The North Carolina Tar Heels gave their March Madness application a tremendous boost Saturday night. For the first time in the 2022-23 college basketball season, North Carolina basketball scored a Quadrant 1 victory when it defeated the Virginia Cavaliers in Chapel Hill, 71-63.

North Carolina basketball looked as though it was circling down the drain when it lost five of six games to start the month of February, a stretch that also saw the Tar Heels lose two games in a row to the Miami Hurricanes and to the NC State Wolfpack. But they have seemingly turned things around since, having defeated the Notre Dame Fighting Irish in South Bend before this victory over Tonny Bennett's Hoos at home.

The Tar Heels no longer have a shot at winning the ACC regular-season title, so the focus for them right now is entirely on loading up on as many wins as possible to further strengthen their case for an at-large berth in the NCAA tournament come Selection Sunday. North Carolina basketball could also use some bit of momentum ahead of the upcoming ACC tournament, the winner of which would come away with an automatic bid.

Pete Nance stepped up for North Carolina basketball versus Virginia, as he paced the Tar Heels with 22 points, while RJ Davis put up 16 points to go with 10 rebounds.

The next assignment for the Tar Heels will be a matchup against the Florida State Seminoles, who just tripped up the Miami Hurricanes. North Carolina basketball also has a highly anticipated date with the Duke Blue Devils on Mar. 4, the Tar Heels' last game of the regular season.