Seventh-ranked Virginia dashed to an early 15-point lead and never looked back in posting a 67-49 win over Virginia Tech on Tuesday at the John Paul Jones Arena in Charlottesville.
UVA (20-4, 9-3) avenged a Jan. 4 loss in Blacksburg with a dominant performance at home, leading by as many as 18 in the first half before the Hokies (13-12, 5-7 ACC) closed on a 6-0 run to get to 32-20 at the break.
A Justin Bibbs layup on Tech’s opening possession of the second half got the Hokies within 10, but that was as close as it would get.
A 10-3 Cavs’ run punctuated by an Anthony Gill dunk at the 15:22 mark pushed the lead back to 17, and it would get no closer than 15 thereafter.
Gill led four Cavs in double figures with 16 points on 6-of-11 shooting from the field. Isaiah Wilkins had 14 points on 5-of-7 shooting from the field.
Malcolm Brogdon had 12 and Mike Tobey 10 for Virginia, which shot 49.0 percent from the field (24-of-49).
UVA did struggle from long-range, connecting on just 2-of-10 on threes.
Virginia Tech got 16 points from Justin Robinson, but the Hokies didn’t get much else, shooting 35.6 percent from the field (16-of-45) and 4-of-14 from three-point range.
UVA has now won seven in a row and is a half-game behind North Carolina in the ACC standings after starting the conference season with a 2-3 mark.
Virginia Tech has lost five of its last six after starting 4-1 in the ACC.
Virginia Team Notes
- UVA upped its ACC winning streak to seven games and reached the 20-win plateau for the fifth straight season
- The game was part of the presented by Virginia529, which is a head-to-head, points-based competition between the athletic teams of the Cavaliers and Hokies; UVA got a half-point with the win and leads the competition, 4-3.5.
- The Cavs did not trail against Virginia Tech and have trailed for a total of one minute, 19 seconds over the last four games (since Darius Thompson’s buzzer-beating game winner at Wake Forest)
- Virginia is 89-54 all-time against Virginia Tech, including a 37-12 mark in Charlottesville
- UVA head coach Tony Bennett is 10-4 against Virginia Tech
- Virginia is 32-1 in home ACC games the last four seasons
- Virginia has won 17 straight home games dating to the 2014-15 season
- UVA is 135-36 in 10 seasons at JPJ, including 97-20 under Tony Bennett
- The ‘Hoos are 15-1 when leading at the half
- Virginia Tech turned the ball over eight times in its win over UVA on Jan. 4, but turned it over eight times in the first 17 minutes tonight (15 total)
- In contrast, UVA turned the ball over 16 times in its loss in Blacksburg, but just 10 times tonight
- The Hokies were limited to a season-low 49 points (58 at Duke)
- With 20 first-half points, Virginia Tech recorded its fewest points in any half this season (22, first half vs. Clemson)
- Virginia recorded assists on 12 of its 13 first-half field goals and 18 of 24 total
- UVA has held three of its last four opponents under 50 points and is now 54-2 under Tony Bennett when limiting to opponents to fewer than 50 points
- UVA is 14-1 when out-rebounding its opponent
UVA Player Notes
- Isaiah Wilkins scored a career-high 14 points; his previous high was 10, set against Clemson (1/19/16)
- Devon Hall recorded career highs in assists (five) and blocked shots (3)
- Mike Tobey scored 10 points, his first game in double figures since a 12-point effort against Miami (1/12/16)
- Malcolm Brogdon went 3-3 from the free throw line and has made 26 consecutive free throws
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Chris Graham
