Balanced Attack Leads No. 3 Virginia Past Wake Forest
Postgame Notes | Postgame Quotes | Boxscore
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – Five players reached double-figures to lead No. 3 Virginia (17-1, 5-1 ACC) to a 68-45 win over Wake Forest (8-9, 1-4 ACC) on Tuesday night at John Paul Jones Arena.
Virginia opened the game with the first 12 points and never looked back. Mamadi Diakite (Conakry, Guinea, Africa) scored the first seven points for the Cavaliers to finish with 11 points and matched a career-high with seven rebounds.
Kyle Guy (Indianapolis, Ind.) had 12 points to become the 48th player in UVA history to eclipse 1,000 career points. Jay Huff (Charlotte, N.C.) added 12 points, an ACC career-high. De’Andre Hunter (Philadelphia, Pa.) had 11 points and Ty Jerome (New Rochelle, N.Y.) had 10. Jack Salt (Auckland, New Zealand) led UVA with eight rebounds.
UVA held without a basket for the first 3:54, and with just one field goal until the 8:48 mark in the first half.
HOW IT HAPPENED
Virginia opened the game with a 12-0 run, including the first seven points of the contest by Diakite. The Cavaliers extended the lead with a 13-0 run over 7:25 to go ahead 25-3. UVA took a 36-23 into halftime. UVA outscored Wake Forest 32-22 in the second half, and led by as many as 24 points in the game.
THE GAME BALL GOES TO
Mamadi Diakite started the game 3-for-4, including an and-one, to score the first seven points of the game. He finished with 11 points and matched a career-high seven rebounds.
NOTES
• The Cavaliers (17-1, 5-1) own a seven-game winning streak vs. Wake Forest
• UVA has a 12-game winning streak at John Paul Jones Arena
• UVA is 8-0 when holding opponents to 50 or fewer points (84-2 all-time under Bennett)
• UVA is 8-0 when holding opponents to 50 or fewer points (84-2 all-time under Bennett)
• Guy has an 18-game 3-pointer streak and has made two or more 3-pointers in each of the past nine games
QUOTES
On Virginia’s level of play throughout the game:
“I think [it was] 25-to-3. We jumped off, making shots and really just defending the right way. Are you going to make all those shots? No. I told them at halftime that I thought we got seduced, or it was a little bit of fool’s gold, into shot selection. The shot discernment wasn’t strong all of the sudden and that lead to nine fast break points. I got on them a little bit, not too bad, and said ‘who are you?’ The start was amazing basketball, both offensively and defensively, and maybe the ball doesn’t go in, but you can’t all of the sudden start trying to turn it into a pickup game, as it looked like for stretches and that wasn’t acceptable. I thought they righted the ship the second half, ran harder offense, got the right kinds of shots and shored up the defense.”
UP NEXT
Virginia is on the road this weekend at Notre Dame on Saturday for a 1 p.m. tip in Notre Dame, Ind.