Associated Press

Virginia guard Sylven Landesberg (15) scores a season-high 29 points in the victory over North Carolina on Sunday night.

Associated Press

Virginia forward Mike Scott keeps the ball from North Carolina forward Deon Thompson (21).

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. -- Virginia's 69th trip to North Carolina for a men's basketball game ended with a familiar sight -- the Tar Heels emptying their bench and sending in their walk-ons with 1:05 remaining.

There was one big difference Sunday night.

On came the walk-ons because Carolina had no chance of winning.

Virginia led wire to wire and found the secret to holding onto 10-point leads. The Cavaliers stretched their advantage to 21 en route to a 75-60 victory over the defending NCAA champions.

It was the first trip to the Dean Smith Center for first-year Virginia coach Tony Bennett, who played professionally for the Charlotte Bobcats and had always planned to take in a game at Chapel Hill but had never seen the inside of the building until this weekend.

"For me, in my first trip, to come away with a victory, I realize it doesn't happen all the time," he said.

The Cavaliers (13-6, 4-2 ACC) entered the game on a two-game losing streak but moved into a tie for second place in the ACC behind Duke (17-5, 5-2).

Carolina (13-8, 2-4) had just dropped out of The Associated Press Top 25 for the first time in 75 weeks and the Tar Heels have now lost five of their last seven games, "But they're UNC," said fifth-year Virginia guard Calvin Baker, who emerged from Bennett's doghouse to play 18 minutes. "They're still last year's national champions."

Virginia had won only twice in 23 games at the Smith Center since its opening in 1986, the last time in 2002.

The Cavaliers were 8 ¹₂-point underdogs, based partially on a 76-71 overtime loss to Virginia Tech on Thursday night in Charlottesville, where they squandered a 10-point lead in the final 2:57 of regulation.

"That was a real hard loss," Bennett said. "I said, 'A lot of teams would probably hang their head and maybe go into a situation like this and not fight.' I told them, 'I want you to be different.'

"In the huddle at the three-minute mark, I told them, 'You've been in this spot before. Show me you've learned.' Failure is the greatest teacher and I thought it taught us well in this instance."

Sophomore Sylven Landesberg led the Cavaliers with a season-high 29 points.

It was redemption for Landesberg after the Tech game, when he scored 18 points but committed six turnovers.

"That was a lot of motivation for tonight," Landesberg said. "I don't think I closed out the Virginia Tech game the way I should have. I definitely had my head hung after that.

"I spoke to my father for a long time. He told me, 'Just build off that.' I told him, 'It's tough.' I felt it was my fault that we lost the game. Turnovers. Missed free throws. I wanted to make sure that didn't happen again.

"I came out here with something to prove."

Sophomore Sammy Zeglinski said, "Sylven was just showing off. He was doing everything -- making jump shots, getting in the lane, getting fouled. He's a great player. Offensively, I don't think there's anybody better in the ACC."

Zeglinski was the only other Cavalier in double figures, going 5-of-8 on 3-pointers and scoring a season-high 19.

Zeglinski's 3-pointer from the left wing with 3:35 left may have been the final blow after the Tar Heels had trimmed a 59-39 deficit to 65-50.

It was reminiscent of a Jeff Jones' 3-point miss late in the Virginia Tech game that came with 32 seconds remaining on the shot clock. There were 20 seconds on the clock when Zeglinski took his final 3.

"Coach Bennett said something to me about it," Zeglinski said. "I didn't want to be passive. We probably should have run some clock, but it went in. I shot it with confidence."

Carolina shot only 35.7 percent from the field and got little out of big men Deon Thompson and Ed Davis, who had seven and three points, respectively.

"I'm about as frustrated and disappointed as I've been in my whole life," UNC coach Roy Williams said. "How can we go any lower? How can it get any worse than it is?"

The Cavaliers got a little shot of momentum with a Mike Scott 3-pointer that put them on top 35-30 at the half. Carolina scored the first basket of the second half on an Ed Davis dunk -- his only field goal -- and then Virginia went on an 18-0 run.

At that time, the clock could not run fast enough for the Cavaliers.

"The main thing that helped us out was defense," Landesberg said. "Being able to hold a team like Carolina to 60 points is phenomenal."

VIRGINIA (13-6)

Scott 4-8 2-2 11, Meyinsse 3-4 1-1 7, Landesberg 11-18 7-8 29, Zeglinski 5-9 4-4 19, Evans 2-4 0-0 4, Farrakhan 0-3 0-0 0, Sherrill 1-2 0-0 2, Baker 1-2 0-0 3, Sene 0-1 0-1 0, Jones 0-1 0-0 0, Tat 0-0 0-2 0, Spurlock 0-0 0-0 0, Jonke 0-0 0-0 0, Kody 0-0 0-0 0, Browman 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 27-52 14-18 75.

NORTH CAROLINA (13-8)

Thompson 2-7 3-6 7, Davis 1-3 2-6 4, Graves 5-15 1-2 15, Ginyard 0-3 2-4 2, Drew II 5-13 1-2 15, T.Wear 2-5 0-0 4, Henson 1-3 0-0 2, Strickland 1-2 2-2 4, McDonald 1-2 0-0 3, D.Wear 0-0 0-0 0, Campbell 0-0 0-0 0, Petree 2-3 0-0 4, Watts 0-0 0-0 0, Thornton 0-0 0-0 0, Gallagher 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 20-56 11-22 60.

Halftime--Virginia 35-30. 3-Point Goals--Virginia 7-17 (Zeglinski 5-8, Baker 1-1, Scott 1-1, Evans 0-1, Sherrill 0-1, Landesberg 0-1, Jones 0-1, Farrakhan 0-3), North Carolina 9-22 (Drew II 4-8, Graves 4-9, McDonald 1-1, T.Wear 0-1, Strickland 0-1, Ginyard 0-2). Fouled Out--None. Rebounds--Virginia 30 (Landesberg, Meyinsse, Scott 5), North Carolina 35 (Davis 7). Assists--Virginia 18 (Evans 6), North Carolina 11 (Drew II, Ginyard 3). Total Fouls--Virginia 16, North Carolina 16. A--14,437.

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