No. 10 UNC begins rugged stretch vs. Virginia (Feb 18, 2017)

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. -- North Carolina's schedule is loaded with challenging assignments across the final weeks of the Atlantic Coast Conference regular season.

So if the No. 10 Tar Heels maintain first place in the league, they'll have earned it.

Next up, there's a much-anticipated matchup with No. 14 Virginia on Saturday night at the Smith Center.

North Carolina coach Roy Williams said he's aware of an attempt to create appealing late-season matchups and the Tar Heels just happen to be part of that mix on the ACC schedule. They lead the conference by one game with five to play.

North Carolina (22-5, 10-3 ACC), coming off a 97-73 road domination of rival North Carolina State earlier this week, has two games remaining with Virginia along home games with Louisville and Duke and a trip to Pittsburgh.

"It's by far the most difficult (stretch) in the league," Williams said.

Virginia and North Carolina are a contrast in styles, with Virginia comfortable in a defensive tussle and the Tar Heels preferring a frantic pace.

North Carolina is sixth nationally in scoring at 87.7 points per game, while Virginia is the top-rated defensive team in the country, allowing 55.5 points per outing.

"If I had my choice, I'd try to get Tony to play the way I want to play," Williams said of Virginia coach Tony Bennett.

Virginia is amid a difficult seven-day stretch that began with Sunday night's double-overtime loss at rival Virginia Tech. Then came Wednesday night's 65-55 setback at home to Duke and now the rematch of last March's ACC tournament championship game against the Tar Heels.

In that title matchup, North Carolina guard Joel Berry produced a sterling outing that led to tournament Most Valuable Player honors. He was strong again earlier this week at North Carolina State, but Berry said he's striving for consistency.

"I want to pick up my play on both sides of the ball so I can put this team where we want to be," Berry said.

Meanwhile, the Cavaliers try to avoid their first three-game losing streak since 2011.

"It's a fine line and we are in so many close games," Bennett said. "This ball club has some limitations in certain areas and we are fighting like crazy. We are doing some good things and we have some strengths, but we are going to be in a lot of close games."

Virginia continues to be a strong defensive team, but the inability to come up with a few stops in clutch situations has been troublesome at times.

"We are working hard to become a better defensive team and we have to get better for 40 minutes," Bennett said. "It's not for a lack of trying."

This is the first of two meetings between the teams in a 10-day period.

For both games and probably for the rest of the season, North Carolina will be without sophomore guard Kenny Williams, who's regarded as the team's top perimeter defender. A starter for most of the season, he suffered a knee injury in Tuesday's practice and will require surgery next week that's expected to sideline him for at least a month.

This development figures to lead to more playing time for guards Theo Pinson and Nate Britt, something that transpired Wednesday night at N.C. State.

Virginia has won the last three regular-season games against the Tar Heels, who have defeated the Cavaliers in each of the past two ACC tournaments.