North Carolina Basketball: 3 keys for Heels to pull off upset over Virginia

Rebound the basketball!

The North Carolina Tarheels have five players on their roster who are 6’9″ or taller. For a collegiate team, they have a lot of big bodies who can crash the glass and dominate inside the paint. This has resulted in an impressive 39.75 rebounds per game, which is first in the ACC. The Virginia Cavaliers are at a decided disadvantage in this department; they have three players who are 6’9″ or taller and they have eight guards on the roster, which is an unusually high number.

The Cavaliers’ leading rebounder is 6’6″ Jayden Gardner who averages 5.3 rebounds per game. In contrast, The Tarheels have four players who average 5.3 or more rebounds per game, with their leading rebounder, Armando Bacot, pulling down an impressive 11.2 rebounds per contest. It is almost a foregone conclusion that North Carolina will dominate the glass; however, a team as experienced as Virginia will come prepared for this reality and do everything in its power to decrease its disadvantage.

The aforementioned Jayden Gardner is the Cavaliers’ best interior scorer, averaging 11.3 points per game on an impressive 52.1 percent field goal shooting and zero three-pointers made the entire season. If Virginia decides to dump the ball down to him on the block, he may decide to go into Bacot’s chest in an attempt to get him in early foul trouble. If he succeeds in this strategy, the Tarheels’ rebounding advantage will be greatly reduced.

Bacot is significantly taller than Gardner so he must be aware of the pump fakes, maintain verticality on all shot-blocking attempts and avoid fouling with the body. If he is able to do so, his length will make it difficult for Gardner to affect the Tarheels’ interior advantage.