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Jan. 6, 2004
By Raymond Robb
In front of 9,000 excited fans at University Hall and a cable television audience on the now-popular ESPN, the 1985-86 Cavaliers defeated top-ranked North Carolina 86-73, registering one of the greatest upsets in the history of Virginia basketball. With the win, the Cavaliers gained their first victory over North Carolina in Charlottesville since a 74-58 decision in 1982.
Virginia started the season with four straight wins, including victories over in-state foes Virginia Commonwealth and VMI, before falling to 3rd ranked Duke 72-64 in the Atlantic Coast Conference opener. Facing 6th ranked Georgia Tech at home, the Cavaliers were defeated 64-61, dropping them to a disappointing 0-2 start in the ACC.
Following the loss to the Yellow Jackets, Virginia then rattled off five straight victories, including conference triumphs over Clemson, Maryland, and Wake Forest, before a two-point loss to N.C. State. The Cavaliers entered the match-up with the Tar Heels having won 8 of the last 10 games and with an overall record of 13-5 (3-3 in the ACC).
Undefeated North Carolina came into the game against Virginia on a remarkable 21-game winning streak. Early in the season, the Tar Heels defeated traditional power UCLA, as well as Missouri and Purdue, and claimed two tournament championships in the Great Alaska Shootout and Orange Bowl Classic.
Often thought of as a dominant team, the 1986 Tar Heels scored over 100 points on several occasions and featured a number of sizeable players, including 7-foot Brad Daugherty and 7-foot Warren Martin. North Carolina was a perfect 5-0 in the highly competitive ACC, beating N.C. State, Duke, and Georgia Tech at home, and downing Wake Forest and Maryland on the road.
Using a balanced offensive attack, Virginia started strong, connecting four times from the field and taking an early 8-2 lead. In the following minutes, Carolina cut the lead to one-point at 10-9, but that was as close as the Heels would come. Throughout the opening period, the Cavaliers slowly extended the lead to as many as 15 points. As Jerry Lindquist of the Richmond Times-Dispatch noted, “It was 21-13, Virginia, after nine minutes; 31-20 after 13”. Bill Millsaps, also of the Times-Dispatch, wrote, “The lead stretched to 8, to 10, to 13 and finally to 15 points twice just before halftime”.
Unranked Virginia, shooting 51.3 percent from the field, led North Carolina 45-32 at the break. The heavily favored Tar Heels, shooting just over 58 percent from the field on the season, made only 45.2 percent of their first-half attempts and trailed by 13 points.
Virginia opened the second-half with four unanswered points, pushing the lead to as many as 17 before a determined North Carolina rally. Kenny Smith scored several of his 14 second-half points, and with help from Brad Daugherty, the Tar Heels used a 12-0 run to cut UVa’s advantage to 49-44. However, Virginia quickly responded, and as Lindquist wrote, “A lay-up by Tom Sheeney against Carolina’s familiar trapping defense followed by a Sheeney free throw enabled the Cavaliers to regroup”.
From then on, it was all Virginia as the Cavaliers held the upper hand in almost every statistical category. Behind 21 offensive rebounds that translated into 16 points, UVa gained a 44-31 edge in rebounding overall. Virginia also played aggressive defense while maintaining a controlled attack on offense, turning the ball over only 12 times. The Cavaliers forced the Tar Heels into 19 turnovers, including 11 in the second half. When North Carolina began to foul down the stretch, Virginia’s consistent free throw shooting throughout the game (22 of 29 from the line) helped to put the Heels out of reach for good.
While Daugherty and Smith produced a combined 41 points for the Tar Heels, six Virginia players scored in double-figures. Olden Polynice led the Cavaliers with 19 points and Tom Sheeney added 11, as both players grabbed 10 rebounds. Reserves John Johnson and Richard Morgan scored 13 and 12 points, respectively, as Virginia’s bench outscored North Carolina’s 29-10.
The win over the Tar Heels gave the Cavaliers a fourth conference victory on the year and fourteenth overall, as UVa finished the 1985-86 season with a record of 19-11 (7-7 in the ACC). Under head coach Terry Holland, the ’86 Cavaliers competed in post-season play for the ninth consecutive season, and advanced to the NCAA tournament for the fifth time since 1980-81.