Virginia Storms Past Hurricanes 71-58
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — Armaan Franklin scored a game-high 22 points on 8-of-16 shooting to lead Virginia (14-9, 8-5 ACC) to a 71-58 victory over the Miami Hurricanes (16-7, 8-4 ACC) at John Paul Jones Arena Saturday . With the victory, the Cavaliers earned their second consecutive win in as many tries, marking first time UVA has defeated back-to-back foes since Jan. 4.
In addition to Franklin, Jayden Gardner (12 points) and Kihei Clark (11 points) scored in double figures for the Cavaliers. Reece Beekman (9 points) was one point shy of earning a double-double after tallying a game-high 10 assists. He also added two steals. Francisco Caffaro went 4-for-4 from the field to score eight points and grabbed five rebounds.
The Cavaliers handed Miami its worst loss to an ACC opponent in nearly a year, when Florida State defeated the Hurricanes 88-71 on Feb. 24, 2021.
HOW IT HAPPENED
Virginia led 35-26 at halftime after Franklin tallied 15 of the Cavaliers’ 35 points. Franklin was 6-for-9 from the field, including 3-of-5 from downtown. Miami led 10-7 early on before Franklin scored seven straight UVA points to give the Cavaliers the lead. Virginia maintained the lead for the final 13:35 of the half. A Kadin Shedrick slam followed by Franklin’s third three of the half with one second remaining put the Cavaliers up nine – its largest lead of the half. Virginia shot 62.5 percent from the field, while the Hurricanes shot 44.4 percent in the first half.
The Cavaliers carried their momentum into the second half and never allowed Miami to regain the lead. After a pair of offensive rebounds extended a Cavalier possession, Clark drilled a 3-pointer to cap a 9-2 run with 4:33 remaining in the contest, giving UVA a 66-46 lead. The Cavaliers led by as many as 21 points (71-50) with 2:30 remaining. Miami’s best scoring run of the second was 4-0 until the final minute of play when the game was already out of reach. In the second half, Virginia was led by Gardner, who tallied 10 of his 12 points on 5-of-6 shooting, and Franklin, who collected all four of his steals in the final 20 minutes of play.
THE GAME BALL GOES TO:
Armaan Franklin. Franklin’s 22 points are a season-high against an ACC opponent and tied for the second most by a Cavalier against an ACC foe this season. Franklin was also just one point shy of tying his career high, which he has achieved on three occasions, including once this season against Georgia. Having shot 5-for-10 against Boston College (Feb. 1) in Virginia’s previous game, Franklin has now shot 50 percent from the field in back-to-back outings. Today, he was also 3-for-3 from the charity stripe and made three of his eight attempts from 3-point range. In addition to his scoring effort, Franklin chipped in three rebounds, four assists and tied his career high with four steals.
UP NEXT
Virginia plays at Duke (19-3, 9-2 ACC) in an ACC Big Monday contest on Feb. 7. Tipoff at Cameron Indoor Stadium is set for 7 p.m. on ESPN.