No. 4 Virginia flexed its muscles on its home floor Tuesday night with a dominating 81-59 win over in-state rival No. 9 Virginia Tech in Charlottesville.
The Cavaliers never trailed in the game and led by as many as 25 points in the second half before cruising to the 22-point win.
Sophomore De'Andre Hunter scored a game-high 21 points on 8-of-12 shooting, while the junior backcourt duo of Kyle Guy and Ty Jerome combined for 29 points in the win. Jerome recorded his first-career double-double as he added 12 assists to his 14 points.
Virginia Tech (14-2, 3-1 Atlantic Coast Conference) was slow out of the gates and couldn't rebound, as the Hokies shot 43.2 percent for the game but allowed Virginia (16-0, 4-0) to shoot 58.5 percent. The Cavaliers made 13 of their 24 3-point attempts and assisted on 18 of 31 made field goals.
The Hokies used a couple of runs early in the second half to cut the Cavaliers' lead under 20 points, but couldn't string together enough stops to slow down a hot-shooting Virginia squad.
Nickeil Alexander-Walker led the Hokies with 19 points, while Ahmed Hill added 14. The Hokies were just 7 of 21 from beyond the arc and were outrebounded 27-19.
Virginia connected on 10 3-pointers in the first half, including a buzzer-beating triple from freshman Kihei Clark to give the Cavaliers a commanding 44-22 halftime lead.
The Cavaliers shot 68 percent from the field and assisted on 11 of their 17 made field goals before the break. Jerome scored 12 points and dished out seven assists in the half.
Virginia Tech never led, as it struggled defending Virginia's hot shooting as well as shooting on the offensive end. The Hokies shot just 35 percent and were 2 of 9 from behind the 3-point line.
Virginia will go on the road to face No. 1 Duke on Saturday, while the Hokies will host Wake Forest.
--Field Level Media
Virginia Tech | Virginia | |
Nickeil Alexander-Walker 19 | Scoring | De'Andre Hunter 21 |
Nickeil Alexander-Walker 3 | Assists | Ty Jerome 12 |
Nickeil Alexander-Walker 4 | Rebounds | Kyle Guy 5 |
Nickeil Alexander-Walker 5 | Free Throws Made | De'Andre Hunter 4 |
Wabissa Bede 3 | Steals | Ty Jerome 2 |
Wabissa Bede 1 | Blocks | Mamadi Diakite 1 |
Team | Points | FG% | 3PM-3PA | FTM-FTA | Assists | Rebounds | Blocks | Steals | Turnovers |
Virginia Tech | 59 | 43.2 | 7-21 | 14-17 | 10 | 16 | 1 | 6 | 9 |
Virginia | 81 | 58.5 | 13-24 | 6-6 | 18 | 27 | 2 | 4 | 9 |