Cavaliers steamroll Mountaineers after shaky start
Second-half rout sparked by No. 10 Virginia’s stout defense
NEW YORK — West Virginia’s full-court press was giving Virginia fits. London Perrantes was on the bench with two fouls. The No. 14 Mountaineers had a double-digit lead, and the Cavaliers were on the brink of getting blown out at the Jimmy V Classic in Madison Square Garden.
Virginia, ranked No. 10, then closed the first half on a modest 10-4 run, trimming its deficit to six. The Cavaliers then owned the next 20 minutes of play to handWestVirginiaitsfirst defeat, 70-54,andruntheirownwinning streak to seven.
Frazzled andlowenergywasn’t working for the Cavaliers (8-1). The second half brought a different approach and a 40-18 advantage, sparked by strong shooting and stout defense. The Cavaliers limited the Mountaineers to 14 attempts from the floor after halftime and held leading scorer Devin Williams, who averages 18.7 points, to 10.
“Wewereshakytostart,everybody was with the pressure that West Virginia put on,” Virginia coach Tony Bennett said. “I told them at halftime, our assistant coachBradSoderberghasasaying on his desk, and it’s a Mike Tyson saying. It says, ‘Everybody’s got a plan until they get punched in the mouth.’ And we absolutely got punched in the mouth.
“Obviously it was a tale of two halves.”
Anthony Gill had his fourth careerdouble-double—20points and12rebounds—andhis15firsthalf points kept Virginia close. Malcolm Brogdon, usually the team sparkplug, ended the half with eight.
“It takes pressure off me, it takes pressure off the other scorers for him to step up like that,” Brogdon said.
The win was Virginia’s first over a ranked team and had the feel of a team passing its first test. As the Cavaliers racked up 11 first-half turnovers — eight in thefirstsevenminutes—theyalso dug themselves into foul trouble as Perrantes and senior Malcolm Brogdon each acquired two in the early going.