Notre Dame only plays Virginia once in men’s basketball during regular season ACC play this year. Coach Mike Brey is happy his team got it out of the way in the ACC opener for both teams. With good reason.
The No. 5 Cavaliers led for the final 34 minutes, by double digits for the final 23, and generally played the part of the big brother in a 77-66 victory. Yes, little brother can play, but the Hoos simply looked older and stronger on Saturday.
“They are really good,” Brey said. “Today was kind of men among boys. I thought anytime we tried to make a run and get some hope, they squelched it like a veteran mature group. If you told me we’d shoot 48 percent against them, I would have thought the game would have been better. We couldn’t really dig it out in the paint and they beat us up around there. It’s an area where we’re going to have to be tougher or it’s going to be a long winter. I have a lot of respect for them. They do what they do and they did it at a high level today.”
Virginia flexed its veteran muscles all around the floor. Everywhere you look in the box score, the Hoos ended up on top. Shooting percentage: 57.1% to 48.2%. 3-point shooting percentage: 36.4% to 31.8%. Rebounding: 30-25. Assists/turnovers: 17/7 to 8/8. UVA committed less fouls, shot more free throws, and won points in the paint (38-22), points off turnovers (8-6), second chance points (11-7), and bench points (20-9) too.
Three seniors allowed the Cavaliers to have that thorough of an edge. Malcolm Brogdon, the ACC’s preseason co-Player of the Year, struggled a little bit in the first half when he had just 4 points in 17 minutes while shooting 2 of 6. He missed both of his 3-point attempts and both of his free throw attempts before intermission.
After halftime, however, Brogdon had his game finely tuned. He made 7 of 8 shots, including 2 of 3 triples, and 4 of 4 free throws. That pushed him to a game-high 24 points.
“One time [early] I thought he forced his shot and I told him ‘let it come and take the right shots.’ I can coach Malcolm – he’s a player,” Virginia coach Tony Bennett said. “He is complete. He’s good and he’s been through it. He wants me to coach him and I want to coach him. I’m going to challenge him both offensively and defensively for him to be his best. He missed a couple shots, but in the second half he got his rhythm and he spread out [defensively]. … You can see why Notre Dame is dangerous offensively. They can get it going with some threes, but it was absolutely an efficient and well played second half for Malcolm.”
Both of Brogdon’s second half 3-pointers came in the first 1:30 of the second half as Notre Dame opened in a 2-3 zone to try to combat the interior play of the two other senior slayers. Anthony Gill roared out of the gates with 14 points in the first half, including the team’s first bucket of the game on a little face-up jumper on the right side. Gill eventually finished with 21 points on 7-of-10 shooting from the floor and 7-of-11 shooting from the free throw line.
Mike Tobey was the other key part of that down-low duo. Tobey came off the bench to score 15 points in 15 minutes. He made 5 of 9 shots and 5 of 5 free throws to go with 2 blocks, 1 steal, and 1 assist as well. Gill and Tobey each had 6 rebounds to lead the team as well.
Plus, Gill and Tobey were part of a Virginia defense that completely neutralized ND’s Zach Auguste, who tallied only 1 point and 2 rebounds. He entered the game averaging a double-double of 14.3 points and 10.4 rebounds.
“We tried a couple of different things – played some zone,” Brey said. “We couldn’t get a clean defensive rebound in the first 10 minutes, so you’re always taking the ball out of the net. It puts extreme pressure on your offense and we’re pretty good offensively. Again, if you would have told me we’d shoot 48 percent down here, I thought it’d be more of a game, but it wasn’t. We put them on the foul line a bunch. We had a hard time guarding the curling stuff. Tobey and Gill are really good. They’re men. When do they graduate? And I’m glad we play them once. We get this over with quick.”
UVA got solid contributions from other spots too. Sophomores Devon Hall, Isaiah Wilkins, and Darius Thompson all added to the win. Hall came off the bench for 5 points, 4 assists, and 3 rebounds with 0 turnovers. Wilkins started alongside Gill and added 2 points, 2 rebounds, 2 blocked shots, and 4 assists while playing his usual energizer role defensively. Thompson also started and added 7 points and 2 steals. Junior London Perrantes had 3 points, 5 rebounds, and 5 assists with 2 turnovers.
The Wahoos would like to see the balanced and efficient effort continue with a trip to Blacksburg up on Monday night at 9 p.m. The Cavaliers, after all, have struggled at Virginia Tech the past two seasons, shooting 34.7% in a 50-47 win last season and 39.2% in a 57-53 win in 2014.
“I think we’ve been pretty efficient this year,” Bennett said. “I think that has been showing and obviously tonight we didn’t over shoot the three. Tonight we got shots against their zone. We got some right at the rim plays, nine offensive rebounds and 11 second chance points that certainly helps. When you get those drives, the point blank shots make a difference in you percentages. We’ve been pretty efficient offensively the past two games, especially in the second half of Oakland and then this game. I was happy with what I saw and now we have to turn around and do it again in a hostile environment.”
