De'Andre Hunter scored 19 points and Kyle Guy added 15 as the No. 3 Virginia Cavaliers had little trouble disposing of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish 82-55 in their Atlantic Coast Conference matchup in South Bend, Ind., on Saturday afternoon.
Virginia (18-1, 6-1 ACC) scored the game's first 12 points while Notre Dame (11-9, 1-6) struggled mightily against the Cavaliers' top-rated scoring defense, which entered the game allowing only 52.4 points per game.
John Mooney finished with 15 points and 10 rebounds to lead the Irish. He made 3 of 4 3-point attempts, but just 6 of 15 shots overall.
Notre Dame, which trailed by 20 at 37-17 with 2:46 left in the first half, tried to rally in the second.
Mooney hit back-to-back 3-pointers, and D.J. Harvey scored five straight points, the last of those on a 3-pointer, to cut the Irish deficit to 54-42 with 13:32 to play.
Virginia responded with a 12-2 run, led by five points from Ty Jerome, and the lead was up to 66-44.
Jerome finished with 13 points, nine rebounds and six assists, and Mamadi Diakite added 10 points, seven rebounds and four blocked shots.
Harvey and TJ Gibbs scored nine points apiece for Notre Dame.
Guy scored all 15 of his points in the first half, including hitting 3 of 4 treys, and Hunter added 10 more as the Cavaliers jumped out to a 42-25 halftime lead.
Virginia shot 55.9 percent from the floor (19 of 34) in the half, and had little trouble building a lead as Notre Dame missed its first nine shots and made only 10 of 27 (37 percent) before halftime.
Notre Dame didn't score until Mooney made a layup with 13:32 to play, and Virginia led 12-2. Mooney finished the half with seven points and six rebounds.
The Irish kept their deficit as low as nine points about midway through the first half, but the Cavaliers scored six seven points, capped by a 3-pointer from Kihei Clark, and the lead was 23-7 with 9:39 left.
The Cavaliers shot 52.2 percent for the game, while the Irish warmed up a bit to shoot 36.1 percent overall, though they made only 8 of 29 3-point attempts.
--Field Level Media
Virginia | Notre Dame | |
De'Andre Hunter 19 | Scoring | John Mooney 15 |
Ty Jerome 6 | Assists | Prentiss Hubb 5 |
Ty Jerome 9 | Rebounds | John Mooney 10 |
Kihei Clark 2 | Free Throws Made | D.J. Harvey 2 |
Kihei Clark 1 | Steals | John Mooney 1 |
Mamadi Diakite 4 | Blocks | Dane Goodwin 1 |
Team | Points | FG% | 3PM-3PA | FTM-FTA | Assists | Rebounds | Blocks | Steals | Turnovers |
Virginia | 82 | 52.2 | 8-18 | 4-7 | 12 | 44 | 5 | 2 | 2 |
Notre Dame | 55 | 36.1 | 8-29 | 3-8 | 10 | 29 | 3 | 1 | 7 |