Everyone Scores As Virginia Cruises To Easy Victory Over Morgan State

You know it’s your night win every player that checks into the game scores at least one point. That was the case for No. 4 Virginia Monday, as the Cavaliers remained unbeaten on the season with an easy 83-45 win over Morgan State at John Paul Jones Arena.

The Wahoos (8-0) were led by Kyle Guy and De’Andre Hunter’s 15 points apiece, as they and the other starters spent much of the second half cheering their teammates on from the sideline down the stretch in the lopsided victory.

Virginia held the Bears (2-5) without a field goal for nearly 11 minutes in the second half to put the icing on the cake.

The ‘Hoos were on fire to start the contest, hitting 9 of their first 10 shots and 11 of the first 13. Guy nailed a pair of 3s early on — part of 4 UVA long balls made by first media timeout alone — as the Cavaliers never trailed throughout the contest. Despite the hot shooting, Todd Bozeman’s Morgan State bunch hung with the ‘Hoos, as Stanley Davis stole the ball from Marco Anthony and dunked it home to cut Virginia’s early lead to 23-14 midway through the first half, before a 19-3 Cavalanche swung the momentum for the remainder of the contest.

Jay Huff slammed one home with the right hand on a nice Anthony assist to jumpstart the run. Kihei Clark, who started his third straight game at the point, cashed in on an old-fashioned three-point play on a strong drive to the hole before senior Jack Salt drew an ovation for his hustle, hitting the deck for a loose ball that set up Guy for a convincing two-hand flush on the other end.

“I think that our defense was really good tonight,” Guy said. “[The Bears] went on a little bit of a run to start the first half but other than that I think we were in the gaps, playing really good defense.”

Added Salt: “We play against ourselves and not the opponent if the score isn’t close.”

Braxton Key got in the act on a screen-and-roll from Clark, and then after forcing a 10-second backcourt violation, Ty Jerome rattled home his second 3-pointer from NBA range to cap the scoring spurt that gave the ‘Hoos a 42-17 lead with 4:12 left in the half.

A Tyler Streeter 3 ended an MSU drought of nearly six minutes of game time with 2:49 left in the first half, but the Bears still trailed by 22, 42-20.

Freshman Kody Stattmann sank a triple with 38 seconds left, set up by one of Huff’s three blocks on the night, and UVA headed to half with a comfortable 47-23 lead. Virginia shot 65 percent from the field and 64 percent from downtown in the first half.

Huff not only blocked two more shots in the second half, but bothered a few other MSU shot attempts, something that Coach Tony Bennett was happy to see.

“It was nice to see him bother shots and be active,” Bennett said of Huff’s performance. “He has good hands and skills offensively. [Morgan State] didn’t set a lot of ball screens, but Jay just has to continue to work on his alertness and his activity. I thought he did a nice job. He had two good days of practice. We’re going to need everybody and I’m always looking for matchups for Jay out there and I thought he did a good job and was alert.

“You could really see his length. Even if a guy beats him or beat someone else, he has the ability and the timing, with being 7-feet and being fairly quick off the floor, to bother a shot. So, rim protection is important and he took a step in the right direction. Against a team that’s a little different than some of the competition in our league, size-wise and some quickness, I thought he handled himself nicely on both ends of the floor.”

The second half got off to a bit of a sloppy start, as neither team could get much going out of the locker room. Hunter, who has scored in double figures in every game this season, converted off the glass to give the Cavaliers a 53-25 advantage with 16:45 to go before the ‘Hoos missed eight in a row from the field. Neither team scored in over four minutes until Malik Miller cut it to 26 with 12:42 remaining — the Bears didn’t get another field-goal attempt to fall until Streeter scored in the lane with 1:57 to go.

Hunter broke the nearly five-minute UVA drought with his final bucket of the night off a Guy steal and assist with 11:50 to play.

The reserves played out the closing minutes and did not disappoint. Anthony scored a season-best 8 points on the evening, while Stattmann set a career high with 9.

