Virginia wins with its offense
Fifth-ranked Virginia had another boring offensive effort: boringly efficient.
The Cavaliers torched Notre Dame, shooting 57.1 percent from the field, getting to the foul line 24 times and scoring 1.283 points per possession in a 77-66 win on Saturday.
The ‘Hoos were in a rhythm from the outset, getting 17 assists on their 28 made baskets.
The defense did its job in the first 20 minutes, limiting the Irish to .828 points per possession, but Notre Dame did its best to shoot itself back into the game in the second half, shooting 51.6 percent from the field, going 6-of-15 from three and scoring 1.40 points per possession.
It’s a sign of how well Virginia was playing offensively that the Irish scored 42 points in the second half and gained just one point on the halftime margin.
Brogdon heats up
Malcolm Brogdon seemed out of it in the first half, scoring four points on 2-of-6 shooting, one of the makes on an inbounds pass where he was all alone under the basket, somehow a forgotten man.
Maybe that bunny ignited him. Brogdon hit back-to-back threes to open the second half for Virginia, and he ended up scoring 20 after halftime on 7-of-8 shooting from the field.
Nice night for Mike Tobey
Mike Tobey followed up his solid effort on Wednesday in the win over Oakland with another double-digit scoring night against Notre Dame.
Tobey scored 15 points off the bench on 5-of-9 shooting from the field and 5-of-5 shooting from the line.
Tobey also had six rebounds and a plus-minus rating of +8.
He did all this in just 15 minutes of floor time. Pretty efficient night.
Best plus-minus: DT
Darius Thompson had seven points, shot the ball just four times from the field, but he did a little bit of everything else.
DT had two rebounds, one assist and two steals, and a team-best plus-minus of +15 in 29 minutes.
Shortened rotation
Coach Tony Bennett had been playing as many as 11 guys recently, but for the ACC opener, the bench was shorter.
Eight players saw action, with the bench limited to Devon Hall (17 minutes) and Marial Shayok (just five minutes) in the backcourt and Tobey (15 minutes) in the frontcourt.
Perrantes got 35 minutes, Brogdon 34, Gill 33, Isaiah Wilkins played 32 minutes, and Thompson played 29.
UVA Player Notes
- Anthony Gill scored 21 points and reached double figures in scoring for the 13th straight game this year
- Malcolm Brogdon scored 24 points, his sixth game of 20-plus points this season; he scored UVA’s first eight points of the second half and tallied 20 points after intermission
- Mike Tobey scored 15 points and has registered double figures in consecutive games (16 vs. Oakland); prior to the last two games, he had scored 20 points in his previous six games combined
- Isaiah Wilkins set a career high with four assists
- Devon Hall tied a career high with four assists
– Story by Chris Graham
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