DOMINATING
U.Va. — with recent rout of Tech — looks pretty scary lately.
CHARLOTTESVILLE — Repeat after me, Virginia faithful. Say it slowly. Say it often. It’s early. It’s January. It’s early. It’s January.
Very good. Now take a deep breath and say it again.
Done? Relaxed? Lose that giddiness yet?
It’s not easy, is it? Not when your Cavaliers are playing as well as any college basketball team in Ameri- ca.
And this hasn’t been some brief glimpse. Tuesday’s 81-59 flogging of Virginia Tech at John Paul Jones Arena ran U.Va.’s record to 16-0, 4-0 in the ACC, and was its seventh consecutive victory by at least 13 points.
Care to guess how many games in which the No. 4 Cavaliers have trailed in the second half? One. Yes, one!
VCU actually led Virginia by five with less than seven minutes remaining before the Cavaliers surged to a 57-49 win.
That was a non-conference test, and surely the thorny ACC will further challenge Virginia, likely as soon as Saturday at Duke. But to date, no league foe has extended the Cavaliers.
The Hokies (14-2, 3-1 ACC) arrived in Charlottesville ranked ninth nationally and riding a nine-game winning streak, but Virginia never trailed. The Cavaliers led by 22 points at halftime and by at least 14 for the final 25 minutes.
“We punched them in the mouth, and they fought back a little bit,” Virginia guard Kyle Guy said, “and then we just kept our foot on the pedal.”
As they've done against every ACC foe.
Virginia led Florida State by 19 at halftime and by 29 with 2:18 remaining before FSU closed with a 16-0 run against U.Va.'s walk-ons. The Cavaliers led at Boston College by 30 en route to a 27-point victory. Three days later at Clemson, they won by 20.
“The scores and all that are a little overrated,” Virginia coach Tony Bennett said.
Fair enough. But it's not like the Cavaliers are inflating their margins with late free throws or 3-point flurries. They have just been superior in every way.
But again, it's only mid-January, and 14 ACC games remain, and while its defense is a near-constant, surely Virginia can't sustain this dominance. And that's not a knock at the Cavaliers. No college squad could continually boatrace the teams in this league.
With Guy, Ty Jerome, De'Andre Hunter, Braxton Key, Mamadi Diakite, Kihei Clark, Jack Salt and Jay Huff blending seamlessly, the obvious difference in Virginia is offense. The Cavaliers are shooting 49.8 percent overall and 46.3 percent from deep in league play and rank fourth nationally in offensive efficiency.
Led by Hunter's game-high 21 points and Jerome's 14 points and JPJ-record 12 assists, Virginia shot 58.3 percent Tuesday and made 13 of 24 3s in the first top-10 clash in this rivalry's history.
“Very rarely do they take a forced shot,” Tech coach Buzz Williams said. “They're very comfortable late in the (shot) clock. So I think that defensively you're stressed from the very beginning. …
“We were just behind. Behind on ball pressure, behind on rotation, behind on stunts. And with space, categorically, their whole team can make shots, and they did it for sure in the first half.”
Flawless is a dangerous word, be the commodity gems or jumpers. But dang, Virginia's first half was close.
Creating open looks with superb passing, the Cavaliers made 10 of 14 from beyond the arc, with Jerome, Guy, Clark and Huff contributing. Clark's right-corner 3 at the first-half horn was the fitting conclusion and sent Virginia to intermission with a 44-22 lead.
Moreover, the Cavaliers committed only four turnovers in the opening half. Forty-four points on 26 possessions calculates to 1.67 points per possession, unthinkable against a Tech defense yielding 0.928 points per possession prior to Tuesday.
“Everybody shared the ball,” Bennett said, “and you could tell they had fun playing together. And how could you not in this environment?”
Virginia also defended with its usual grit, Clark's harassment of All-ACC point guard Justin Robinson the key.
This week is the first time since 2002 that Virginia is playing consecutive games versus top-10 opponents.
And Saturday at No. 1 Duke, the Cavaliers will attempt to win back-to-back contests against the top 10 for the second time in program history.
The first was the 1976 ACC tournament semifinal and final over No. 9 Maryland and No. 4 North Carolina.
With point guard Tre Jones sidelined indefinitely with an injured right shoulder, the Blue Devils are wounded after Monday's overtime home loss to Syracuse — Duke had been 90-0 all-time as a No. 1 squad facing an unranked opponent, according to ESPN's crack research crew.
Still, bank on a supreme effort from the Blue Devils — and Cavaliers.
“The league will test you,” Bennett said, “but obviously I like how we've withstood it so far.”
Bennett knows. It’s early. It’s January. It’s early. It’s January.