No. 3 Virginia turns back No. 20 Hokies
BLACKSBURG, Va. — Kyle Guy scored 23 points and it was his big first half that gave No. 3 Virginia a chance to get things right in the second half.
Thanks to Guy’s 17 first-half points and some uncharacteristically poor shooting by No. 20 Virginia Tech, the Cavaliers overcame a sloppy start and outlasted the Hokies 64-58 on Monday night, sweeping the season series from their state rivals.
“In the first half, they definitely missed a lot of open looks,” guard Ty Jerome said. “They’re a great shooting team so we got a little lucky in the first half, and then in the second half I think we did a better job of dialing in, beating handoffs better and we made some adjustments.”
Had it not been for Guy, who hit four first-half 3-pointers, it would have been a much taller task for the visitors.
“In the first half, they were just missing shots, open shots,” Virginia coach Tony Bennett said of the Hokies. “Kyle kept us in it with his 3-point shooting. … We weren’t sharp defensively. We were loose with the ball. … We were too finesse, and then in the second half it turned in the right direction, but his banging shots — he had what, 17 in the first half? — that kept us in it because we were not doing the job.”
The Hokies, though, were unable to take advantage. Despite arriving as the third-best 3-point shooting team in the country at 41.8 percent, they were 2 for 13 from beyond the arc in the half, which ended with them trailing 32-29. They added their third and last 3-pointer of the night 17 seconds into the second half to pull even at 32-all, but finished 3 for 28 from long range, or just 10.7 percent.
“Tonight just wasn’t our night as a team shooting,” said Ahmed Hill, who was 1 for 9 from behind the arc.
And Virginia, one of the nation’s best at defending against 3-pointers, got back to playing its way.
“Offensively, they took their time, they got what they wanted and kind of wore us down,” Hill said.
Jerome added 16 points and De’Andre Hunter had 10 for the Cavaliers (23-2, 11-2 Atlantic Coast Conference), who won for the sixth time in their last eight visits to Cassell Coliseum.
Kerry Blackshear Jr. had 23 points and 13 rebounds for the Hokies (20-6, 9-5), who played their sixth game in a row without floor leader Justin Robinson (injured foot). Hill added 16 points and Nickeil Alexander-Walker had 11, but those two were a combined 10 for 31 from the field.