With time winding down on a fast break, everyone’s favorite manager, Grant Kersey, bounced one in stride to former Albemarle High School teammate Austin Katstra for a power jam to ignite the crowd. Kersey wasn’t done, scoring on an and-1 with 27 ticks left to the delight of the Wahoo faithful.

“It was good to see a lot of guys get opportunities to play,” said Bennett, who won his 227th game at UVA and 296th overall. “We’re going to need everyone. Obviously, [we] started out shooting the ball well. Guys played hard and a lot of guys got experience, so I thought it was a positive night in that regard.”

Miller and Victor Curry each had 7 points to lead the Bears, who shot 26 percent (14 for 54) for the game and committed 17 turnovers, which the Cavaliers turned into 20 points. Morgan State shot just 18 percent (5 for 28) from the field in the second half, including 0 for 8 from distance.

“I thought we just made some bad plays,” said Bozeman. “Clearly that’s not to take anything away from UVA because Tony does an excellent job with his team. I mean I came in knowing we were going to play against the best defensive team in the country. I wanted to try to keep those [turnovers] down, so a lot of them I thought were self-inflicted, but obviously, some of them were them.”

Virginia gave up an uncharacteristic 13 turnovers of its own after tying a school record with just 2 against Maryland last week. The ‘Hoos shot 54 percent (27 for 50) on the night and 36 percent (8 for 22) from deep, outrebounding the Bears, 33-27. UVA shot 21 for 23 from the charity stripe.

Jerome finished with 8 points, 3 rebounds, 5 assists and a career-high 5 steals in 27 minutes, while Key added 6 points and a game-high 9 rebounds off the bench, which matched his season high. Salt had 6 points, 4 rebounds and 2 assists. Kersey scored a career-best 5 points.

The Wahoos return to action Sunday at 1 p.m. when they host VCU.

No. 4 Virginia Holds Off No. 25 Wisconsin To Win Battle 4 Atlantis

For the sixth year in a row, Virginia’s men’s basketball team hoisted a holiday tournament championship trophy, as the fourth-ranked Cavaliers (6-0) held off No. 25 Wisconsin, 53-46, in the Battle 4 Atlantis title in Nassau, Bahamas.

Tournament MVP De’Andre Hunter led the way with 20 points and 9 rebounds, as the Wahoos withstood a late push by Ethan Happ and the Badgers to remain unbeaten.

Tied at 4-4 early on, UVA scored nine unanswered points and never looked back, despite a couple of long scoring droughts.

Hunter put home an easy stickback off a Kihei Clark missed jumper to give the Wahoos a 15-6 lead with 12:42 to go. Wisconsin (5-1) scored six straight to cut it to three before Mamadi Diakite scored off of a Kyle Guy assist to end a scoreless streak of nearly five minutes.

Happ, who came in averaging a double-double, picked up his second personal with five minutes left in the half, and the ‘Hoos closed on a 12-2 run — capped by a Ty Jerome buzzer-beating shot over Happ — to lead 33-18 at the half.

Guy and Jerome nailed consecutive triples from opposite corners to jumpstart the spurt.

Wisconsin started the second half with an 11-3 run of its own to get back within seven, 36-29, as again Virginia didn’t get a field goal to drop for a five-minute span until Diakite sank a baseline jumper to beat the shot clock.

Leading by eight, Hunter scored on a baseline drive and then again on a nifty spin move in the lane with 4:34 to go, putting UVA ahead by nine.

Happ and Brad Davison scored on back-to-back trips to pull the Badgers to within five, 47-42, with 3:31 left.

The teams traded buckets and it was 51-46 after Happ scored underneath with 1:12 remaining. On the Cavaliers’ ensuing possession, Jerome ran the shot clock down and misfired on a jumpshot with 30 ticks showing, but Salt was there to tap it back out to Guy, who hit the front end of a one-and-one but missed the second.

