After Virginia wrapped up a convincing 76-57 win against George Washington on Sunday to reach 2-0 on the young basketball season, a reporter asked junior guard Ty Jerome if he has tried to be more assertive on offense this season. Jerome brushed it off and said he simply tries to take what a game gives him.
“I mean I only took nine shots today,” Jerome said. “Like I said last time, I think I’m just going to let the game keep coming to me. I mean I took nine shots, I probably took double digit shots a lot of games last year, so wherever the game comes I’ll take it.”
Even if he’s not being more assertive – he’s taken just six more shots, 19 vs. 13, through two games this year – accuracy can make it look like a player is taking it to the opponent non-stop. Jerome certainly has been more accurate to start this season than a year ago and that’s ushered two opponents out of the John Paul Jones Arena frustrated.
In the first two games last season, he shot 5 of 13 overall (38.5%) and 2 of 8 from 3-point range (25%) thanks to a tough outing in the opener against UNC Greensboro where he hit just 1 of 7 triples. This season, however, Jerome scorched the nets against both Towson and GW. He knocked down 6 of 10 shots (60%) against the Tigers on Tuesday and hit 7 of 9 (77.8%) against the Colonials. That’s 68.4% shooting through two games. Jerome canned 6 of 9 triples (66.7%) in the opener and made 4 of 5 (80%) in game two. He’s sitting at 71.4% on the season from downtown.
So, yeah, assertive or not, that’s assassin-like.
It’s opened up other parts of his game too. With opponents having to account for that marksmanship, Jerome has been able to create for others off the dribble. He’s logged 11 assists in two games, including seven helpers against GW in Sunday’s win. That’s well ahead of last season’s first two games when he had just two. The combination of long-range shooting and playmaking has been a big part of the two wins this week.
Jerome’s final line against the Colonials ended up at 20 points, 7 assists, 6 rebounds, and 4 steals.
“I think he was always pretty assertive, but I think we need that from him,” UVA coach Tony Bennett said. “He’s worked so hard on his game and his outside shooting and his body, all those things, to get in the lane. So, he’s played two really good games and I think offensively he seems to be assertive with the ability to find guys and when we got in foul trouble I thought he looked a little more assertive on that.”
Indeed, first-half foul trouble mattered little to the Cavaliers. Braxton Key, De’Andre Hunter, Jay Huff, and Mamadi Diakite each got whistled for two fouls before intermission, but a fast start and a fast finish negated any concerns. The Hoos opened with a 14-2 surge behind eight points from Jerome and then wrapped up with another 19-5 surge in the final 5:18 with 10 points coming from Kyle Guy.
That flurry before halftime came as part of a big outing for Guy too. He matched Jerome’s 20 points for game-high honors. Guy made 8 of 15 shots, including 4 of 8 3-pointers, to reach that line. He also tied his career high with four assists and added six rebounds too. Virginia also put Hunter and Diakite in double figures with 10 points each even though both sat for much of the first half with two fouls.
The outing served as a nice bounce-back outing for Guy, who made just 2 of 6 shots overall and 1 of 5 triples in the season opener.
“I think I had a lot more confidence today than I did the first game,” Guy said. “I can’t really explain why. Guys like Ty just telling me to keep shooting, and they keep feeding me, so some of them are bound to go in.”
With the game essentially out of reach already at halftime when UVA lead 42-17, the game could have become much more of a laugher on the scoreboard. George Washington made sure to avoid that with a strong second half. The visitors opened with an 8-0 run in the first 2:12 thanks to a pair of 3-pointers that prompted a Bennett timeout. The Hoos responded to grow the lead to 31 points by the 8:14 mark, but the Colonials engineered another 11-0 surge at that point against mostly reserves and Bennett sent his starters back on the floor to stabilize things.
Ultimately, GW shot 56.5% in the second half (13-23), which included 5-of-9 shooting from 3-point range. The visitors also chalked up eight fastbreak points after halftime to get to 10 for the game. That, along with 16 points from the bench to nearly match UVA’s 17 in that category, was enough for Bennett and the players to keep an eye on growth in the games ahead. Coppin State is up next on Friday at 7 p.m.
“I think they just penetrated a little bit more, kicked it out for rhythm threes, even if we had a hand up it was still rhythm, so I think that will definitely be a point of emphasis this week,” Guy said. “Coach wasn’t super happy about it so were going to have to come back better this week.”
“I thought we played well in the first half and I thought they outplayed us in the second half,” Bennett said. “They really did. They got open looks, we were sluggish, little loose with the ball and just got outplayed. The encouraging part was how they played in the first half, it was discouraging to get kind of outcompeted and outworked. A lot of clean threes, they made some nice shots, and they out-executed us in the second half and that’s, for us to be as good as we can, that shouldn’t happen. There were some opportunities for guys to get more time as the score was there and there wasn’t enough fight and effort and soundness with it. The ability to play a better quality of basketball was discouraging. So, absolutely got to clean that up and keep working.”
