By Scott Ratcliffe

No. 18 Virginia collected another important conference victory late Tuesday night, defeating Pitt at John Paul Jones Arena, 67-47.

The Cavaliers (19-3, 8-2 ACC) have now won three straight overall and 10 of the last 12 against the shorthanded Panthers (9-14, 2-8), who committed a season-high 17 turnovers that turned into 23 points on the other end.

Junior sharpshooter Sam Lewis led four Wahoos in double figures with a game-high 15 points (including four 3-pointers), while Thijs De Ridder, the ACC’s reigning Player of the Week and Rookie of the Week, recorded a double-double with 10 points and a game-high 12 rebounds (7 of them on the offensive end) to go along with 3 assists.

UVA also got strong contributions from another starter, Malik Thomas, who finished with 10 points, and Chance Mallory, who stuffed the stat sheet with 11 points, 3 assists, a game-high 4 steals and a pair of rebounds in 23 minutes off the bench.

Ryan Odom’s squad shook off a slow start, grabbed the lead early in the contest and never trailed again across the remaining 33-plus minutes.

On the other side, Pitt coach Jeff Capel’s roster was already decimated before it was announced pregame that leading scorer Brandin Cummings (12.5 ppg) was injured and did not travel with the team, leaving Capel to run with a rotation of just six players for the majority of the night.

The Cavaliers built a 13-point lead by halftime, and they were just getting started. De Ridder scored six of the team’s nine points out of the break prior to the under-16 media timeout, capped by a triple with 16:33 to go. Lewis followed that up with another 3-ball, and the UVA lead stood at 45-29.

Pitt did its best to hang around, cutting its deficit to a dozen points, 49-37, a little past the midway point of the second half, but that’s as close as it would get, as UVA’s size and depth proved to be too much.

Shortly after the Panthers cut it to 12, Odom watched as his team was whistled for a shot-clock violation, forcing him to burn a timeout. When play resumed, Lewis drilled back-to-back 3s, and it was right back to an 18-point affair [55-37] just over a minute later.

From there, the Cavaliers sank three more long balls — along with an old-fashioned three-point play by Lewis with 1:27 left — for the final result.

UVA fell behind in the game’s opening minutes, trailing 7-3 before going on a 12-0 run — highlighted by consecutive 3-pointers from Devin Tillis and Lewis — to take an eight-point lead with 11:43 until halftime.

The lead grew to double digits on a Thomas bucket to push it to 24-14 with 5:50 left in the half. A little over two minutes later, Mallory scored on a nifty spin move that drew oohs and ahhs from the JPJ crowd to make it 28-14. Ugonna Onyenso sank a triple to close the half and give his team a comfy, 33-20 advantage at the break.

For the evening, Virginia made 26 of 59 (44 percent) of its attempts from the field, including 35 percent (11 for 31) from downtown, and connected on just 4 of 9 (44 percent) from the foul line.

UVA outrebounded the Panthers by a 38-31 margin while recording 12 steals and 6 blocks (Onyenso had four of ‘em). The Cavaliers’ 13 offensive boards led to 13 second-chance points. They outscored the visitors in the paint, (30-22), on the fast break (18-8) and off the bench (19-11).

Pitt, which was led by two players — Cameron Corhen and Nojus Indrusaitas — with 11 points, shot at a 37-percent clip (17 for 46) from the field and 32 percent (6 of 19) from 3-point territory. The Panthers connected on 7 of their 12 free-throw attempts (58 percent) in the losing effort.

Team Notes

Courtesy UVA Media Relations

• No. 18 Virginia improved to 19-3, 8-2 ACC
• UVA’s 67 points marked a season low
• UVA held Pitt to a season-low 47 points
• The 47 points allowed by UVA marked a season low
• UVA is 11-1 at home
• UVA made five of its last seven shots to end the first half and led 33-20
• UVA’s 12-0 run gave the Hoos a 15-7 lead
• UVA tallied 30 points in the paint
• UVA netted 23 points off of Pitt’s 17 turnovers
• UVA 12 steals marked a season high in ACC play
• UVA (10 3-pointers) has made 10 or more 3-pointers in 13 games, most since 13 in 2018-19

Series Notes

• UVA is 21-6 all-time vs. Pitt in the series that dates to 1957
• UVA is 9-2 against the Panthers in Charlottesville
• UVA has won 10 of the last 12 contests in the series
• UVA is 14-3 against Pitt in ACC action since 2013-14

Player Notes

• Double Figure Scorers: Sam Lewis (15), Chance Mallory (11), Thijs De Ridder (10), Malik Thomas (10)
• De Ridder added a game-high 12 rebounds for his third double-double
• De Ridder has reached double figures in 18 games
• Thomas has reached double figures in 16 games (71 career)
• Mallory has reached double figures in 14 games
• Mallory had a game-high four steals, increasing his team-high total to 43
• Lewis has reached double figures in 12 games (45 career)
• Ugonna Onyenso (4 blocks) has multiple blocks in 12 games
• Onyenso has seven games with four or more blocks
• Johann Grünloh (2 blocks) has multiple blocks in 13 games
• UVA started Dallin Hall, Lewis, Thomas, De Ridder and Grünloh for the 21st game

UP NEXT

The Hoos look to make it four wins in a row when they host Syracuse at noon on Saturday. The game will be broadcast nationally on ESPN.

This Week’s ACC Scoreboard

Monday
North Carolina 87, Syracuse 77

Tuesday
Virginia 67, Pitt 47
Duke 67, Boston College 49
NC State 84, SMU 83

Wednesday
Notre Dame at Louisville, 7 p.m. (ESPN2)
Georgia Tech at California, 8 p.m. (ACCN)
Clemson at Stanford, 10 p.m. (ACCN)

Saturday
Syracuse at Virginia, Noon (ESPN)
Louisville at Wake Forest, Noon (ACCN)
Virginia Tech at NC State, 1:30 p.m. (The CW)
Miami at Boston College, 2 p.m. (ACCN)
SMU at Pitt, 3:45 p.m. (The CW)
Florida State at Notre Dame, 4 p.m.
Duke at North Carolina, 6:30 p.m. (ESPN)
Clemson at California, 8 p.m. (ACCN)
Georgia Tech at Stanford, 8 p.m. (ESPNU)