The Badgers coughed it up into the hands of Jerome, who passed over to Hunter and he also split a pair of freebies with 16 seconds left for the final result.

Happ posted game highs of 22 points (11 for 19 FG), 15 rebounds and 4 blocks to go with 6 assists, while the ‘Hoos held D’Mitrik Trice to a season-low 5 points on 2-of-9 shooting (0 for 2 from beyond the arc a day after he sank a career-high 7 triples), 14 points below his average.

The Badgers were 21 for 48 for 44 percent from the field, and just 2 of 11 from downtown, committing 13 turnovers.

Virginia shot just 37 percent (20 for 54) for the game and 24 percent (4 for 17) from long range, and were edged on the boards, 33-31.

Jerome, who joined Hunter on the All-Tournament Team, filled the stat sheet with 11 points, 4 rebounds, 5 assists and 3 steals. Guy added 9 points, 3 boards and 3 dimes.

In his first career start, Clark chipped in with 5 points, 5 rebounds, 2 assists and 3 thefts. Salt was also back in the starting five after three games either not playing or coming off the bench, finishing with 2 points and 5 rebounds. Diakite had 6 points and 2 boards.

The Wahoos have now won a nation-best 24 straight in the month of November, and will shoot for 25 in a row as they travel to College Park Wednesday night to take on former league rival Maryland as part of the ACC/B1G Challenge on ESPN at 7:30 p.m.

UVA Advances To Battle 4 Atlantis Title Game With 66-59 Win Against Dayton

Virginia second-year forward De’Andre Hunter tied a career-high with 23 points — including a dagger 3-pointer in the waning moments — to lead the 4th-ranked Cavaliers to a 66-59 win over Dayton Thursday in the semifinal round of the Battle 4 Atlantis.

The Wahoos (5-0) will go up against their first ranked opponent of the season for the tournament title in the Bahamas Friday, No. 25 Wisconsin (5-0), which cruised past Oklahoma in Thursday’s first semifinal.

The Cavaliers trailed 7-0 out of the gate, misfiring on their first seven shots until Kyle Guy nailed a triple, and proceeded to chip away at the early deficit.

UVA took its first lead, 18-17, with 6 minutes left in the first half on a Hunter bucket. Freshman guard Kihei Clark hit his second 3 of the half with 1:30 remaining, and Guy followed with a jumper off a Braxton Key assist to extend the lead to seven.

The ‘Hoos went to the locker room with a five-point cushion despite shooting just 37 percent (10 for 27 FG) and 3 for 10 from downtown.

Jack Salt gave Virginia its largest lead, 39-30, with 14:29 remaining, but the Flyers (4-1) would not go quietly. Dayton got within four points on seven different occasions over the remainder of the contest, including cutting the UVA lead to 60-56 with 1:32 to go on an Obadiah Toppin jam, setting the stage for Hunter’s late heroics.

With the shot clock winding down, Hunter caught the rock, dribbled once and sank one from beyond the arc with 53 ticks showing, pushing the advantage back to three possessions.

UVA shot 43 percent (21-49) for the game, 7 for 20 (35 percent) from deep. The ‘Hoos won the battle of the boards, 30-27, with Hunter and Key each hauling down six rebounds to lead the team. Five of Hunter’s rebounds came on the offensive end.

Ty Jerome was held scoreless in the first half but wound up with 15 points, sinking 7 of his 10 free-throw attempts, while Guy added 14 points and three boards.

Clark tied a career best with his 9 points to go with a career-high 5 rebounds and a pair of assists, while Key only had 3 points (1-6 FG) but added the six boards, four steals and two dimes in 33 minutes.

Mamadi Diakite started again but played just eight minutes and did not score. Salt had 2 points and four rebounds while picking up four fouls in 20 minutes off the bench.

Dayton was led by Josh Cunningham’s 15 points, while Toppin had 13 and Jalen Crutcher added 11.

The ‘Hoos and Badgers will tip off at 2 p.m. on ESPN, so UVA fans may very well be flipping back and forth between hoops and the Virginia Tech football game on ABC, which kicks off at 3:30.

