Louisville clawed its way back from a double-digit deficit with a torrid 9-of-10 shooting stretch in the second half, but back-to-back threes by Ty Jerome gave #2 Virginia a late cushion in a 74-64 win Wednesday night.
UVA (21-1, 10-0 ACC) has now won 13 straight and has three games on the pack in the ACC regular-season race.
The ‘Hoos led 50-36 on a Jerome three-pointer with 11:43 to go. Louisville (16-6, 6-3 ACC) then got red-hot, making nine of its next 10 shots from the floor, the last a Ryan McMahon three with 3:45 to go that cut the Virginia lead to 62-57.
Jerome buried threes on UVA’s next two possessions, the second, with 1:52 to go, pushing the lead to 68-57.
After a Deng Adel three got the margin back down to eight, De’Andre Hunter connected on a 15-footer from the right wing with 58 seconds left to make it 70-60, and Virginia closed it out from there.
The Cavaliers led 32-26 at halftime, shooting 14-of-28 from the floor in the opening 20 minutes, and pushed the lead to double digits early in the second half, getting a pair of threes from Devon Hall to ignite an early 10-5 run.
Virginia also got a nice boost from freshman Marco Anthony, seeing his first significant action of the season in place of senior Nigel Johnson, who it was announced shortly before tipoff is beginning a three-game suspension for an undisclosed violation of team rules.
Anthony had 10 points on 4-of-6 shooting, 2-of-3 from three-point range, in 18 minutes off the bench.
Kyle Guy led Virginia with 22 points, shooting 10-of-21 from the floor. Jerome had 16 points on 6-of-9 shooting along with nine assists.
Hall finished with 12 points, shooting 5-of-8 from the field.
UVA shot 53.7 percent for the game (29-of-54) and 57.7 percent (15-of-26) in the second half.
Ray Spalding led the Cardinals with 16 points and seven rebounds on 8-of-10 shooting.
Louisville shot 50 percent from the field (25-of-50).
Team Notes
- Virginia improved to 21-1 and 10-0 ACC
- The Cavaliers’ 13-game winning streak is their longest since starting 19-0 in 2014-15
- UVA has had five 11-game or more winning streaks under Tony Bennett
- Virginia has started 10-0 in ACC play for the first time since starting 12-0 in 1980-81
- Louisville (50%) is the first UVA opponent to shoot 50 percent or better this season and first since Notre Dame in last year’s ACC Tournament (52.2%)
- UVA is 14-0 at home and has a 16-game home winning streak dating back to last season
- UVA has a five-game winning streak vs. Louisville
- UVA is 11-4 all-time vs. Louisville, including a 6-1 mark in Charlottesville
- UVA is 20-0 when leading at the half
- UVA has held each of its 10 ACC opponents to 28 or fewer points in the first half
- UVA is 10-0 when scoring 70 or more points and 105-6 when scoring 70 or more under Tony Bennett
Player Notes
- Devon Hall (12 points) has reached double figures in nine straight games
- Kyle Guy (22 points) has reached double figures in 19 games and has led UVA in scoring in 11 contests
- Guy extended his 3-pointer streak to 22 games, most for a UVA player since Joe Harris’ 23-game streak in 2013-14
- The 22-point effort was Guy’s sixth career 20-point game
- Ty Jerome (16 points) reached double figures for the ninth time this season
- Jerome had a career-high nine assists
- Isaiah Wilkins had a game-high 10 rebounds
- Marco Anthony had a season-high 10 points and played an ACC-high 18 minutes
- Prior to the game, Virginia suspended guard Nigel Johnson three games for violation of team rules.
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Chris Graham
