High-octane offense is back? Second-ranked UVA shot 51.1 percent from the floor and scored 1.211 points per possession in its 69-57 win over Virginia Tech on Saturday.
It was the second straight high-productivity performance for Virginia, which had been winning despite its offense for its first several games without All-America candidate Justin Anderson.
Prior to Wednesday’s 70-34 win at Wake Forest, the Cavs had averaged .942 points per possession in its previous five games, all wins, dating back to the second half of the win over Louisville on Feb. 7. Virginia averaged 1.129 points per possession in the win at Wake.
On fire in the second half: UVA was 16-of-26 (61.5 percent) from the field in the second half, 4-of-7 (57.1 percent) from three, and scored 1.367 points per possession in the final 20 minutes, scoring 19 times on 30 possessions.
Bounce back game: London Perrantes started and played 33 minutes in his first game back from a broken nose and concussion suffered last week in the win at home over Florida State. The sophomore point guard had 11 points on 4-of-4 shooting from the field, 3-of-2 from three, to go with six assists and just one turnover.
Post-It: Anthony Gill had 16 points on 6-of-8 shooting in 28 minutes, and Darion Atkins had 16 points on 7-of-11 shooting in 34 minutes.
It was a tale of two halves for the dynamic duo. Gill had 12 points in the first half, and Atkins had 14 in the second half.
UVA outscored Virginia Tech in the paint by a 34-18 margin, 22-8 in the second half.
Short bench: Devon Hall played 16 minutes off the bench for Virginia. The rest of the non-starters contributed a total of 19 minutes of playing time.
Mike Tobey was 0-for-3 from the field with a turnover and two fouls in four minutes.
Plus-minus man: Evan Nolte had five points on 1-of-5 shooting to go with two rebounds and an assist in 33 minutes. His plus-minus (the team scoring margin while he was on the floor) was +18, again leading the team.
Average possession time: UVA-23 seconds, Virginia Tech-20 seconds
Defensive numbers: Virginia Tech shot 38.3 percent (18-of-47) from the field and 9-of-19 from three (47.4 percent) and scored 1.036 points per possession. Yeah, that’s high.
– Column by Chris Graham
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