#7 UVA had a 14-point lead at the half, but needed to shake off a stout Providence team to win the Emerald Coast Classic championship.
The Friars got as close as five points before Virginia (6-0, KenPom #2) pulled away late for a 63-52 win.
Providence (4-2, KenPom #58) opened the second half on a 9-0 scoring, and the margin was six inside of 10 minutes to go.
A 12-5 UVA run over a 5:27 stretch pushed the lead to 13, at 57-44, after a three-pointer by freshman Mamadi Diakite with 5:26 left, and the Cavs led by double digits the rest of the way.
Virginia shot 61.0 percent from the floor (25-of-42) and hit 5-of-10 from three-point range.
London Perrantes and Darius Thompson each had 11 points for the ‘Hoos. Diakite had 10 on 4-of-6 shooting from the floor, and 2-of-3 shooting on threes.
Diakite also had a team-best three blocks, and is averaging 2.6 blocks per game this season.
Jack Salt had eight points and six rebounds for UVA, which finished with a slim 25-24 advantage on the boards.
Providence, picked ninth in the 10-team Big East in the preseason after making its third straight NCAA Tournament in 2016, and losing its top two players to the NBA, got a game-high 18 points from Jalen Lindsey, who was 6-of-11 from the field, including 4-of-6 from three-point range.
The Friars were 15-of-40 (37.5 percent) from the floor for the game, but hit 8-of-16 from three, and were 14-of-17 at the free-throw line.
UVA struggled at the line, connecting on just eight of 16 charity tosses.
Virginia returns home to play Ohio State (6-0, KenPom #21) in the Big East/ACC Challenge on Wednesday night.
Ohio State beat Providence 72-67 on Nov. 17. The Buckeyes’ most recent game was an 111-70 win over Marshall (4-1, KenPom #133) on Friday.
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Chris Graham
