Third-ranked UVA broke open a tight game with a 17-4 second-half run in posting a 69-52 win at South Carolina on Wednesday.
It looked like a first game after the exam break for the ‘Hoos (10-0), who led by as many as 10 in the first half before a 14-5 Gamecocks run cut the margin to one late.
A pair of threes, from Kyle Guy and Ty Jerome, sent Virginia into the break up 33-26.
It was 35-31 when another Jerome three ignited the 17-4 run that broke things open, pushing the UVA lead to 52-35 on a Braxton Key dunk with 13 minutes left.
Credit to South Carolina (4-6) for hanging around, getting the margin down to 10, at 53-43, on an Alanzo Frink layup with 8:55 to go.
But that was as close as it would get.
Game Notes
- Virginia shot 44.1 percent from the floor (26-of-59) and connected on 8-of-24 (33.3 percent) from three-point range. South Carolina shot 36.4 percent (20-of-55) and was just 3-of-18 from three (16.7 percent).
- Virginia committed just five turnovers for the game. Fun fact: three came in the first four minutes.
- De’Andre Hunter struggled, to say the least, scoring five points on 2-of-10 shooting. Hunter had three shots blocked and clanged an open three off the backboard, among his misses.
- Jerome channeled his inner Malcolm Brogdon, scoring 13 points in a row in one first-half stretch, on his way to a season-high 25 points, on 9-of-15 shooting, to go with seven assists in 36 minutes.
- Guy had 18 points on 6-of-14 shooting, including 5-of-11 shooting from three-point range, in 37 minutes.
- Mamadi Diakite started, played 22 minutes, and had 10 points, on 5-of-6 shooting, and played solid defense on USC big man Chris Silva, who had 11 points on 4-of-12 shooting.
- Kihei Clark made a surprise quick return from surgery on his broken left wrist nine days ago, playing 24 minutes off the bench. Playing with a cast on his left wrist, Clark had two points on 1-of-4 shooting and two assists, though his plus-minus was just +1.
Story by Chris Graham
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