Huff, Hauser lead No. 9 Virginia past North Carolina

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (AP) — Jay Huff had 18 points and 12 rebounds and No. 9 Virginia took control early and beat North Carolina for the seventh consecutive time, 60-48, on Saturday night.

Sam Hauser added 17 points for Virginia (15-3, 11-1 Atlantic Coast Conference) and Trey Murphy III had 12 as the ACC-leading Cavaliers won their fourth in a row.

The Cavaliers led 21-4 midway through the first half as the Tar Heels missed 13 of their first 15 shots. North Carolina (12-7, 7-5) closed to within 27-18 by halftime, but never threatened. The Tar Heels finished just two for 16 from 3-point territory.

Huff, who also blocked four shots, hit three of the Cavaliers' 12 3-pointers.

BIG PICTURE

North Carolina: The Tar Heels remain offensively inconsistent. They came in averaging 74.1 points, but scored just 50 two games ago in a 63-50 loss at Clemson, then had 91 in a four-point victory against Duke in their last outing. Before the loss to the Tigers, they had scored at least 75 points in five consecutive games.

Virginia: Reece Beekman, who shares point guard duties with Kihei Clark, had big numbers in columns that would not normally be associated with a 6-foot-3 freshman guard. He finished with just one point, but had eight rebounds and seven assists.

UP NEXT

North Carolina: home against No. 18 Virginia Tech on Tuesday night.

Virginia: heads on the road to play at No. 17 Florida State on Monday night.

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