Virginia Cavaliers Defeat George Washington, 76-57

Posted on Sunday, Nov. 11, 2018, 4:46 pm

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Photo by Jon Golden

By Scott Ratcliffe

The backcourt duo of Kyle Guy and Ty Jerome was too much for George Washington to handle at John Paul Jones Arena Sunday against No. 5 Virginia. The pair combined for 40 points, 12 rebounds, 11 assists and eight 3-pointers as the Cavaliers (2-0) never trailed in a 76-57 romp of the visiting Colonials.

Guy had 20 points (8-15 FG), including 4 for 8 from beyond the arc, to go with his six rebounds and career-best tying four assists. Jerome approached triple-double territory with 20 points, six rebounds, seven assists and four steals, all of which he nabbed in the first half. Each knocked down four triples on the evening.

Guy and Jerome scored 29 of the team’s 42 points in what was a dominant first half, and were the only two Cavaliers to play 30-plus minutes Sunday.

“Obviously when guys make those shots, when [Guy] gets rolling and [Jerome], some good things happen,” said Virginia coach Tony Bennett, whose Cavalier teams moved to 109-6 when scoring 70 or more.

The six rebounds for both guards even led the team, which came as a bit of a surprise to forward Mamadi Diakite.

“Six each? It’s because we are blocking out, all the bigs,” Diakite slyly explained. “They get the rest of the stuff.”

Jerome picked up right where he left off Tuesday night (a 20-point, 6-for-10 shooting performance against Towson), nailing the first shot of the game from beyond the arc on the first trip down the floor. He added a drive to the hole and his second triple of the game a few minutes later for Virginia’s first double-digit lead of the day, 12-2, with 13:44 left in the opening half.

Shortly after, Guy got going and stayed hot after seeing his floater fall through with 12:07 left for his first bucket of many. Guy went up for a shot and found Jay Huff alone underneath, and the 7-footer flushed it home with two hands to make it 18-4 to a roar from the home crowd.

Guy followed that up with his first long ball before GW (0-3) broke a field-goal drought of eight minutes and 22 seconds on a Justin Mazzulla make off an inbounds play from the baseline, but that only trimmed the Cavaliers’ lead to 21-6 with 8:33 to go.

The ‘Hoos went on a 10-0 run prior to back-to-back Guy 3-pointers that pushed the advantage to 39-16 with 1:22 left in the half.

“I think I had a lot more confidence today than I did the first game, I can’t really explain why,” Guy admitted, after scoring eight points on 2-for-6 shooting (1-5 from 3) in his 31 minutes Tuesday, adding that he didn’t want to force things in the opener. “Guys like [Jerome] just telling me to keep shooting, and they keep feeding me, so some of them are bound to go in.”

UVa led 42-17 at the break, as Guy led all scorers with 17 points to go with four rebounds and three assists. Jerome had 12 points, five rebounds, five assists and four steals at the half, as the Wahoos shot 55 percent (16-29) from the field and 42 percent (5-12) from 3-point land, while limiting GW to 22-percent shooting from the field, and just 11% from downtown (1-9). Not one Colonial registered more than one field-goal make in the opening 20 minutes, and the team had just one assist, the first allowed by the Cavaliers this season.

“I thought our first half we were sharp, made it hard for [the Colonials] to get good looks in the first half for the most part,” said Bennett. “We ran our offense, touched the paint. … [We] had to withstand some foul trouble and still played at a solid level. So I liked what I saw in the first half, I did. I thought we competed in the right way and had a mindset about us.”

The Colonials outscored Virginia 40-34 in the second half, and started it with an 8-0 spurt, including a pair of tough 3s from DJ Williams and Terry Nolan Jr., respectively, forcing Bennett to call for time with 17:42 remaining.

“I thought we did a good job of finding guys,” said GW head coach Maurice Joseph, who also shortly thereafter got consecutive 3-balls from reserve Maceo Jack. “We ran some different things to get some guys some looks, and [Jack] did a good job coming in and knocking down some shots in the second half. … We finished [6 for 18 from downtown], so I’ll take that against a talented defensive team.”

Although it was still a comfortable advantage, Guy admits the team can improve defensively moving forward and not get complacent.

“I think [GW] just penetrated a little bit more, kicked it out for rhythm threes, even if we had a hand up it was still rhythm,” Guy said of the second-half lapses, “so I think that will definitely be a point of emphasis this week. Coach wasn’t super happy about it so we’re going to have to come back better this week.”

De’Andre Hunter scored eight of his 10 points over the next 10 minutes of action, and Diakite slammed one through off of a nifty behind-the-back assist from Braxton Key.

“I wasn’t expecting it,” Diakite said of the Key dime. “He surprised me, but I was ready. I was looking at the ball because he wasn’t in the motion of shooting it yet, so yeah I was surprised that he did that.”

Diakite blocked a GW shot and it led to a Hunter drive to give the ‘Hoos a 30-point lead, 66-36, with 8:55 to play.

The Colonials used a 14-4 spurt to get back within 20 with just over five minutes to go, but couldn’t gain any more ground the rest of the way.

Williams led GW with 17 points, while Nolan finished with 13. The Colonials shot 40 percent for the night (18-45) from the field.

The ‘Hoos shot 55 percent (30-55), including 8 for 19 from beyond the arc. The Cavaliers outrebounded GW, 32-26, and forced 17 turnovers. Hunter and Diakite also finished in double figures with 10 points apiece.

Never afraid to put up shots, Jerome has now finished with 20 points in both UVa wins playing more off the ball with freshman guard Kihei Clark bringing it up, and Bennett is not surprised by the junior’s increasing improvement and scoring ability.

“I think [Jerome] was always pretty assertive, but I think we need that from him,” said Bennett. “He’s worked so hard on his game and his outside shooting and his body, all those things, to get in the lane. So he’s played two really good games and I think offensively he seems to be assertive with the ability to find guys, and when we got in foul trouble, I thought he looked a little more assertive on that.”

Jerome knows with a different look offensively, he is likely to continue getting more opportunities to score as the season rolls on.

“We can split the floor a little bit more, we’re really working on our shots after practice, during practice,” said Jerome. “So yeah, we look good right now, but we know how far we still have to go.”

UVa will host Coppin State Friday at 7 p.m.