Freshman Kyle Guy ignited a late UVA rally to push the 12th-ranked Cavs to a 56-52 win at Cal Wednesday night on the Left Coast.
Guy, a 2016 McDonald’s All-American, scored 14 of his game-high 17 points in the second half, including seven straight in a game-changing 1:48 sequence.
Virginia (10-1) had taken a nine-point lead, at 40-31, at the 12:31 mark after an extended 17-2 second-half run, but Cal (9-3) held the ‘Hoos scoreless for the next 6:19 as part of a 10-0 run that gave the Bears a 41-40 lead heading toward the six-minute mark of regulation.
Guy, who started the second half after coming off the bench to start the game, took over at that stage, hitting a jumper with 6:12 to go to break the seal on the rim and put Virginia back on top.
Cal answered with a three by Jabari Bird to go up two, but Guy answered with a contested jumper at the 5:24 mark to knot the game at 44.
After a Bird miss, Guy connected from three with 4:35 left to put UVA up 47-44.
The play of the game involved not a Guy basket, but assist, on a screen-and-roll with Isaiah Wilkins on which Guy assisted the forward on an and-one that broke a 49-all tie with 1:02 left.
A Mamadi Diakite 18-footer pushed the lead to 54-49 with 24 seconds left, before Bird hit a straight-on three with 20 seconds left to get the Bears back within two at 54-52.
Guy was fouled in the backcourt on the inbounds, and connected on both ends of a 1-and-1 to make it 56-52 Virginia with 15.9 seconds left.
Cal missed three shots on its last possession before the clock expired.
Guy was 6-of-10 shooting from the field and 2-of-4 from three-point range in a season-high 29 minutes, with four rebounds, two assists and one turnover.
London Perrantes had 14 points on 6-of-13 shooting to go with three assists in 35 minutes.
Bird had 14 points on 5-of-15 shooting to lead Cal, which saw its 27-game homecourt winning streak snapped in the defeat.
AP Preseason All-American center Ivan Rabb had nine points and 12 rebounds for Cal, but was just 1-of-4 from the floor, the lone make coming on an alley-oop dunk.
Virginia shot 38.6 percent (22-of-56) from the field for the game, and was 4-of-13 (30.8 percent) from three-point range, 4-of-10 in the second half.
Cal shot 35.3 percent (18-of-51) on the night, and was just 5-of-23 (21.7 percent) from three-point range.
Virginia forced 13 Cal turnovers, and had a 14-6 advantage in points off turnovers.
Cal had an early 7-0 advantage in second-chance points, but UVA finished the night with a 10-9 margin on the Bears in that department.
The game was tied 22-all at the half, and Cal raced out to a 29-23 lead with a quick 7-1 run in the opening 1:34 of the second half, before a corner three by Guy that got Virginia back on track and back into the game.
UVA is off until its Dec. 28 ACC opener on the road at #10 Louisville.
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