Cavaliers Shake Off Rust, Remain Unbeaten

By Jerry Ratcliffe

Virginia might have been a little rusty and a little wounded going on the road Wednesday night, but the Cavaliers flexed their No. 5 muscles at just the right times to dispose of South Carolina, 69-52.

Coming off a 10-day exam break, UVA was a little off at times but quickly got its act together when it counted to remain perfect at 10-0. It’s the Cavaliers’ best start since bolting to a 19-0 record in 2014-15.

Freshman point guard Kihei Clark surprisingly played with a cast on his left wrist after undergoing surgery on Dec. 10.

The Gamecocks (4-6) remained within striking distance until the close of the first half. They trailed 27-26 with 3:20 to play before Kyle Guy and Ty Jerome sank 3-point shots to make it 33-26 at the break.

“Instead of going in the locker room feeling good, we go in the locker room down seven,” said South Carolina coach Frank Martin. “Being down seven to Virginia is like being down 21 to other people.”

It wasn’t too long before Martin must have felt his team was down 21 to the Cavaliers. With most everyone getting into the mix, UVA went on a 15-7 run to start the second half and it was all but over. Up 48-35, a lead that soon swelled to 52-35, the visiting Wahoos cruised to the win.

“In my 11 or 12 years as a head coach, they’re as good a team as I’ve coached against,” Martin said of Virginia. “[Tony Bennett] is playing guys who have been playing for three years and I’m playing freshmen.”

Two of those three-year guys, Ty Jerome and Kyle Guy, were just short of spectacular. Jerome had a season-high 25 points (9-of-15 from the field, six rebounds, seven assists), while Guy added 18 on a 5-of-11 performance from beyond the arc.

Even another third-year guy, Mamadi Diakite, made an impact with 10 points, connecting of five of six shots.

“We were a little shaky with the ball,” said Bennett, who captured his 298th career win. “We seemed rusty perhaps, then we got a bit casual getting back (on defense). Their zone bothered us a little.”

A little, but not a lot. UVA shot over the zone, then dissected it with easy drives to the basket by Jerome. The Cavaliers shot 50 percent from the field in the second half.

“[Guy and Jerome] were the only two that hit 3’s,” Bennett said. “If [South Carolina] was going to play that zone, it was good to bang some 3’s.”

The Gamecocks made a brief run in the second half, outscoring the Cavaliers 6-0 and cut the lead to 10 at 53-43. That’s when UVA assistant coach Brad Soderberg suggested that Bennett move Jerome into the middle of the zone at the high post.

From there, Jerome could pick the zone apart with passes or drive to the bucket.

“I remember the first time we did that against Syracuse my freshman year,” said Jerome, who scored 13 consecutive points during one stretch in the first half against the Gamecocks. “It allows me to have a good look at everybody on the floor.”

Guy, who has now scored 15 or more points in Virginia’s last four games, heaped a lot of praise on his backcourt mate.

“Ty was so important all game long,” Guy said. “He was aggressive the whole game and it really took a lot of pressure off the rest of us. We joke about how we take turns. When someone’s feeling it, they’re feeling it, and he can do it as good as anybody in the country.”

Bennett certainly believes so.

“I think they’re triple-threat guys,” the UVA coach said. “They obviously can shoot the ball from deep. We try to give them good looks. They’re capable of putting it on the floor, driving, drawing fouls or hitting pull-ups, floaters. And they’ll make the right passes.”

Martin was clearly convinced as well.

“They’re as good a team as I’ve coached against when they’re on offense,” the Gamecocks coach said. “They just kind of wait until one guy makes a mistake and as soon as a guy makes a mistake, they attack you.”

Carolina guard Hassani Gravett agreed with his coach.

“[Virginia] did whatever they were game-planned to do on defense,” Gravett said. “On offense, the plays that we worked on in practice, they didn’t execute the way we needed to.”

Credit UVA’s Pack-Line defense for that as the Cavaliers held the Gamecocks to 36 percent shooting and a mere 17 percent from behind the arc, holding Carolina to 52 points in Virginia’s first win in Columbia since 1967.