Virginia drops another one on the road, falling at Wake, 66-47

By Scott Ratcliffe

The road woes continued for Virginia on Saturday at Lawrence Joel Coliseum, as Wake Forest scorched the nets all afternoon en route to a 66-47 victory in Winston-Salem, dropping the Cavaliers to 0-4 in true road games this season.

The Demon Deacons (12-4, 4-1 ACC) stayed perfect on their home floor (10-0), shooting 50 percent from the field (25 for 50) and 48 percent from behind the 3-point line (10 for 21), while the Wahoos again struggled.

UVA (11-5, 2-3) made just 16 of its 57 attempts on the day (28 percent) and 4 of 12 from deep (33 percent), knocking down 11 of 15 from the foul line (73 percent).

Wake’s Hunter Sallis, a Gonzaga transfer, led all scorers with a season-high 21 points on 8-of-13 shooting (5 for 8 from long range), while Kevin “Boopie” Miller finished with 14 points and a game-high 7 assists, and Andrew Carr added a double-double with 12 points and 12 rebounds. Another former Zag, 7-footer Efton Reid, had 9 points, 8 rebounds and 5 blocks.

Reece Beekman was the only Wahoo in double figures (10 points, 4 assists), but connected on just 3 of his 12 attempts all day (2 for 5 from 3-point range). Graduate transfer Jordan Minor got his first start as a Cavalier and wound up with a season-high 9 points (3 for 8 FG) to go along with 5 rebounds (tied for a team-best), a block and a steal across 22 minutes of action.

“His maturity and his strength allowed him — and how he’s been practicing, he’s getting used to it a little more — and I thought he really played as hard as he could today, and I liked that part. You always try to find some positive things,” said Tony Bennett of the former Merrimack forward.

The Hoos once again found themselves in an early hole, as the Deacs jumped out to a 12-4 lead on Sallis’ second triple of the opening half with 11:43 on the clock. Virginia misfired on 12 of its first 13 shots until Minor scored from inside with just over 9 minutes left to snap a field-goal drought of nearly 7 minutes.

That basket sparked a 10-2 Wahoo run, as they knotted the score at 14-apiece on an Andrew Rohde jumper with 5:50 until halftime, but the Deacs answered with 3s by Miller, Sallis and Carr to make it a 25-17 ballgame late in the half.

Beekman sank a 3-ball from the corner on Virginia’s final possession to trim it to four, 25-21, but Carr responded with a bucket of his own to make it a six-point difference at the break.

Beekman picked up his third foul at the 18:43 mark and had to sit, and Wake went on a 10-2 spurt to open the second half and extend its advantage to double digits, 37-23, as the Cavaliers again came out ice cold, missing six of their first seven shots of the half.

From there, it was never really in doubt for the home team, as UVA — which shot just 24 percent after halftime (8 for 33) — could not shrink its deficit.

“We couldn’t seem to stop Wake off the dribble,” Bennett said of the second-half performance. “They just kind of went either by us or at us and boom, they were in the lane, and then even some of the good looks we got in the second half, we couldn’t capitalize on them.”

Isaac McKneely had a rough day shooting the rock, making only 2 of 10 from the field and missing both of his 3-point tries. He finished the game with 8 points after sinking all four of his free-throw attempts.

Team Notes

Courtesy UVA Media Relations

• Virginia (11-5, 2-3 ACC) is 2-5 away from home and 0-4 in true road games
• All five of UVA’s losses have been by 16 or more points
• UVA shot a season-low 28.1 percent (16 of 57)
• UVA started 0 of 5 from the field before a 3-pointer from Reece Beekman
• UVA was 1 for 13 to start the game and finished the first half 8 of 24
• Wake Forest led 27-21 at the half
• Wake Forest started the second half on a 10-2 run and led 37-23
• UVA yielded 10 or more 3-pointers for the third straight road game
• UVA forced one shot-clock violation (12 total)
• UVA was outrebounded 40-27 and outscored in the paint 28-10

Series Notes

• Virginia is 70-72 all-time vs. Wake Forest, including an 18-42 mark in Winston-Salem
• UVA’s five-game road win streak in the series ended
• Tony Bennett is 11-6 vs. Wake Forest as head coach at Virginia

Player Notes

• Double Figure Scorers: Reece Beekman (10)
• Beekman reached double figures for the 43rd time
• Beekman has a seven-game double figure streak
• Graduate transfer Jordan Minor made his first start at Virginia
• Minor had season highs in points (9), rebounds (5) and minutes (22)
• Dante Harris missed his 10th-straight game with an ankle injury

UP NEXT

The Cavaliers will host Virginia Tech on Wednesday at 7 p.m. The game will be televised on ESPNU.