UVA Begins Battle 4 Atlantis With 74-52 Win Over Middle Tennessee

The No. 4 Virginia basketball team nearly got its first triple-double since Ralph Sampson in 1979 as the Cavaliers knocked off Middle Tennessee, 74-52, in the opening round of the Battle 4 Atlantis in Nassau, Bahamas.

Second-year forward De’Andre Hunter put up 15 points, 8 rebounds and a career-high 9 assists against the Blue Raiders in his 35 minutes. He left to a well-deserved ovation with 2:30 remaining after coming oh, so close to registering only the 4th triple-double in UVA history, with the last two coming from Sampson in 1979 (the other from Bill Miller in 1955).

With the win, the Wahoos (4-0) will face Dayton in Thursday’s second semifinal at 4 p.m. on ESPN. Oklahoma will tangle with 25th-ranked Wisconsin in the first semifinal.

Hunter picked up where he left off Friday night against Coppin State, scoring 11 points in the first half as the ‘Hoos jumped out to a quick 9-0 start and never trailed. Kyle Guy matched Hunter’s game high of 15, including scoring the game’s first five points in the opening two minutes, and added a team-high three steals.

Senior center Jack Salt returned to action after sitting out Friday with back stiffness. Salt relieved starter Mamadi Diakite, who again picked up a quick pair of fouls by the first media timeout and was forced to sit out much of the first half.

Virginia used a 9-0 spurt to grab its largest lead of the first half, 30-9, with 8:36 left before going cold. UVA got a Kihei Clark 3-pointer with 9:05 to go in the half and didn’t make another shot from the field until Hunter buried his second corner triple with 3:55 left.

The Blue Raiders (3-2) took advantage with a 14-3 run of their own to get back within 10 and trailed by 13 at the break.

The Wahoos shot 56 percent from the floor in the opening half, despite the scoring drought.

Middle Tennessee’s leading scorer Antonio Green, who came in averaging 22.3 points a game, was held to just 3 points on 1-for-3 shooting over the first 20 minutes. Green started the second half with a desperation 3 with the shot clock winding down, and then Reggie Scurry followed with a bucket down low to cut Virginia’s lead to single digits, 38-30, in the opening two minutes.

UVA reeled off nine unanswered to regain a comfortable advantage and the Raiders never got any closer than 11 the rest of the night.

Junior Braxton Key had his highest scoring output as a Cavalier, scoring 13 points to go with his seven rebounds, two assists and two steals. He showed his tenacity and determination on a third-chance three-point play with just over eight minutes to go that put the ‘Hoos up 60-40. He scored 10 of his 13 in the final 10:06, and also had a sweet dish to Diakite for an easy slam.

Green led Middle Tennessee with 11 points — eight of which came in the second half — on 4-for-12 shooting. Scurry was the only other player in double figures with 10.

Virginia shot 46 percent (26 for 56) for the game, including 35 percent (8 for 23) from downtown, out-rebounding the Blue Raiders 38-26 in the process. The ‘Hoos scored 25 points off of 15 Middle Tennessee turnovers.

Diakite finished with 8 points in just 17 minutes. Ty Jerome scored a season-low 7 points on 2-of-5 shooting, dishing out three assists. Clark added 7 points, and Salt grabbed four points and four boards in 14 minutes off the bench.

UVA has now won 12 straight in-season tournament games dating back to 2013, and has won a nation-best 22 straight games in the month of November.

Diakite Hoping To Continue Correcting Early Miscues

By Scott Ratcliffe

Virginia men’s basketball coach Tony Bennett said on the team’s media day two weeks ago that forward Mamadi Diakite has shown signs of improvement in the offseason, and added that he believes Wahoo fans will see those improvements on the court.

The 6-foot-9, 228-pound redshirt junior from Albemarle County’s Blue Ridge School — by way of Guinea, Africa — is expected to see his role increase after a productive sophomore campaign, even with the late addition of Alabama transfer Braxton Key to the Cavalier lineup.

