bgorman@heraldsun.com; 419-6668
CHAPEL HILL -- When North Carolina beat N.C. State on Wednesday to end a three-game losing streak, the players were visibly relieved and happy.
But they also know the season is not over just yet. The Tar Heels still have a lot of work ahead of them if they hope to finish near the top of the ACC and earn a NCAA Tournament spot.
"It's a small step and you've got to start with the first step, so we'll see how it goes," senior Marcus Ginyard said.
The Tar Heels will get a chance to take the next step today when they host Virginia (7:45 p.m., Fox Sports) at the Smith Center.
The Tar Heels have won six straight over the Cavaliers, but Virginia enters today's game as one of the biggest surprises in the ACC so far.
The Cavs, under first-year coach Tony Bennett, were picked in the preseason poll to finish second to last in the conference. Midway through January, they stood atop the ACC standings as the league's only undefeated team. But after victories over N.C. State, Georgia Tech and Miami, Virginia has now dropped two in a row to fall into a tie for third.
Virginia lost at Wake Forest, then fell in overtime to Virginia Tech on Thursday after giving up a 10-point lead with 3:44 to play.
"We just have to build off of [the N.C. State win] and use it as momentum and continue to work in practice because we still spotted a lot of people a lot of ground and we've got a lot of ground to make up," UNC senior Deon Thompson said.
Thompson said the win over the Wolfpack could be the turning point in the Tar Heels' season, but the real test comes today. UNC will be trying to win its first back-to-back games since victories over Rutgers and Albany on Dec. 28 and 30, and trying to win its first home game since losing to Georgia Tech and Wake Forest in the Smith Center.
The key tonight for the Tar Heels will be trying to slow the league's fifth-leading scorer, Sylven Landesbert, who is averaging 17.6 points and 5.1 rebounds. UNC also needs to be tough inside to defend Virginia's second-leading scorer -- 6-8, 239-pound forward Mike Scott (13.3 points, 7.3 rebounds).
The Cavs also are one of the ACC's top 3-point shooting team, making a league-best 39.5 percent of their shots from beyond the arc with an average of 6.3 per game.
"[The win over N.C. State] isn't going to make up for the last three games that we played," UNC's Larry Drew II said after Wednesday's victory. "We're 2-3 [in the ACC] now, so we've got to play hard every game from here on out."
