Virginia Basketball: 3 takeaways from a disappointing home loss to North Carolina

3. Good Defense, as usual

While the offense had plenty of aforementioned struggles, the same cannot be said about the defense. As per usual, the 'Hoos did a very good job of locking down the Tar Heels and limiting the effectiveness of their two top players in Armando Bacot and RJ Davis.

The only big issue the Cavs had defensively was failing to contain Cormac Ryan, who lead the Tar Heels in scoring with 18 points, while shooting 6-11 from beyond the arc, and ultimately proved to be a big difference maker in the outcome of Saturday's game. The Hoos' aggression on defensive did result in the Tar Heels getting to the free throw line 19 times Saturday night, with more than half of those being from RJ Davis, who converted on 9 of his 10 free throws.

The Tar Heels average field goal percent sat around 45% entering Saturday's matchup. However, they shot just 32% from the field and 31.8% from beyond the arc. Outside of Cormac Ryan's aforementioned big night from beyond the arc, the Tar Heels shot just 1-12 from the three point line.

The 'Hoos also did a good job of containing the Tar Heels on the offensive glass, as North Carolina only had nine offensive rebounds, a step down compared to their usual ~12 offensive rebounds per game.

Ultimately, as good as the defense was, it still wasn't to earn Virginia a signature win over a top-10 team. However, the Cavs still have a few more opportunities to pick up some solid wins and pick up another top 3 finish in the ACC as the regular season winds down.