“I think he has improved,” Bennett said of Diakite. “I have mentioned before, I think Mamadi in a sense could be an X-factor for us with his athleticism and his length. He’s now in his third year of playing, fourth year in the program, and so I think he is just an improved player with his experience, he’s gotten stronger, he’s shot the ball well up to this point from the outside, that part’s improved, and when he just simplifies some things he can be effective — and he’s a wonderful young man.”

After sitting out his first year in 2015-16, Diakite quickly made a name for himself as a defensive standout and capable rim protector, blocking 39 shots as a redshirt freshman.

Last season, Diakite played in all 34 games for the ‘Hoos. He averaged 5.4 points and three rebounds a game in 15.6 minutes as a reserve behind Isaiah Wilkins, and got some more big-game experience under his belt in the process.

Wilkins’ graduation left open the starting 4-spot, and it was a probability that Diakite would step in. Key, however, has started the first two games alongside De’Andre Hunter and Jack Salt in the frontcourt, with Diakite and Jay Huff filling in off the bench down low.

Things didn’t go so well in the season opener against Towson, as Diakite got into early foul trouble. He picked up his second personal with 12:42 left in the first half and clocked only 16:41 of playing time against the Tigers, finishing with two points (1-for-3 shooting, 0-2 from 3) and a pair of rebounds.

“I could have done better [against Towson],” Diakite admitted. “There are things that, I went back and looked at the tape and there were a lot of things that I could have done better and I did, and [against George Washington Sunday] I was able to change that. That’s what helped me.”

Against the Colonials, Diakite was again whistled for a pair of quick fouls within 13 seconds of each other — the second came at the 13:13 mark of the first half — forcing him to watch a lot of the first half from the sideline, despite his own inquiries on how he could avoid such a scenario.

“Before the game, I talked to the refs and asked them what would be a proper way to play good defense on the post,” Diakite revealed. “They told me not to hook. The first [foul], I thought that I didn’t do a good job of blowing up the screen, like I was able to guard typically. On the second foul, I thought that I got pushed — that’s what I thought, but they called it against me. They told me that I hooked the guy.”

Diakite re-entered with 6:41 left in the half and was effective right off the bat, as he followed his own miss in the lane to give UVA a 25-12 lead.

He added a nice alley-oop lay-in on a sweet feed from Ty Jerome before the break and added three more buckets in the second half, and finished the night with 10 points on 5-of-8 shooting, adding three boards and a couple of blocked shots in just over 17 minutes in the 19-point win.

Still, Bennett knows that Diakite and his teammates still have a long way to go and plenty to improve upon.

“This team has to keep working…,” said the coach. “We have some great strengths and there are some areas that we have to keep addressing, but you have some size when it’s in position that can bother shots, make it hard. I feel like we should be able to rebound better with our size on the front court. Everyone is capable. We have to get more production off the bench, I think that’ll be important.”

Diakite agrees that there is room for improvement.

“We are going to look at the tape and learn from the mistakes,” he said, “and we are going to keep going forward from there.”

Diakite grew up a soccer player and didn’t begin playing basketball until around 2010. His father, Aboubacar Sidiki Diakite, saw how fast Mamadi was growing and suggested the switch, and the rest is history.

Also a high-jumper in high school, Diakite has shown off his freakishly smooth athleticism throughout his Cavalier career. He is a team-first player, he gives it his all and he’s just simply the kind of guy you want on your side, as Bennett explained.

“He’s got a contagious or infectious personality, the way he’s very — a little bit like Justin Anderson — he’s always happy, you just watch him around people and you pick that up,” Bennett said.

It will be important moving forward for Diakite to avoid the fouls and stay on the floor longer, especially when the other bigs are battling foul trouble of their own. He has proven on several occasions that he can be a crucial contributor and just may be that X-factor that Coach Bennett believes he can be in the overall success of the team.