Virginia won a battle for third place in the ACC and likely lifted itself off the NCAA Tournament bubble with a 90-76 win over the Tar Heels on Sunday afternoon.

Travis Watson (18 points and 11 boards) and Chris Williams (16 and 12) posted double-doubles to lead the Cavs. Jason Capel scored 17 and Joseph Forte 13 for Carolina.

The win raised the Cavaliers’ career record in Chapel Hill to four wins against 56 defeats. It was the Cavs’ first ever win in the Smith Center in 15 tries. Virginia (18-8, 8-5) had not beaten the Tar Heels (16-10, 7-5) in Chapel Hill since an overtime thriller in 1981 when Ralph Sampson and Jeff Lamp were wearing blue and orange. The other road victories for the Cavs came behind Barry Parkhill in 1973 and in an 18-15 tussle back in 1911.

“I didn’t know much about the history of the series,” said Virginia coach Pete Gillen. “That’s good. If I’d known all of that stuff, I’d have broken out in purple blotches.”

Gillen, in his second year at Virginia, may not have known all the numbers, but he knew enough to know the Cavs aren’t supposed to win in Blue Heaven.

“That was the key to the game,” said Gillen. “For our kids to believe they could win. For them to come in here and play to win and have the courage to win.”

The other key was a reserve junior guard named Keith Friel. Friel, the Cavs’ designated gunner, played all of four minutes, but did enough damage for four hours. He connected for three 3-pointers and 11 points quicker than Chuck Norris can snap a bad guy’s arm in half.

Friel can do things like that. He’s a shooter. He’s missed one free throw all season and 40 of his 47 field goals have been 3-pointers. He made three quick 3-pointers against N.C. State last week and once shelled Syracuse for eight 3s when he played at Notre Dame.

“We knew not to let Friel shoot 3s,” said Tar Heel coach Bill Guthridge. “We just didn’t do a good job on him. He broke our backs.”

Friel’s thrills couldn’t have come at a worse time for the Heels.

After an awful first half in which lightning-quick Virginia made the towering Heels look like inanimate objects, Carolina was making a move in the second half. Its defense was clamping down and Virginia couldn’t score. The Cavs started the second half 2-for-15 from the field and their lead, which had been as huge as 18 points, had been reduced to 52-44. And fully cognizant of the Cavs’ gruesome history in Chapel Hill, a capacity crowd was roaring.

But that’s when Gillen turned to Friel.

“We were cold,” Gillen said. “And Keith’s our bench offense.”

Friel lived up to his billing, drilling three 3s before the Heels figured out he was in the game.

Friel then missed a couple (another 3 went in-and-out) and was back on the pine for the duration, but the harm was done. He had singlehandedly pushed the lead back to 17 points at 63-46.

“Keith shocked us and he shocked Carolina,” said Williams. “He jacked the shots and lit them up.”

Asked why he had kept Friel on the bench so long, Gillen grinned. “Because I’m not a very smart coach, that’s why,” he replied. “I was 305th out of 310 in my class. The big thing was that Keith stayed ready. He wasn’t sitting over there pouting about not playing.”

Friel, who averages a modest 6 ppg, explained to herds of reporters that his trigger-finger is always itchy, even when he has to wait and wait and wait for his chance.

“My shot was there all along,” he said confidently. “I just checked in a little late.”

So did the Tar Heels.

Virginia dominated the first half as its constant pressure forced 12 Tar Heel turnovers. Steals produced Cavalier layups, enabling them to shoot 53 percent in the half. The Heels, on the other hand, missed all five of their first-half 3-pointers and failed to do any second-chance damage against a team with no starter taller than 6-7. Carolina was fortunate to trail 46-33 at the break.

The Heels did make one spirited run long after Friel’s outburst, when they benched big men Brendan Haywood and Kris Lang and used Max Owens and Julius Peppers as part of a much smaller lineup. Taking advantage of a flurry of missed Cav free throws, Carolina got to within six at 81-75 with 53 seconds left.

But Forte missed a key jumper and Virginia guard Donald Hand managed to finally ice the game at the line.

“Virginia was sensational,” said Guthridge. “They did everything right and they were obviously the better team. We’re not a slow team, but they certainly made us look like we were today.”

Virginia’s worthiness for the NCAA tourney had been questioned by some. Its R.P.I. is low, mostly because six of its wins have come at the expense of Dartmouth, Belmont, VMI. Loyola, Hampton and Elon. But winning in Chapel Hill will help Gillen plead his case.

“This was our best win of the year,” he said. “We beat a talented team.”