Wahoos Whip Wake Forest

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Malcolm Brogdon missed only two shots and had 14 points. ~ Mike Ingalls

After exiting the old year like a lamb at Tennessee, the Virginia men’s basketball team has opened 2014 roaring like a lion. The Hoos built a large lead for the second straight ACC game and never looked back in a dominant 74-51 victory against Wake Forest on Wednesday.

The Cavaliers cruised at the John Paul Jones Arena thanks to a balanced effort across the board. UVa placed four players in double figures, while the defense slowed down the Demon Deacons from the opening tip. That led to an 11-0 lead early and other than a brief lull late in the first half, the score never really grew close again. In fact over the contest’s final 31 minutes, the lead dipped below 10 points for exactly 24 seconds.

“I thought we came out the right way. It is pretty simple – I told the guys, you’ve got the formula for how you have to play. Does it guarantee you’re going to be successful every time? No. But we guarded the right way. They had some careless turnovers right at the beginning, which helped us. We were in the right spots and made them shoot the contested shots,” Virginia coach Tony Bennett said. “We ran our offense pretty hard and got some easy looks and made some threes. There was purpose with our offense and a little bit of discipline. That was good to see. Wake Forest was coming off a big win. They’ve got a lot of sophomores like us and sometimes you don’t know how they will respond on the road, so I think they’re a better ball club than they showed but I was pleased with the way our guys shared the ball and took care of it.”

“I don’t know if it was the best game we’ve played this season, but we played well. We’ll have to go back and watch the film with the coaches and everyone, but I felt like we played really well tonight,” Cav forward Anthony Gill said.

The types of shots the two teams earned could not have been more different. Virginia, particularly in the opening half, created shots near the rim routinely. The Wahoos logged 17 assists on 26 made shots. Malcolm Brogdon drove to basket for layups regularly, while London Perrantes made several steals and got points from transition attempts. The posts got touches down low or off the bounce too, including two nice screen-and-roll plays for Darion Atkins in the second half.

All of that inside action opened up some clean 3-point looks, especially when Wake Forest was forced into a zone defense. Joe Harris made a trio of triples in the first half, including a buzzer beater just before intermission while Brogdon, Justin Anderson, and Evan Nolte all knocked down at least one long-range jumper too.

In the end, Brogdon made 6 of 8 shots en route to a team-high 14-point night. He added 6 rebounds, 2 steals, and 2 assists too in what was his best outing in weeks. Anderson added 11 points on the strength of 6-of-6 free throw shooting, while Anthony Gill chipped in with 10 points, 4 rebounds, 1 steal, and 1 assist off the bench. Akil Mitchell had another good outing too with 7 points and 7 rebounds, while Atkins added 7 points and 4 rebounds.

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UVa Joe Harris made a trio of 3-pointers and had 11 points. ~ Mike Ingalls

Harris rounded out the players in double figures. After missing all but three minutes of the big Florida State win on Saturday with a concussion, Harris returned to practice Tuesday and had a solid night against Wake. He knocked down 4 of 8 shots and 3 of 6 3-pointers to finish with 11 points and 2 assists. While some wondered if his absence Saturday helped flip a switch for his teammates offensively, Bennett said simply that Harris makes the team better.

“He practiced [Tuesday]. That was his only practice. He was good [Tuesday] in practice and responded well and looked like he didn’t miss a beat out there. He had a nice pace about him and didn’t seem to get too tired,” Bennett said. “He played 27 minutes and it was good to see him back out there. We played well at Florida State without him, but he’s so important. I think had he played in that game we would’ve been that much better.”

The Deacs did not get the same quality looks. They spent much of the night taking shots between the paint and the arc or committing turnovers. Virginia’s defense smothered on-ball screens, cut off drives, and generally made life miserable for the visitors. That helped the lead grow to 32 points as Wake posted 31% shooting before the final 3 minutes altered things a bit against the Cav walk-ons.

The Demon Deacons ended up with a tough line statistically: 35.4% shooting (17 of 48), 23.5% 3-point shooting (4 of 17), 5 offensive rebounds, and 15 turnovers. Coron Williams was the only player to reach double figures with 11 points, while Arnaud Adala Moto added 9.

“Give Virginia a lot of credit. They started the game in a way that just took our heart right out of us,” Wake Forest coach Jeff Bzdelik said. “After five minutes it’s 11-2 and nine out of those 11 points are off turnovers. Five out of our first seven possessions we turned the ball over and then the other two possessions we missed layups. You’re not going to win that way, home or on the road, it is that simple.”

Final Stats