Wahoos Surge Past Syracuse

All season long, especially at home in the John Paul Jones Arena, the Virginia men’s basketball team swatted away its ACC opposition. So when Saturday arrived with Syracuse in town for a highly anticipated showdown, the Cavaliers didn’t flinch. Not once.

In fact, No. 12 UVa broke open a closely contested game and hammered the No. 4 Orange 75-56 in front of an electric arena filled with 14,593 fans. The final few minutes and the moments immediately following the game turned into an impromptu celebration as the program claimed only the second outright ACC regular season title in its history. The last came 33 years earlier when Ralph Sampson and the Hoos finished alone atop the standings in 1981.

The floor flooded with fans, the team returned from its victorious locker room to an ovation, and Wahoos everywhere reveled in the aftermath. It served as the perfect way to end Senior Night for seniors Joe Harris, Akil Mitchell, and Thomas Rogers.

“I took a moment to give thanks because I can remember when we had a bigger group but those came in and we just painted a picture to them and the vision was come help us turn this program around. When you’re a part of turning something around, it’s really special,” UVa coach Tony Bennett said. “That was the vision and that was what Joe remembered. He said I don’t care this year if I’m not getting as many shots. I just want to win; I want to turn this program around and I’ll get my chances later. For Akil and Joe and certainly Thomas, I’m very, very excited for them.”

This game between the ACC’s top two teams in the standings started as a white-knuckle, back-and-forth battle. Over the first 29 minutes, the score stood tied five times and changed hands seven more as the two defensive-minded teams traded blows. In fact, the first six minutes of the second half witnessed the two sides trading haymakers like heavyweight fighters as they scored on eight straight possessions.

That stretch included 3-pointers on 5 of 6 trips as London Perrantes, Malcolm Brogdon, and Justin Anderson connected for Virginia only to be answered by consecutive bombs from Trevor Cooney for Cuse. Cooney’s last one tied the score 40-40 with 13:38 before the two teams exchanged points again for the final tie at 42-42.

But like many times before during this 13-game winning streak, the Cavaliers had a final surge in store. The Hoos took over the last 11 minutes with a dominant 33-14 closing run that brought the JPJ crowd to a crescendo.

“I think we tend to outlast teams. We kind of figure them out in the first half – it seems like we always come out slow in the first half – and then once we figure out what we need to do to win in the second half, it just starts clicking for us,” Perrantes said. “People are more aggressive, knocking down shots, and playing defense. Defense is always going to help us win games.”

As expected, that decisive stretch featured a lot of contributing faces. A 7-0 burst broke the 42-all stalemate as Perrantes hit a long 3-pointer to send Syracuse into a timeout huddle at the end of that mini-run. Anderson connected on a corner trey, Harris drained one from the wing, and Mike Tobey put back a missed shot as part of a big day overall during the put-away-moments down the stretch too. Even Rogers, the seldom used walk-on turned scholarship senior, provided the icing on the cake with a dramatic 3-pointer in the final 30 seconds.

But nobody was bigger than Brogdon. The sophomore delivered 14 points in the final 11 minutes to help the Hoos seal the deal. He started the decisive run with a pair of free throws at the 10:58 mark. With 6:47 to go and Cuse still within seven points, he hit a pull-up jumper just inside the arc. Two possessions later, he followed that up with a free-throw line jumper that gave Virginia its first double-digit lead. Then playing the closer role to the letter, he made six final free throw attempts in the last three minutes.

Brogdon finished with a career-high 19 points to go with 5 rebounds and 5 assists.

“No surprise to us what he’s been able to do. His work ethic, his will to win, how much of a great teammate he is, a leader by example like he is, there’s no better person for it to happen for,” Anderson said. “He just makes plays continuously. Great defender. I’m just so happy for him coming back from what he had to go through last year with sitting out a whole year. He deserves it and I’m proud of him.”

Brogdon had company in the scoring column. Mitchell made 6 of 8 shots to record 12 points and 9 rebounds, which included a monster first half of 8 points and 7 rebounds to keep UVa in it while its guards found their stride. The aforementioned Tobey added 11 points and 8 rebounds, 5 of them off the offensive glass where he did most of his damage (the hosts had 21 second chance points on the day). Anderson, who made 3 of 4 triples in the game, added 11 points, 2 rebounds, and 2 assists too. Harris ended up with 7 points and 4 assists.

The Wahoos shot 57.7% (15 of 26), which included 63.6% from 3-point range (7 of 11), while pulling away in the second half. They finished at 50% for the game (27 of 54), while Syracuse struggled to sustain their success. After leading 28-27 at the half on 42.9% shooting (12 of 28), the Orange faded a bit in the second half at 35.7% (20 of 56). That included 2 of 13 treys (15.4%) after halftime.

“They had a tremendous second half. They proved that they could hit those three’s, and got it going a little bit. Everyone knows that they are a tremendous defensive team and they are also an impressive three-point team,” Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim said. “I have thought that for a couple of weeks that they have been by far the best team. This is the first game all year that we have been out of the game. We have to give tremendous credit to both their offensive ability and their defense too.”

Final Stats