Story by: Zach Staton
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va - The third-ranked Virginia Cavaliers extended their win streak to seven games, taking out Syracuse 68-61 Tuesday night in Charlottesville.
The story of the game was summarized by one play late in the contest. With 2:43 left to play at John Paul Jones Arena , Syracuse was engaged in a full court press, trying to make another comeback against a Virginia Cavaliers team they had comeback victories against in their previous two meetings in as many years.
The Orange forced Devon Hall into a trap and caused him to pass backwards to Ty Jerome. As Matthew Moyer went for a steal off the pass, Jerome launched a full-court pass to a wide open Isaiah Wilkins who dunked it home to finish the play.
Virginia made just enough plays to get by an Orange squad that was within arm's reach for most of the night, but never able to get over the hump.
The Cavaliers were up by as many as 14 points with 1:24 left in the game, but Syracuse's press forced three turnovers that led to nine points in a one minute stretch to cut the lead to five with :15 remaining.
In the two games prior to this one, Virginia gave up second half comebacks to Syracuse after owning double digit leads. One came in 2016 during the Elite Eight, while the other took place last February at the Carrier Dome.
"It took a little joy away at the end, the way they turned us over and we had some unforced errors," Virginia head coach Tony Bennett said after the game. "But a quality win and you just keep fighting."
A Defensive Battle
Both teams came into the game with stingy defenses. Virginia claimed the top scoring defense in the nation (52.5 points given up per game) with their vaunted Pack-line defense, while Jim Boeheim's legendary 2-3 zone has held opponents to just 38% shooting from the floor, 11th in the country.
Naturally, the game followed a slower, half-court centric game that focused on the high-profiled defensive units. While Syracuse was able to crack 60 points, something only three other teams have been able to do against UVa, they continued to struggle shooting, making just 38.8% from the floor and 28.6% from the three-point line.
"Our offense was pretty good the first half, for the most part," Boeheim said. "The second half we really had some opportunities and could not get to the basket. We have got to find a way to score some more points if we are going to be effective."
The Cavaliers did not fair much better, hitting 37.7% of their shots and 33% from the perimeter.
"Those are two teams that really do pride themselves on trying to play very good half-court defense," Bennett said.
Struggles Continue for Tyus Battle and Frank Howard
Frank Howard led Syracuse in scoring with 18 points on 6-20 shooting from the field and 4-9 from three. He also had seven turnovers, two of which came early in the game and earned him a trip to the bench for a quick pep talk from Boeheim.
"Just tighten up," Howard said of what Boeheim told him. "We don't get a lot of opportunities, when we get those I got to take advantage of them."
Meanwhile, Tyus Battle scored 12 points on 6-16 shooting from the field. He went 0-7 from three, and fouled out for the first time this season. Getting into foul trouble, in particular, made Battle have to be cautious about being aggressive in trying to drive the lane and trying to draw more contact.
"You just have to be careful not to pick up that last foul," Battle said. "And I picked it up."
After Battle fouled out, Syracuse inserted the press and chopped the lead down to five.
The Guy and Ty Show
One consistent source of offense in the game for Virginia was Kyle Guy, who finished the game leading all scorers with 22 points, connecting on five threes throughout the contest. He made just one shot inside the perimeter and hit five free throws as well.
This was the sophomores first 20 point game in over a month and the first time he's hit five threes in a game since Virginia's win over Wisconsin in November.
"They are a zone tam so you're going to shoot more three's than in a normal game," Guy said. "If Coach (Bennett) had it his way, we probably would have attacked the gaps a little bit more."
His backcourt mate in Jerome shot 10 threes in the game, making just 3 of them. However, those threes came within in a 4 possession stretch that got the Cavalier offense off the ground in the second half. Up to that point, he missed five consecutive shots.
"I can't possibly miss all of them," Jerome joked. "It's a lead going into halftime, so they did that for me, I felt I had to come out in the second half and give something to the team."
Chukwu Gets on the Glass
On a night where Tyus Battle and Frank Howard struggled to make shots, Pascal Chukwu provided a spark for Syracuse on the offensive side. He scored 9 points and collected 16 of the Orange's 41 rebounds, which included 10 offensive boards. The 16 rebounds was a career-high for the junior.
His performance comes on the heels of Syracuse being dominated on the glass by Notre Dame, 42-27. Chukwu grabbed just three rebounds in the game.
"We are not a good rebounding team," Boeheim said after the lose to the Fighting Irish. "That was a myth."
Chukwu had a scare midway through the second half after he hurt his knee on a screen. He had to be helped off the floor, but returned to the game and stayed in for the remainder of the contest.
Bench Points Become Critical
While the Virginia struggled to get rebounds against the Orange's length, they got more production from their bench, particularly from redshirt freshman De'Andre Hunter. Attacking the middle of the zone for a majority of the game, Hunter chipped in 15 points, 13 coming in the first half.
He scored eight points in a three minutes, all coming either on jumpers from the middle of the zone or free throws. It's the fourth time in five games Hunter has scored in double figures for Virginia.
"I feel a lot more confident," Hunter remarked. "They (the coaches) love when I'm aggressive. They don't like it when I'm passive. I just try to play as aggressive as possible. I feel like it has been helping me so far."
Boeheim took note of Hunter's impact in the first half and adjusted to minimize his effectiveness in the second half.
"We were obviously concerned about the 3-point shooting and he made some good plays inside," the Hall of Fame coach said. "The second half we did a much better job on him."
TV Teddy Back At Work
Part of Tuesday night's officiating crew was Ted Valentine.
Valentine has found himself in numerous controversies throughout his career as an NCAA official, including ejecting an enraged Bobby Knight in 1998, ejecting a fan from an Auburn-South Carolina in 2014, and getting in Cincinnati head coach Mick Cronin's face the same year. His propensity for getting into the middle of incidents during games earned him the nickname "TV Teddy."
His latest antic occurred January 3, when North Carolina senior Joel Berry tried to ask about a non-call. Instead of engaging Berry, Valentine turned his back to the guard suggesting he had no interest in discussing the call. The move received criticism from fans and media, and cost him two Big Ten assignments.
The blowback was so severe, Valentine told The Athletic's Seth Davis he was contemplating retirement. He went so far as to remove himself from Saturday's Georgia Tech-Yale game to evaluate his options. He promised to still work the ACC games this week that he was already assigned to work.
For now, though, it looks like "TV Teddy" might be ready to collect his 401k earnings.
Moving On
Virginia improved to 15-1 and 4-0 in Atlantic Coast Conference play with the win. They'll finish up a three-game home-stand against NC State on Sunday.
The loss dropped Syracuse to 12-5 overall and 1-3 in the conference. It's the Orange's third loss in a row. They will be on the road against another ranked opponent on Saturday, as they travel to Tallahassee to take on No. 23 Florida State.
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