas

1. Virginia has been the best defensive team in the ACC in league games, and it showed on Monday night. The Tar Heels simply could never mount any kind of second-half momentum against the stingy Cavaliers, and never got the deficit into single digits after the 19:26 mark in the second half (Carolina has not had a second-half lead on the road in the ACC this year).

2. In the middle part of first half, J.P. Tokoto got a little too wrapped up in what turned into a physical one-on-one battle with Joe Harris. Tokoto did battle through some of the struggles, as after the Virginia senior hit three quick three-pointers to open the game, those would be his last field goals of the period. However, Tokoto eventually fouled out for the first time in his career.

3. In ACC play, Virginia had been one of the best teams in the league at preventing opponents from getting offensive rebounds. That changed against the Tar Heels, as Carolina was able to snag 17 offensive boards and turned them into 16 points.

Despite the work on the offensive glass, Carolina was again outmuscled against an ACC opponent. For the third time in five league games, the Tar Heel opponent attempted more free throws than UNC shot.

4. Carolina's end of first half execution was again poor. After getting the ball with 30 seconds left--and with Marcus Paige on the bench with two fouls--the Tar Heels mostly dribbled around aimlessly on the perimeter. The possession ended with Leslie McDonald airballing a three-pointer over two Cavaliers, as Virginia took all the momentum into the locker room.

5. McDonald's shooting slump is hurting the Tar Heels, because he continues to take the same volume of shots even when they are not going in. The senior is now shooting close to 25 percent from the field in ACC play, and under 25 percent from the three-point line in that same stretch. With that in mind, it was a good move by Roy Williams to go away from McDonald and go to the bigger lineup in the second half. The Tar Heels also played more 3-2 zone than they have recently, but no amount of defensive switching seemed to slow down the Wahoos, and Carolina also had occasional problems rebounding out of the zone.

6. Credit to Kennedy Meeks, who has quietly put together back to back solid games. The freshman had 15 points in Charlottesville after playing a strong second half against Boston College on Saturday.

Adam Lucas is the editor of CAROLINA.