Wahoos Wallop Wake Forest

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Tony Bennett’s team snapped a 10-game losing streak at Wake Forest with the win. ~ Courtesy Ivan Morozov

Less than two weeks ago, Wake Forest pushed Virginia to the brink of an upset before the Hoos used a defensive stand on the final possession to secure a 61-60 victory. The rematch Wednesday night had decidedly less drama.

The Cavaliers dominated the final 32 minutes in Winston-Salem and cruised to a 70-34 decision against the Demon Deacons. The 36-point victory marked UVa’s largest winning margin in the series since an 80-16 victory in 1914. The Wahoos swept the season series with the Deacs for the first time since 1988-89.

“We talked about it before the game and said this is a program game, it really is,” Cavalier coach Tony Bennett said on the Virginia Sports Radio Network. “Just meaning it’s the way we play and it’s all hands on deck. That cliche, but how true it was.”

Playing without starters London Perrantes (broken nose/concussion) and Justin Anderson (pinky), Virginia needed a collective effort to get the win and that’s why Bennett framed it way for his team. The players responded in a big way. All 11 Hoos that checked into the game scored, including late buckets for senior walk-ons Maleek Frazier and Rob Vozenilek. That represented the first points in Frazier’s career.

Of the eight regular rotation players, seven scored at least 7 points. Post players Anthony Gill and Darion Atkins led the way with 11 and 10 points respectively. Malcolm Brogdon and Devon Hall added 9 each, Evan Nolte tallied 8, and Marial Shayok and Mike Tobey chipped in 7 apiece.

The Cavaliers made 28 of 56 shots (50%), 5 of 14 3-pointers (35.7%), and 9 of 13 free throws (69.2%) to get to those totals. They made 4 of their first 6 triples and that seemed to spark the strong night on offense. The visitors also rolled up 15 assists with Brogdon and Shayok posting 4 each to lead that category. The solid night offensively represented the team’s best effort in shooting and assists since a 75-64 win at UNC on Feb. 2 when the Wahoos shot 51.8% with 18 assists.

“I think we had a rhythm going,” Nolte said on the Virginia Sports Radio Network. “A lot of it is the last couple of days we worked a lot on shooting, but personally I think it’s all mental for us. … It’s all about going in there with confidence and being aggressive and sticking with your shot and shooting with confidence. That’s what we worked on a lot the last two days and I think we reached that. We came in ready to play and ready to play offensively. We made a couple of adjustments offensively too which I think helped us a lot and made us hard to guard. It worked out really well for us.”

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Evan Nolte was one of seven Wahoos with at least 7 points. Nolte posted 8 points and 6 rebounds. ~ Mike Ingalls

With the offense clicking, the Hoos ran away on the scoreboard because their defense smothered the Demon Deacons. The hosts managed just 8 assists against 13 turnovers and struggled mightily from the floor. Virginia held Wake Forest to 21.8% shooting (12 of 55), including a dismal 18.2% from 3-point range (4 of 22). Inside the arc, the Deacs hit only 24.2% (8 of 33) of their shots. Wake had 15 points in the first half and that represented the lowest scoring first half at Lawrence Joel Coliseum in the program’s history according to the TV broadcast. It also marked the 17th time this season Virginia has allowed less than 20 points in a half (sixth time in ACC play).

All of those numbers were a far cry from the offensive output in Charlottesville during the first meeting. In that game, Wake Forest shot 43.2% (19 of 44), including 41.7% from 3-point range (10 of 24). Inside the arc, the team connected on 45% (9 of 20). The Deacons had 31 points at halftime in the first contest.

The Cavaliers flipped the script in the second meeting by slowing down Konstantinos Mitoglou and Codi Miller-McIntyre. Mitoglou poured in 18 points in the first match-up with 6-12 shooting on 3-pointers, but the Hoos prevented him from getting many similar long-range looks Wednesday. He ended up with 10 points to lead his team, but much of that damage came later in the second half. Miller-McIntyre, meanwhile, had 13 points in Charlottesville while breaking down the defense. In the rematch, he had only 7.

“I think it’s kind of natural to be like we’re down a couple of guys and let’s try to rally, but we came in here and, again, had a hard-nosed attitude,” Nolte said on the Virginia Sports Radio Network. “We wanted to come out extremely aggressive. We wanted to show everyone that we have two guys down, but that’s fine, we’re going to come in here, we’re going to give our best, we’re going to play just like we always play, and it started with our defense.”

The Virginia victory snapped a 10-game losing streak at Wake Forest, dating back to the 1999-2000 season. It also marked the 10th straight true road win, a streak that matches Gonzaga for the longest active streak in the nation. UVa has tied the program record (1981-82) for true road wins as well.

Final Stats