By Scott Ratcliffe
Virginia’s season opener against Towson got off to a slow start Tuesday night at John Paul Jones Arena, but junior guard Ty Jerome caught fire and sparked his teammates offensively as the Cavaliers cruised to a 73-42 win.
Jerome knocked down six of his nine 3-point attempts — three in each half — and led all scorers with 20 points to go with his four assists and two steals.
Sophomore De’Andre Hunter notched his second career double-double, finishing with 13 points and 10 rebounds, which matched a career high on the boards. His only other double-dip came at Pitt last season when he had 14 points and 10 boards.
Coach Tony Bennett, who said during the preseason that his defense still had a ways to go, was pleased with the overall performance Tuesday night.
“I thought we had some good [defensive] stands,” said Bennett, who won his ninth season opener as Virginia head coach in 10 tries. “I thought at times we played some decent defense and then gave up offensive rebounds. [Towson’s Dennis Tunstall] was a terrific offensive rebounder for them. A couple times we got out of position, I thought their physicality was a bit much for us.
“We were sort of shuffling around on the offensive end early, either lost our balance, couple dead plays, but then I did think we picked it up for the most part positionally and rebounded a little better, and again took some stands defensively and got ignited with some ball pressure by [freshman guard Kihei Clark].”
The fifth-ranked Cavaliers (1-0) missed their first four shots from the field, including their first six from downtown, as the visiting Tigers from the Colonial Athletic Association grabbed an early 3-0 advantage on a Brian Fobbs triple out of the gate.
Senior big man Jack Salt, who Towson coach Pat Skerry compared to a superhero for his chiseled frame, sank his only basket of the game, a soft baby hook from the right side of the lane, to tie it up three minutes in after Kyle Guy split a pair of free throws.
Alabama transfer Braxton Key got the start in his first game as a Cavalier and made an immediate impact, especially on the glass, along with Hunter, when Salt and Mamadi Diakite had to sit with early foul trouble.
“When one guy falls, we know we’ve got to step up — that’s kind of been our motto this summer,” Key said of filling in on the boards in the three-guard look, “just picking up for the next one. They had gotten in a little foul trouble and we had to adjust, and it was good practice for us.”
Jerome and Key went back-to-back from downtown on consecutive trips to end the drought from beyond the arc, giving Virginia an early edge, 15-11, midway through the first half.
Bennett liked what he saw from Key in his first run wearing the orange and blue.
“He was good on the glass and he’s versatile and brings physicality and awareness,” Bennett said of Key’s debut. “I thought that was important.”
The Cavaliers pushed the lead to double digits, 23-12, with a Jerome triple from the left side with under three minutes left in the half, and then the sharpshooting guard nailed one from the other side of the floor to ignite the crowd shortly after.
Towson (0-1) went nearly nine minutes without a field goal until a Tobias Howard 3-pointer hit every part of the rim before falling home with 1:49 until halftime, pulling the Tigers back within single digits, 26-17.
Guy struggled a bit with his shot, but got on the board with a bucket off of a Jerome steal in the final minute, and UVa led 28-19 at the break , despite shooting just 37 percent (10-27) over the opening 20 minutes.
Jerome made his fourth 3-ball of the night from way deep just before the first media timeout of the second half, then moments later recorded a steal and found Key for an easy bucket to make it 40-29 with 14 minutes to play.
After a Hunter baseline drive, Tunstall followed up on a teammate’s miss to cut it to 42-33 with 12:23 remaining — the Tigers wouldn’t hit another shot from the field until Jakigh Dottin got one to fall with 1:49 to play. During that span, UVa outscored the visitors by a margin of 27-9 to put things out of reach.
The flurry began with Jerome’s assist for Diakite before he knocked the ball loose on the other end and pulled up to drain his fifth long ball of the night to extend the lead to 14, 47-33.
“He just has that innate feel of when to kind of seize the game, and that’s kind of what he did to cause separation and kind of wear us down,” Towson coach Pat Skerry said of Jerome’s killer instinct.
Another newcomer who provided a big lift was the 5-foot-9 Clark, who got a steal and a score out of the ensuing timeout, stirring the home crowd into a frenzy. Wahoo fans got to see first-hand how quick and scrappy Clark can be, and he also dished out a team-high six assists in his 24 minutes of playing time, including a sweet alley-oop pass to Jay Huff in the second half.
Clark was asked if he had any jitters in his first game as a Cavalier.
“A little bit in warmups, but once I got onto the floor I was pretty calm,” said Clark, who finished his first collegiate contest with four points, including a nice little floater for his first two points in the first half. “It was a great atmosphere, I loved it. I knew I wanted to come in and contribute right away.”
Mission accomplished. After Jerome sank another long ball, Guy finally got one to go from deep, and then Huff slammed home another oop off of a perfect delivery from Key just a few minutes earlier before burying a 3-ball from the top of the key 40 seconds later to put the ‘Hoos on top 63-36 with 5:17 to play.
Reserves Marco Anthony, Kody Stattmann, Austin Katstra, Jayden Nixon and Grant Kersey each saw action in the closing minutes, with Stattmann putting to rest the possibility of redshirting this, his freshman season.
“I said, ‘Be courageous, even if you’re trembling a little bit,’” Bennett said of what he told the new additions before they entered. “But I loved it. And so that was a great joy for me to see them and I’m glad they got to get in.”
On the night, the Cavaliers shot 48 percent (26 for 54), finishing 10 for 26 (38.5 percent) from downtown, scoring 18 points off of 14 Towson turnovers. Virginia also held the Tigers to not one single assist for the entire 40 minutes.
“Credit to Virginia,” said Skerry, “that is just an excellent, well-coached machine. Great environment in here. [The Cavaliers] are really, really good and we appreciate Ty Jerome throwing a bunch of daggers and they gave us some separation. … Not many teams in the country are as good as them. I was impressed that they were able to play smaller than they normally do. They built some depth. It is a special group.”
Towson shot 31 percent for the game (13 for 41). Howard had 10 points (including three 3s) to lead the Tigers, while Fobbs added 9 points. Tunstall had six points and six rebounds (five of them on the offensive glass).
For the ‘Hoos, Guy had 8 points, a pair of rebounds and three helpers over a team-high 31 minutes after his sluggish start. Huff added 8 points in just over eight minutes of action.
Key offered 7 points and 9 boards in 29 minutes, and talked about how cool it was to experience his first taste of the way JPJ gets loud when the shot clock is dwindling for the opponent.
“The fans get really hyped,” Key said. “I mean, I took a charge and you’d think I dunked on somebody. The fans are great here. We love the support.”
The ‘Hoos will host George Washington Sunday at 2 p.m.
