Virginia Stops Syracuse For Another JPJ Win

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Anthony Gill slams home a basket as part of his 16 points against Syracuse. ~ Photo courtesy Virginia Athletics Media Relations

While snow buried Charlottesville to start the weekend, Virginia’s experienced players made sure to do the same to Syracuse to end it. With the game tied entering the final eight minutes, Malcolm Brogdon, Anthony Gill, and London Perrantes scored 21 of the team’s final 26 points as UVA claimed a 73-65 win on Sunday.

The Hoos have won 15 straight games at the John Paul Jones Arena and own a 30-1 mark in ACC home games over the past four seasons.

“We really made some nice plays down the stretch,” Virginia coach Tony Bennett said. “Syracuse shooting deep threes off the dribble was really tough, and we had to answer. … Plays were made and [Syracuse] made plays too. That was a good game at the end.”

Those nice plays mostly came from the Cavaliers’ ever-steady trio of Brogdon, Gill, an Perrantes. With the score tied at 47-47, each of those players came through with clutch moments. Throw in a pair of free throws and a nice hop-step layup by Devon Hall for four points and a free throw from Isaiah Wilkins and it was enough to hold off the Orange.

Brogdon uncorked a pair of 3-pointers at 5:47 and 5:25 to create some breathing room against an ongoing Syracuse 3-point assault. He helped ice the game with six free throws in the final minute as well and ended up with 21 points. That marked his ninth game with at least 20 points this season and moved him into the top 20 on the program’s all-time scoring list. Brogdon also came up with a deflection that led to a turnover and a defensive rebound that led to a jumpball possession for UVA down the stretch.

“They definitely felt good,” Brogdon said of his two key 3-pointers. “It felt better when we were able to pick some momentum up defensively. Other guys were able to be aggressive and that opened things up a little bit more in the middle, and we moved the ball well after that.”

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With 21 points, Malcolm Brogdon reached at least 20 points for the ninth time this season. ~ Photo courtesy Virginia Athletics Media Relations

Gill finished in double figures once again, something he has done in every game this season. He finished with 16 points and 8 rebounds. That included a dunk with 1:11 to go and a pair of defensive rebounds in the final eight minutes.

Perrantes, meanwhile, stepped up too. The Orange fought off Brogdon’s two 3-pointers to trail just 57-54 when the junior point guard scored on back-to-back possessions. First, he hit a 3-pointer from the corner and then answered Michael Gbinije’s 3-pointer with a tough drive and finish in the paint. Perrantes, who struggled at the line against Clemson on Tuesday, added a pair of important free throws in the final minute to reach 16 points. He also had an assist and 2 steals down the stretch. That helped him set a career high with 4 steals in the game; he tallied 7 assists too.

“We had a couple opportunities but [Malcolm] Brogdon stepped up,” Cuse coach Jim Boeheim said. “He made two big threes. That’s what seniors do. That really was, I thought, the difference in the game. I thought we played much better defensively in the second half. I think we forced nine or 10 turnovers in the second half with our defense. We got some opportunities to get back in it. We missed a couple around the basket that you have to make. But, I thought the difference was Brogdon made the two threes and [London] Perrantes made the three in the corner. Those are big shots, big players. They’re very good obviously.”

The Orange kept themselves alive with 3-point shooting throughout the night as they made 13 of 30 attempts (43.3%) from downtown. That’s the most 3’s allowed in a game this season by UVA. It included a spurt in the final five minutes where the visitors made 5 of 7 triples prevent a blowout at the end. Gbinije made 5 of 9 treys and finished with 24 points and 3 assists; he had a pair of long-range shots in the final five minutes. Malachi Richardson outdid that shooting performance by making 6 of 10 3-pointers en route to 23 points. He made two of his treys in the final five minutes as well.

While Syracuse did find its touch from long range, it got walloped on the interior. Boeheim’s bunch shot only 38.9% overall and made just 8 other shots inside the arc with only 6 of those in the paint. That helped UVA post a dominant 30-12 edge on the inside. In addition to Gill’s 16 points, the Hoos got 6 points from Mike Tobey and 5 more from Wilkins. Add in Brogdon’s contributions from the high post at times plus drives like the key hanging layup from Perrantes and the Cavaliers owned the interior. They shot 56.8% for the game and actually posted a higher 3-point percentage (8-18/44%) than Syracuse as well.

“I don’t think we necessarily needed to respond with three-pointers” Perrantes said. ”We had some inside presence and we were able to get inside the paint and [not] settle. The zone will give you some open threes, but we also wanted to get inside the paint. We got in the bonus pretty early, but we didn’t want to settle. We needed to be aggressive because they were hitting some tough shots. We played pretty well down the stretch though.”

Final Stats