No. 5 North Carolina at Virginia

When: 8 p.m.

Where: John Paul Jones Arena, Charlottesville.

Records: Tar Heels (22-2, 7-2); Cavaliers (11-11, 1-8).

TV: WDCA (Channel 20), WNUV (Channel 54).

Off Guards: The most glaring reason for Virginia's six-game losing streak recently has been dismal back-court scoring support for senior guard Sean Singletary. Mamadi Diane and Calvin Baker, Virginia's best two scoring guards after Singletary, have scored a combined 27 points on 7-of-35 shooting their past three games. On Saturday against Wake Forest, Coach Dave Leitao benched Diane and Baker and started and freshman Jeff Jones, who has made only 2 of 18 shots in ACC games. "What I've tried to establish is more competition in practice," Leitao said. "I've left it open that we can start anybody in any position."

Very Upsetting: A Virginia victory would be the ACC's most stunning upset this year, but two developments favor the Cavaliers. North Carolina received only 24 hours of rest before its bus left Chapel Hill, N.C., last night after winning a double-overtime dogfight against Clemson on Sunday. Coach Roy Williams said point guard Ty Lawson might not play for the third straight game, giving Singletary a big advantage over senior UNC backup Quentin Thomas. Virginia needs the upset to avoid its worst ACC start since 1977, when the Cavaliers began 1-10.