Second-ranked UVA was 5-0 without All-America candidate Justin Anderson. Now the Cavs are 2-0 without starting point guard London Perrantes.
The Cavs suffocated a Wake Forest team that had played Virginia to a one-point loss in Charlottesville 11 days ago in posting a dominating 70-34 win Wednesday night in Winston-Salem.
Virginia (26-1, 14-1 ACC) learned about an hour before the tip that it would be without the services of Perrantes, who was injured in the second half of UVA’s 51-41 win over Florida State Sunday night.
Perrantes suffered a broken nose and a mild concussion in a collision with teammate Malcolm Brogdon, but was listed as a game-time decision.
Turns out coach Tony Bennett didn’t need the sophomore. UVA led 36-15 at the half, shooting 55.6 percent from the floor and hitting on four of its seven three-point attempts, getting great penetration into the lane from Perrantes’ replacements, Marial Shayok and Devon Hall, who combined for 10 points on 4-of-7 shooting.
It would get no closer. Virginia opened the second half on 12-4 run and led by as many as 38.
The blowout allowed Bennett to empty the bench early. Brogdon came in averaging 32 minutes per game, and had been averaging 36 minutes per game since Anderson went down in the first half of the Louisville game on Feb. 7.
Anthony Gill led a balanced UVA attack with 11 points. Darion Atkins had 10, and Brogdon added nine.
Hall also had nine points, Evan Nolte chipped in with eight, and Shayok contributed seven for the Cavs, who shot 50 percent for the game (28-of-56) and 35.7 percent from three-point range (5-of-14).
Wake (12-16, 4-11 ACC) got 10 points from Dinos Mitiglou, who was just 1-for-7 from the field in the first half and got into double figures with a pair of threes in garbage time.
Mitiglou had torched Virginia with six threes in the 61-60 loss on Feb. 14.
The Demon Deacons shot 21.8 percent (12-of-55) from the floor and 18.2 percent (4-of-22) from three.
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Chris Graham
