CHAPEL HILL, N.C. -- After the Duke loss on Wednesday, Tyler Zeller spoke to reporters softer than he ever had following a UNC loss. He sat in the players’ lounge inconsolable speaking to reporters before showering, meeting with his parents and finally going home.

He went to bed at 5 a.m. and didn’t sleep well before going to classes, where he sat in the back of the room and found the exit as soon as the professor dismissed the class.

The senior forward took the Duke loss especially hard. He missed two free throws in the final minute that would have put the game out of reach, but so too would a defensive stop by any of his teammates, among other possibilities that would have stymied the Blue Devils.

Zeller got an ounce of redemption on Saturday in the Tar Heels’ 70-52 win against No. 19 Virginia. His game-high 25 points and nine rebounds helped lead UNC to the bounce-back victory in the Smith Center.

“It was great. I think the past two days have been very tough,” Zeller said. “I have a tendency to take a lot of losses hard, especially when you miss two free throws that could have won it. I didn’t watch TV Thursday. I knew it wouldn’t be positive.”

Zeller didn’t do much of anything on Thursday. After class he went to the Smith Center to practice, where he gave his mind a brief respite on the loss. He went home and sat in his room for the rest of the night not wanting to go out into public.

“I called him late Thursday night and asked him if he was thinking about getting the knives out and slicing his wrists,” Roy Williams said. “He said maybe. I said, ‘Well if you’re going to do that call me and I’ll do it with you.’”

Zeller checked the melodrama at the door before the Virginia game, though. He got off to an inauspicious start by turning the ball over twice and missing his first three shot attempts until getting a layup four minutes into the game.

He and John Henson had their hands full with Virginia’s Mike Scott. Widely considered to be the ACC Player of the Year, Scott went 5-for-8 in the first half with 10 points to lead the Cavaliers. He would finish with 18 points and six rebounds.

But when both Zeller and Henson got into foul trouble early, James Michael McAdoo was there to lay his best game of the ACC season.

UNC’s bench had been grossly unproductive over the past few games, and that was compounded Saturday with the absence of P.J. Hairston, who had to sit due to a sore left foot. McAdoo came in to play 18 solid minutes—the most he’s played in any ACC game—and scored nine points while grabbing seven rebounds.

McAdoo’s coming-out party had long been due. The highly touted recruit took a while to find his place with the Tar Heels, but during the past weeks has seemed to find his comfort level with the team.

“It’s night and day,” said McAdoo in comparing his comfort level Saturday to the first game of the season. “And even to games three weeks ago and before the N.C. State game. It’s just being confident in myself and just feeling the faith my teammates have in me. I know that’s translated onto the court and me being more productive.”

With McAdoo coming into his own, the Tar Heels frontcourt seems to be re-solidifying after the heartbreaking Duke loss. Harrison Barnes grabbed a game-high 11 rebounds and John Henson joined Barnes in the double-double category with 10 points and 10 rebounds.

But Saturday, all eyes were on Zeller, and he shined in the spotlight that had betrayed him just days earlier.

“He took it a little rough but it was a team thing, and without him I don’t think we would have even been in that game to be honest,” Henson said. “So he came out today and showed some fire. He’s fine.”