Cavaliers Douse Flames

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Anthony Gill hit double figures for the third time this season. ~ Mike Ingalls

Virginia improved its record to 4-1 on the season with another in-state win on Saturday. The Cavaliers defeated Liberty, 75-53, before a crowd of nearly 11,000 at the John Paul Jones Arena. The game is part of the Corpus Christi Challenge, which features two games in Charlottesville for the Hoos. They host Hampton on Tuesday at 7 p.m. in the next piece of the event.

“I have great respect for Coach Bennett and his staff and his program and his players. It’s the deepest team they’ve ever had as far as I can remember. I think they know their roles, they make shots, they can score inside out, and their defense is very good,” Liberty coach Dale Layer said. “I thought we were able to make a game of it for 25 minutes and then we couldn’t keep them off the glass. Guys that typically don’t shoot well for them were making shots. When they make shots like that and score inside and out, the way they defend and rebound, they make it a difficult time for anyone that comes into John Paul Jones Arena.”

Saturday’s victory belonged to the Cavaliers from the outset, though they had to shake off a late first-half surge to fully douse the Flames.

Malcolm Brogdon hit Virginia’s first shot attempt of the game, a 3-pointer just 40 seconds into the contest. Anthony Gill took over during a two-minute span as the Hoos pushed out to a double-digit lead at 21-10. Gill scored on a layup on an assist from Justin Anderson, blocked two shots, drew a charge, and hit a jump shot during that run. Anderson nailed a 3-pointer during the stretch too. Liberty fought back to cut the lead to four at 30-26 with 1:12 to play on a Davon Marshall 3-pointer. Virginia countered with Darion Atkins’ jumper to close out the half, 32-26. Despite leading at intermission, the Hoos were not without their share of issues in the first half. The Cavaliers often settled for jump shots and were tied with the Flames with 8 points in the paint. Virginia was also out-rebounded 18-14 in that half.

“We started off a little impatient and did not communicate well,” UVa coach Tony Bennett said. “We came out in the second half and got on the offensive glass, rotated the ball, and made them earn it a little more. We didn’t give them as many shots at the rim.”

Indeed, it was evident coming out of the break what the emphasis would be for the second half – get the ball into the paint. Joe Harris attacked the rim for the first points of the second half, pushing the lead to 8. Liberty could not get any closer the rest of the game. Six minutes into the half, Virginia had stretched the lead to 21 and it grew to more than 30 before the Flames shrunk the margin in the final 3 minutes and change against mostly Virginia’s walk-ons.

Virginia corrected the rebounding discrepancy from the first half and finished with a 35-28 advantage in that category, a 21-10 margin after intermission. Points in the paint improved as well, with Virginia winning that battle 24-8 in the second half and 32-16 for the game.

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UVa’s Malcolm Brogdon scored 12 points. ~ Mike Ingalls

As part of that inside attack, the aforementioned Gill scored a team-high 13 points on 6-of-10 shooting and added 2 rebounds, 2 assists, and 2 blocked shots. Atkins, who like Gill came off the bench in this one, chipped in 7 points, a team-high 9 rebounds (6 offensive), and 2 assists. Akil Mitchell joined the party with 8 points, 3 rebounds, 3 steals, and 2 assists.

“I thought Darion [Atkins] was very good off the bench. He had six offensive rebounds and was active. I think we have a lot of strengths and our frontcourt is one of them,” Bennett said. “Anthony [Gill] can score, and with Darion’s defensive activity, that is a strength of ours. We have to understand that. Doing a couple passes and jacking up a three won’t get it done.”

Brogdon tallied 12 points to join Gill, while no other Cavaliers scored in double figures. There was balanced scoring as seven players finished with at least 6 points.

One of the highlights of the evening was Evan Nolte finally getting back on track from long range. He hit on 2 of 3 from beyond the arc. Virginia finished 9 of 21 from 3-point range (42.9%). Freshmen point guard London Perrantes had another solid performance as well with 6 assists to 0 turnovers. As a team, Virginia finished with 21 assists and only 9 turnovers. Anderson did the little things, filling the stat column with 9 points (2 of 3 beyond the arc), 5 rebounds, 4 assists, and 1 steal.

Perhaps the most entertaining moments of the game came after Bennett cleared his bench just after Liberty was assessed a technical foul following a breakaway dunk from Gill with 3:36 remaining. With the score 69-38, walk on Thomas Rogers stepped to the line to drain one of two technical free throws to improve Virginia’s lead to 70-38. Rogers would later nail a 3-pointer to the delight of the crowd. Those are the first career points for the walk-on who earned a scholarship this season.

Final Stats

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