UNC vs. Virginia: Score, Highlights and Reaction from 2016 Regular Season

The third-ranked Virginia Cavaliers rebounded from a tough loss to the Miami Hurricanes with a confidence-boosting 79-74 win over the No. 7 North Carolina Tar Heels on Saturday at John Paul Jones Arena.

Virginia has now won 19 straight home games and is in prime position to capture a No. 1 seed when the NCAA tournament bracket is revealed March 13, per Fox Sports' Reid Forgrave: 

North Carolina was able to cut an 11-point deficit to three in the waning seconds of regulation, but the Tar Heels didn't have enough offense to mount a comeback on a night when Marcus Paige scored just 13 points on 4-of-13 shooting.

Joel Berry II led Carolina with 21 points in the loss as Brice Johnson and Kennedy Meeks added 12 and six points, respectively.

Malcolm Brogdon starred for Virginia with 26 points on 9-of-16 shooting, including a 3-of-5 mark from three-point range, while London Perrantes added 12 points and six assists. Anthony Gill chipped in with 15 points, but Virginia's scoring distribution didn't balance out until the second half. 

Brogdon broke down the Tar Heels defense early and often and allowed the Cavaliers to maintain a lead for most of the first half. The senior scored 13 of Virginia's first 18 points, and the early showing led to ESPN.com's Jeff Goodman showering him with praise:

And while Brogdon accounted for 44.7 percent of Virginia's first-half points, the inability of head coach Tony Bennett's supplementary scorers to contribute in meaningful ways allowed North Carolina to keep things close, per ESPN Stats & Info:

The Tar Heels didn't show much in the way of interior scoring in the first half, but a flurry of long-range shots stabilized an offense that has struggled mightily from beyond the arc all season. 

North Carolina entered Saturday's ACC showdown ranked 301st in the nation with a three-point conversion rate of 31.4 percent—the same as UNC-Asheville and Indiana State—but it wasn't evident over the game's first 20 minutes, as Tar Heels play-by-play announcer Jones Angell noted:

After making four threes combined over his last four games, Berry exploded for four first-half treys that helped keep the halftime deficit at three.

The story changed in the second half, when North Carolina repeatedly dumped the ball inside and let its big bodies go to work. Johnson and Meeks carved out space in the paint and capitalized on second-chance opportunities, but Isaiah Hicks flashed the most impressive skill, as College GameDay documented: 

But just as Carolina started to threaten, the Cavaliers ramped up the defensive intensity and forced the Tar Heels into a slew of turnovers and contested looks late in the shot clock.

Virginia went on to build an 11-point lead midway through the second half, and its ability to dictate the action on both ends forced Carolina to scramble. 

The win couldn't have come at a better time for the Cavaliers, who were seeking to validate their No. 1-seed credentials following losses to Duke and Miami in the span of nine days.

And while nothing is set in stone, a win over No. 11 Louisville on March 5 and a deep run in the ACC tournament could be enough to vault Virginia into the NCAA tournament's top tier. 

The story differs for the Tar Heels, who are now 4-4 over their last eight games. 

A loss to Duke at the Dean Smith Center was bad enough, but slip-ups against Virginia, Louisville and Notre Dame have North Carolina on regression alert with the ACC tournament on the horizon. 

A strong week in Washington, D.C., could change the narrative, but for now, the Tar Heels' stock is trending in the wrong direction.

Postgame Reaction 

"Malcolm's been terrific all of conference play," Bennett said, per UVA's official Twitter account. "All of his career, really. He made the tough plays. He was rock solid."

The same couldn't be said for Johnson, who failed to work into a rhythm, per Andrew Carter of the Charlotte Observer: 

"They were the actors and we were the reactors all night long," North Carolina head coach Roy Williams said, per InsideCarolina.com on Twitter. 

"When you lose and you struggle, you learn," Bennett added, per UVA's Twitter. We know how fine of a line it is. We now understand how on point we have to be."