GREENSBORO, N.C. – It didn’t take long for Virginia to get going in Greensboro.
The Cavaliers, who won the ACC Tournament in this city a year ago, took less than four minutes to build a double-digit lead Thursday and they led wire to wire in a 58-44 victory against Florida State. UVa made its first six shots to build a big advantage in the ACC Tournament Quarterfinals and then held off a spirited second half from the Seminoles to get the win.
“Certainly I really liked how we came out and played in the first half,” Wahoo coach Tony Bennett said. “I thought we were very sharp and played with a purpose defensively. Didn’t give them easy looks, rebounded well. Then offensively we had a good pace … at times we broke them down, but we got to the paint a lot.”
Virginia completely controlled the contest in the first half. The Hoos shot 63.2% in the first half (12 of 19) and led 14-2 by the first media timeout. By making the first six shots, the Cavaliers posted their best start of the year (they hit the first four at JMU in the season opener). On the flipside, they held FSU to 28.6% in the first half (6 of 21). Virginia broke down FSU’s pressure defense to create easy scoring opportunities near the rim in the first half and logged 9 assists on 12 field goals as a result. London Perrantes led the way with 6 assists before intermission and finished with 9 helpers for the game.
All of that led to a 34-17 halftime edge as seven different players scored. That did not include UVa’s leading scorer Malcolm Brogdon, who sat much of the half with two fouls. Anthony Gill led the way before the break with all 9 of his points in the game.
As comfortable as the first 20 minutes looked, the next 10 flipped to the other end of the spectrum. Virginia opened the second half 2-of-13 shooting and saw its lead dwindle to single digits less than 8 minutes after the break. While the lead never crumbled completely – the Hoos led by at least two possessions throughout the second half – it was enough to create some nerves among the orange-and-blue clad fans in the building.
UVa hit just 33% of its shots (7 of 21 shots) in the second half and finished at 47.5% shooting (19-40) for the game. The Seminoles knocked down 36% in the second half (9-25) to finish at 32.6% (15-46).
“In the second half there were enough plays that were made for us to be successful, but we labored,” Bennett said. “We labored offensively at times and had break downs defensively, and we had just enough. You know, we’ve got to get better in that regard.”
One of those breakdowns defensively led to an uncontested dunk from FSU’s Phil Cofer that cut the lead to 39-34 with 10:24 remaining. After the teams exchanged turnovers, Brogdon finally cracked his goose egg with a pull-up jumper at the 9:00 mark. Moments later, after the Seminoles had called a timeout, the Cavaliers turned to Evan Nolte for a big shot. Perrantes drove the baseline and fired the ball back above the top of the key for a deep 3-pointer that Nolte canned.
The Hoos shot 42.9% from 3-point range (3-7) thanks to Nolte’s 3-of-4 shooting day. The last one pushed Virginia’s lead back to 10 points. While FSU climbed back to a five-point deficit again after the under-8 media timeout, Mike Tobey snuffed out that rally with a dunk with 6:01 remaining. That duo led the Hoos with 11 points each, which included those timely buckets.
Brogdon added 10 points after his slow start by putting the game away at the free throw line where he nailed 6 of 6 attempts.
“[Evan] hit the one we really needed,” Bennett said. “London penetrated baseline, and it was just a big three for us when we were really struggling to score. … That’s, again, different guys, different times.”
The different guys stepping up mantra extended to defense as well. When Brogdon exited in the first half with two fouls, freshman Marial Shayok drew the defensive assignment on Florida State’s Xavier Rathan-Mayes and helped hold him to 5 points before intermission on 2-of-8 shooting. That included a missed step-back jumper to end the first half when Shayok smothered the move and heavily contested the look.
Rathan-Mayes finished with 13 points, 3 assists, 3 turnovers, and 3 rebounds. He made 6 of 18 shots and only 1 of 8 3-pointers to get to his final tally. Over the last eight games, the freshman has scored in double figures all eight times and averaged 19.4 points. That included his 30-point effort on Wednesday night against Clemson when he became the first Seminole to score 30 points in an ACC Tournament game.
“Marial gave us a nice lift when Malcolm got in foul trouble,” Bennett said. “And these guys were trying to talk and do a good job with the ball screens they set for him. But he’s a guy obviously we know can get going in a hurry. So I thought Malcolm picked up some fouls [but] did a good job for the most part and Marial gave us a nice lift – and you need someone like that with some length that can contest his shots.”
While the Wahoos didn’t pile up any offensive style points in the second half, that defensive effort did help them advance to the ACC Tournament Semifinals for the second straight season. While that’s expected of the No. 1 seed (the Cavaliers are 5-1 as the top seed in this event), it’s still been quite a drought for Virginia. The last time the Hoos were in back-to-back semis was 1994 and 1995.
“Just to be able to get a win like that is awesome,” Gill said. “We take it one game at a time and just marked that one off the list and keep moving on. No matter how we win, if we win, it’s a good win for us.”
