#8 UVA trailed Yale by five points midway through the first half, and seemed to be worse for the wear after the dismissal of star forward Austin Nichols.
The Cavs couldn’t buy a bucket, missing 18 of their first 24 shots.
And then it started clicking.
A 14-4 run put Virginia up seven at the half, and then the defense clamped down on the speedy Bulldogs in a 62-38 win on Sunday.
Yale (2-1) had averaged 93.5 points per game in wins over Washington and Lehigh, but could never get untracked against the Pack-Line defense.
UVA (3-0) broke the game open with a 16-0 second-half run that spanned more than eight and a half minutes.
The D held Yale to five points in the final 15:16.
Just as importantly, in the absence of Nichols, dismissed on Friday for an undisclosed violation of team rules, the ball started going through the net.
After going 0-for-10 from three-point range in a 72-32 win over St. Francis Brooklyn on Tuesday, anything would have been better, even the 30 percent (6-of-20) that the ‘Hoos put up on Sunday.
Marial Shayok led the way with 15 points (6-of-14 from the field) in 20 minutes off the bench.
Kyle Guy had 12 points (3-of-4 from the field, 2-of-3 from three-point range) in 16 minutes off the bench.
Darius Thompson was the only starter to hit double figures, with 11 (5-of-8 from the field) in 23 minutes.
London Perrantes had eight points, all in the first half, on 3-of-9 shooting from the field, to go with seven assists and no turnovers in 30 minutes.
Isaiah Wilkins had five points and a game-high nine rebounds.
Virginia shot 40 percent (24-of-60) from the field and scored 1.09 points per possession for the game. Yale was 16-of-48 from the field (33.3 percent) and scored .66 points per possession.
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Chris Graham
