CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. -- Before coach Tony Bennett took over in 2009, Virginia had endured a lot of rough starts in Atlantic Coast Conference play.

The Cavaliers were just 2-6 in conference openers in the eight seasons before Bennett arrived.

Since he took over, however, Virginia has been perfect in ACC openers.

Paced by senior guard Malcolm Brogdon's 20-point second-half output, No. 5 Virginia secured its seventh straight win to start conference play with a 77-66 victory over the Notre Dame Fighting Irish at John Paul Jones Arena.

Brogdon led all scorers with 24 points, while teammate Anthony Gill added 21 points and six rebounds.

"I can coach Malcolm; Malcolm is a player," Bennett said of his senior guard. "He's complete, he's good, and he's been through it. He wants me to coach him, and I want to coach him. He missed a couple shots; but, in the second half, he got his rhythm."

Virginia (12-1, 1-0 in the ACC) led by as many as 19 points late in the game before Notre Dame closed the gap a bit with hot shooting from 3-point range.

"You can see why Notre Dame is dangerous offensively," Bennett said. "They can get it going with their 3-point shooting and they can string a few together."

Guard Demetrius Jackson led the Fighting Irish with 18 points, knocking down 4 of 11 shots from beyond the arc.

The Cavaliers shot 57 percent. Center Mike Tobey came off the bench for the second straight game and chipped in 15 points, hitting 5-for-5 from the free throw line.

"They (the Cavaliers) are really good," Notre Dame coach Mike Brey said. "Any time we tried to make a run today, they squelched it like a very mature, veteran group."

Guard Steve Vasturia added 14 points for Notre Dame (9-4, 0-1), but forward Zach Auguste, who entered the day averaging a double-double, had only one point and two rebounds. Forward Bonzie Colson joined Vasturia as he scored 14 points and grabbed a game-high eight rebounds.

The Fighting Irish had success from the field, shooting 48 percent, but couldn't overcome the hot shooting from the Cavaliers.

"If you would have told me we would shoot 48 percent against them, I would have thought the game would have been better," Brey said. "We couldn't really dig it out in the paint. They beat us up in there, and it is an area we are going to have to be tougher or it will be a long winter."

Virginia outscored Notre Dame 38-22 in the paint and outrebounded the Fighting Irish 30-25.

"I hope that this is becoming a strength of this team: different guys at different times," Bennett said of his team's offensive balance. "It is good to know that it can be anybody at any time and that really helps us from an offensive standpoint."

Notre Dame came out of the gates hot and held an 8-4 lead at the 17:14 mark after Jackson's layup.

That lead did not last long as Virginia used a 21-4 spurt over the next nine minutes to lead 25-12 with eight minutes to play in the half.

The Cavaliers maintained their lead and took a 36-24 advantage into the halftime break after shooting 58 percent. Gill led all scorers with 14 first-half points on 6-of-9 shooting.

The Fighting Irish shot 44 percent and were led by Vasturia's nine points. Both teams struggled from beyond the arc, combining to shoot 1-for-12.

NOTES: Virginia is 7-0 in ACC openers under coach Tony Bennett. ... This was Notre Dame's first game this season against a ranked opponent. ... The Fighting Irish had won nine straight conference openers dating to their association with the Big East conference. ... Virginia has won nine straight games in the series. ... Anthony Gill of Virginia has scored in double figures in all 13 games this season. ... Virginia will travel to play state rival Virginia Tech on Monday night, while Notre Dame will hit the road to take on Boston College on Thursday.