Story by Scott Ratcliffe
Junior guards Ty Jerome and Kyle Guy combined for 43 points Wednesday as fifth-ranked Virginia won its 11th straight true road game and moved to 10-0 with a 69-52 win at South Carolina after a 10-day exam break.
Jerome, who added six rebounds and seven assists on the night, scored 13 straight points in the first half to give the Cavaliers their first double-digit lead of the game. He led all scorers with 25 points, while Guy scored 12 of his 18 after halftime.
The Gamecocks (4-6), who dropped their fifth game out of the last seven, trimmed the Wahoo lead to just one with a 10-3 run late in the first half, but Guy and Jerome nailed a pair of 3s in the final two minutes to push it back to seven, 33-26, at the break.
The rust was apparent over the opening 20 minutes. Mamadi Diakite got the start in place of Kihei Clark and scored the game’s first four points on a pair of jumpers set up by Jerome.
“I had an open look, I tried to take it with all confidence, it went in and all my teammates were pumped up after that,” said Diakite. “That’s when we started rolling a little bit.”
Clark, who had surgery to repair a hairline fracture in his left hand just over a week ago, only practiced once since the VCU game on Dec. 9. Many figured the gritty freshman point guard would miss significant time but there he was getting a floater to roll home not even five minutes into the contest for his only basket in 24 minutes off the bench.
“I thought Mamadi got us off to a nice start in the beginning of the game, but we were just a little shaky with the ball, missed some good open looks, seemed rusty perhaps, but then I thought we got a bit casual defensively,” Tony Bennett said of the sloppy start.
With the ‘Hoos ahead 9-4, Jerome took control offensively. He sank a pair of free throws before three straight buckets from in close over the next few minutes before sinking a corner 3. Another perfect trip to the line at the 7:59 mark made it 13 consecutive points Jerome scored for UVA.
The Cavalier defense held South Carolina’s top two scorers relatively quiet in the first half. After talented senior big man Chris Silva put through his first basket of the game, leading scorer A.J. Lawson finally got his first field goal to fall — a 3-pointer that cut the Virginia lead to three — with 5:07 until halftime.
Guy responded with his first make from downtown, but a Hassani Gravett floater followed by SC freshman Alanzo Frink’s first career 3 cut Virginia’s lead to 27-26 with 3:22 to play in the first.
Neither team shot the ball well over the opening 20 minutes — UVA shot 39 percent from the field and 33 percent from deep, while the Gamecocks were 11 for 30 overall and 2 for 12 from long range.
A Felipe Haase triple trimmed the Wahoo lead to 35-31 early in the second half and that’s as close as it would get, as Virginia countered with a 13-2 spurt, capped by a Braxton Key jam, to make it a 17-point advantage with 13 minutes left.
Silva, a 2017-18 All-SEC first-teamer, scored just his second FG of the game on an easy two-hand flush to cut it to 11 and the Gamecocks tried for e last late push, but Guy sank back-to-back triples — and was fouled on the latter — to put things out of reach by the final media timeout. The ‘Hoos shot 50 percent (14 for 28) from the floor after halftime, and 44 percent for the game (26 of 59). Virginia turned the ball over three times before the first TV timeout of the night but only committed two turnovers the rest of the way. The Cavaliers turned 12 Gamecock giveaways into 14 points on the other end.
Silva and Lawson, who averaged a combined 25 points coming in, were limited to 18 points on 5-for-17 shooting, with most of that production coming from Silva over the final 10 minutes. Silva led Carolina with 11 points to go with six boards and two blocks. Lawson had just 7 points on 1-for-5 shooting.
Jerome’s 25 points were a season high on 9-of-15 shooting. He was 3 for 8 from long distance. Guy was 6 for 14 on the night, including nailing 5 of his 11 attempts from 3-point land.
“Ty and Kyle were stretching it, making some plays,” said Bennett. “Whenever we needed a big three or a big play, it seemed like they came up.”
Diakite chipped in with 10 points (5 for 6 FG), 5 rebounds, two steals and a block. Jack Salt had a game-high (and season-high) 9 rebounds to go with his four points.
UVA star forward De’Andre Hunter had a season-low five points (2-10 FG, 0-2 3PT), but contributed three rebounds, three assists and a steal in 23 minutes. Key offered 5 points and 7 rebounds in his 23 minutes of action.
The Wahoos return home Saturday afternoon against William & Mary.
