They had to postpone the ceremony they had planned last month to name the court at JPJ for Tony Bennett because of the snowstorm.
Should have had it Tuesday night, ahead of the 67-47 win over Pitt.
That one was a Tony Bennett Special.
Seriously, it felt like Malcolm Brogdon and Joe Harris were running it back with Justin Anderson, London Perrantes and Akil Mitchell.
ICYMI
Let me count the ways:
- Pitt had 20 points in the first half, on 30 possessions.
- Virginia finished with 59 possessions, Pitt with 60.
- The leading scorer in the game was Sam Lewis, with 15.
- Pitt coach Jeff Capel used eight players; just one of them, Nojus Indrusaitis, shot at least 50 percent from the floor. Indrusaitis was 4-of-7 from the floor, though he was also just 1-of-4 from the free-throw line.
The Virginia D was a boa constrictor, like the best of the Bennett teams from back in the day.
Pitt (9-14, 2-8 ACC) was 6-of-19 from three, 0-of-4 in the midrange, and 11-of-23 in the paint, with 17 turnovers, that led to 23 UVA points.
That’s 17 turnovers, by the way, in a low-possession game – so, not only did Virginia score 1.35 points per possession after Pitt turnovers, that’s 17 possessions in a 60-possession game (28.3 percent) on which the Panthers didn’t even get a shot off.
Yikes.
This one also had some of the features of a Ryan Odom Game – Virginia (19-3, 8-2 ACC) had a 36.1 percent offensive-rebound rate, and converted the 13 offensive boards into 13 points.
The 11-of-31 shooting from three – Pitt was 6-of-19 – another Odom feature.
The 30-22 advantage in points in the paint – Virginia was 15-of-27 in the paint – also an Odom style point.
Player notes
- Sam Lewis: 15 points, 5-of-10 FG, 4-of-8 FT. His back-to-back threes in a 49-second span that got the score to 55-37 with 7:32 left salted this one away.
- Chance Mallory: 11 points, 5-of-8 FG, 1-of-2 3FG, 0-of-3 FT, three assists, four steals. The free throws are a matter for concern: Mallory is 6-of-15 at the line in his last three games, after being an 83 percent guy for the first 19 games of the season. Seems like it’s in his head now.
- Thijs de Ridder: 10 points (4-of-7 FG, 1-of-2 3FG, 1-of-2 FT), 12 rebounds, three assists, three turnovers. Kind of a quiet night for him.
- Malik Thomas: 10 points (4-of-10 FG, 1-of-4 3FG, 1-of-1 FT), five boards.
- Johann Grunloh: eight points (3-of-7 FT, 1-of-3 3FG, 1-of-2 FT), two rebounds, two blocked shots.
- Ugonna Onyenso: five points, six rebounds, four blocked shots.
- Dallin Hall: five points (2-of-3 FG, 1-of-2 3FG), two assists, two steals.
- Devin Tillis: three points (1-of-1 3FG), two rebounds, four assists.
- Jacari White: goose egg, 0-of-8 FG, 0-of-7 3FG, three assists, one steal. Shot a three from the corner just after the final buzzer sounded; of course, it went in.
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Chris Graham
