Virginia Holds Off Miami, Wins 56-46

By Scott Ratcliffe

Playing without junior starting floor general Ty Jerome, No. 3 Virginia used its mighty defense and held off a valiant effort from Miami, pulling away 56-46 Saturday at John Paul Jones Arena.

The Cavaliers (20-1, 8-1 ACC) held Miami to 34-percent shooting (19 percent from downtown), while owning the rebounding battle, 42-24. The win gives the Wahoos their 20th in a season for the eighth straight year, and now Tony Bennett’s team will have a full week to get ready for Round 2 against second-ranked Duke next weekend.

Freshman Kihei Clark got the start in place of Jerome, who injured his back Tuesday at NC State, and Kyle Guy handled the rock when Clark rested. The UVA offense seemed a tad out of sync for much of the contest without Jerome, but out-hustled the struggling, shorthanded Hurricanes (9-12, 1-8).

“At times, early on, we got some good looks out of our ball-screen offense and we just missed a lot of shots,” said Bennett, who credited the Miami backcourt with their ball pressure. “That seemed like it was the best chance to have an opportunity to get some scores. We were struggling in some of our other stuff so we just tried to ride that a little more and be as good as we can offensively.

“But that showed at times, the indecisiveness. that led to some turnovers and either forced shots or not making the right plays. Again, there were enough good plays and that is part of learning.”

Trailing 11-9 early on, the ‘Hoos went on an 11-1 run capped by a strong take through traffic by Guy. Virginia secured seven offensive rebounds in the opening half, which led to nine second-chance points to make up for shooting 39 percent (11-28 FG) prior to the break.

De’Andre Hunter scored seven of the team’s first nine points, and swatted a Miami shot in the final minute of the half which led to a Braxton Key fast-break layup — off a sweet dish from Clark — to give the ‘Hoos their largest lead of the half before Chris Lykes sank a 3-pointer to trim the lead to 28-21 at halftime.

Lykes, the Hurricanes’ leading scorer, then opened the second half with another long ball to cut it to four, but Jim Larrañaga’s troops wouldn’t get any closer, as Clark answered on the ensuing trip with a 3 of his own.

Miami got within six, 45-39, with eight minutes left before the Cavaliers reeled off eight of the next 10 to push the lead back to double digits.

Junior forward Mamadi Diakite scored seven straight of UVA’s points during that stretch — an alley-oop jam from Key that started with Diakite’s block on the other end jumpstarted the personal scoring spurt.

Lykes led the ‘Canes with 16 points, while Zach Johnson and Sam Waardenburg each added 10. Ebuka Izundu finished with 8 points (all in the second half) and a game-high 11 boards in the losing effort. Anthony Lawrence and DJ Vasiljevic combined for just 2 points on 0-for-10 shooting.

“[The Cavaliers] did what they always do and I thought we competed very hard,” Larrañaga said. “But when you only shoot 50 percent from the foul line and 4 of 21 from three, eventually you know the game only comes down to two things – one team putting the ball in the basket and a team has to stop you from putting the ball in the basket at the other end.”

The ‘Hoos shot 42 percent overall (22 of 52) and 35 percent from downtown (6 of 17). Virginia grabbed a dozen offensive rebounds, which led to 14 second-chance points, but turned the ball over 14 times after giving it away a season-high 16 times against NC State Tuesday.

Hunter paced UVA with 14 points to go with his 6 rebounds, 2 steals and a block. Diakite added 11 points, 6 boards (5 offensive) and 3 blocks. He has swatted 11 shots over his past three games, and has recorded at least one rejection in 14 straight.

“I am just trying to have fun out there,” Diakite explained. “I just like having fun blocking shots when I have a window, just taking it.”

Guy again struggled a bit offensively (4 for 15 FG, 2 for 8 from deep), but still notched double-figures scoring with 10 points. Despite committing 6 turnovers, his most this season, Clark filled in admirably for Jerome, finishing with 9 points, 5 rebounds, and career highs of 6 assists in 37 minutes. Key added 5 points, 8 boards and a pair of blocks, which tied a career best, while Jack Salt had 7 points and a team-best nine rebounds, which matched his highest total of the year.

“If we can get some interior scoring, it’s huge,” Salt admitted, adding that the week off couldn’t come at a better time in terms of cleaning up the mistakes and getting rested for Duke. “Usually we’re guard-oriented, so if we can help any way on the inside – Jay’s playing really well the last couple of games when he gets in and Mamadi has been scoring – it’s definitely helpful.”

ESPN announced that the College GameDay crew will return to JPJ Saturday morning ahead of the huge rematch with the Blue Devils, which will tip off at 6 p.m.