Syracuse, familiarly, rallied from a 12-point halftime deficit to #9 UVA, and defeated the Cavs, 66-62, on Saturday in the Carrier Dome.
The Orange (15-9, 7-4 ACC) trailed 34-22 at the half, a similar deficit to the 14-point margin that Virginia had on Syracuse in the Elite Eight game the two teams played in March.
That night, Syracuse rallied in the final 10 minutes with a full-court press that turned the Cavs over. On Saturday, it was a more conventional combination of dribble penetration and the 2-3 zone.
UVA (17-5, 7-3 ACC) scored two points in the opening 9:17 of the second half, going 0-for-5 from the floor with three turnovers in that stretch.
On the other end, Syracuse, which had shot 9-for-23 from the field in the opening 20 minutes, was able to consistently get into the lane in the second half, keying a blistering 14-of-19 (73.7 percent) shooting effort.
A 19-2 Orange run turned the halftime deficit into a 41-36 Syracuse lead on a layup by John Gillon with 11:35 to go, and Virginia would never lead again.
A London Perrantes three with 1:12 to go did get the Cavs to 60-59, but a Gillon runner in the lane with 53 seconds left pushed the lead back to three.
Isaiah Wilkins made 1-of-2 free throws with 32 seconds left, but the miss on the front end allowed Syracuse to close the game out at the line in the final seconds.
Virginia shot 48 percent from the floor for the game (24-of-50), and connected on 12-of-24 from three-point range, but turnovers were a killer – 15 of them in all.
Syracuse finished the game at 54.8 percent from the floor (23-of-42) and 7-of-18 from three-point range.
Andrew White III and Tyus Battle each had 23 points to lead the ‘Cuse.
Kyle Guy had 14 and Perrantes 11 for Virginia, which saw its six-game ACC winning streak snapped.
The Cavs host Louisville on Monday at 7 p.m. in JPJ.
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