Virginia’s Unworldly Shooting Leaves Boeheim, Syracuse Stunned

By Jerry Ratcliffe

Jim Boeheim has been coaching at Syracuse for the past 50 years, and on Monday night the Hall of Famer saw something he’d never witnessed before.

Boeheim’s Orange ran squarely into No. 2 Virginia’s buzzsaw in a humbling, 79-53 defeat at the Carrier Dome. The visiting Cavaliers, led by the bewildering 3-point shooting of Kyle Guy, Ty Jerome and De’Andre Hunter, took on the persona of a rolling ball of butcher knives.

“They shot the ball as good as I’ve ever seen it shot,” said Boeheim, who has coached at Syracuse either as an assistant or head coach since 1969. “They didn’t just make easy wide-open [threes]. They made some wide-open threes, but they made about six of them from six, seven feet behind the line. There aren’t that many teams, if any, that can make those kinds of shots.”

Virginia, improving to 27-2 (15-2 in the ACC), reached numerous milestones from Bonusphere. The Cavaliers connected on 18 of 25 shots from 3-point range, tying the UVA program record (2007 vs. Gonzaga), while establishing a new school mark for triples in an ACC game.

In fact, the 18 makes from behind the arc were the most ever in an ACC game under the present 3-point line distance of 20-feet, 9-inches.

Syracuse’s game plan was to make the Cavaliers, who entered the game as the nation’s fourth-best 3-point shooting team, to drive the ball and get UVA off the 3-point line.

Instead, Guy, Jerome, and Hunter turned the Carrier Dome into their personal shooting gallery. The Wahoo trio finished with a combined 18 for 23 from 3-point range and beyond. One of Jerome’s deep threes came from just a pace inside the block “S” at midcourt.

Guy drilled in a career-high eight 3-pointers (second most in UVA history … Curtis Staples, nine) and led Virginia with 25 points. Hunter added a career-high five 3’s (21 points), and Jerome finished with five 3’s (16 points), and a career-high 14 assists (tied the school record).

Guy was most lethal, scorching the nets on 8 of 10 shots from behind the line.

“When you let Guy and Jerome shoot those shots, they’re going to make them,” Boeheim said. “They just took over.”

Indeed.

The Cavaliers actually trailed 43-42 with 15 minutes remaining when they torched Boeheim’s celebrated 2-3 zone from the perimeter during a 27-3 run. Virginia made seven 3-pointers during that point flurry that left Syracuse stunned.

UVA’s 3-point siege was something to behold. The Cavaliers made a blistering 72 percent from Bonusphere as they rolled to their seventh consecutive win, their third straight against the Orange. Virginia now owns an impressive 6-1 record against Syracuse since the Orange joined the ACC.

“I have a lot of respect for Virginia,” Boeheim said. “It’s probably their best team that I have seen by a lot. They’re really good.

“They have a great chance to be a national championship type team.”

Virginia wasn’t only impressive offensively. The Cavaliers picked up their defense after the break and left Syracuse flat.

The Orange made only 7 of 26 shots the second half (27 percent) and were 3 for 12 from 3-point range.

“[Virginia] just took over and dominated the game in the second half,” Boeheim said. “They shot it well and their defense was better. We had no answers for it.”

The Cavaliers will host Louisville on Saturday in the regular-season finale. A Virginia win would give Tony Bennett’s team its fourth ACC regular season title in the last six seasons.