Cavaliers Top Oregon, Advance to Elite Eight
Postgame Notes | Postgame Quotes | Boxscore
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – No. 1 seed Virginia (32-3) advances to the NCAA Elite Eight with a 53-49 win over No. 12 seed Oregon (25-13) on Thursday night at the KFC Yum! Center.
Four players finished in double figures to lead the Cavaliers. Junior Ty Jerome (New Rochelle, N.Y.) led UVA with 13 points, dished out six assists and had six rebounds. Freshman Kihei Clark (Woodland Hills, Calif.) had 12 points and six assists, redshirt sophomore De’Andre Hunter (Philadelphia, Pa.) finished with 11 points and junior Kyle Guy (Indianapolis, Ind.) added 10 points.
UVA won the battle on the boards, 34-31, and had an 18-14 edge in points in the paint. UVA shot 36 percent, while Oregon shot 38 percent. Louis King led Oregon with 16 points.
HOW IT HAPPENED
Virginia jumped out to a 7-3 lead, but Oregon came back to lead 16-10 with 7:01 to go in the first half. Down 18-13, UVA used a 17-4 run to close out the half and take a 30-22 lead into the break. The Ducks opened the second half with a 12-5 run and would later take the lead, 42-40, at the 8:32 mark in the second half. UVA was trailing 45-42 when Clark hit a three, then Jerome knocked one down to put UVA back in front. Hunter had a layup and added two free throws down the stretch as the Cavaliers held on.
THE GAME BALL GOES TO
Kihei Clark finished matched career-highs in points (12), assists (6), 3-pointers (3) and minutes (37). He hit his third three of the night to tie the game 45-45, and sparked UVA’s 8-0 run that clinched the win.
NOTES
• Virginia will play Purdue in the NCAA South Regional final on Saturday, March 30 at 8:49 p.m. on TBS
• Virginia (32-3) will make its first Elite Eight berth since 2016 and seventh overall
• UVA’s 32 wins mark a school record
• UVA improved to 11-0 when holding opponents to fewer than 50 points (87-2 all-time under Bennett)
• Mamadi Diakite had a career-high 11 rebounds
• Clark matched career highs in points (12), assists (6), 3-pointers (3) and minutes (37)
BENNETT QUOTES
“It was a hard-fought game. I think we won that with our defense, and then timely plays offensively were there.
They’re tough defensively to figure out. We don’t play against that a lot. At times we struggled but made enough offensive plays but certainly rallied defensively in the right plays. I take little exception. We’re the only team in the tournament playing Thursday, Friday and Saturday. I don’t know how fair that is, we’ve got three games going there. No, I can’t tell you how thankful and excited I am.
It was a hard-fought game. It was a knuckle buster or whatever you want to call it. We had to fight. Again, these guys found enough, and we know we can play more efficient and better in some ways, but the defense carried us.”
UP NEXT
Virginia will play 3-seed Purdue on Saturday, March 30 at 8:49 p.m. on TBS.