3-Point Shooting Leads Cavaliers Past Villanova, 70-60

BALTIMORE – Torrid 3-point shooting led Virginia (3-0) past Villanova (2-3) in a Hall of Fame Series clash on Friday night (Nov. 15) at CFG Bank Arena.

This was the first game of the season away from John Paul Jones Arena for the Cavaliers, and after a slow start they dominated their Big East opponents.

“I think they played inspired basketball,” UVA interim head coach Ron Sanchez told Virginia Sports Radio Network analyst Jimmy Miller. “I think they’re playing for one another, and it’s great to see young men in this space just enjoying that, just being a college basketball player in that atmosphere. This is the first look at Virginia basketball for the season on the national stage since the NCAA tournament, and they performed well. I’m just happy for them. They deserve that.”

Virginia shot 51 percent from the field and made 14-of-25 attempts (56 percent) from deep. Junior guard Isaac McKneely led the Cavaliers with 23 points on 8-for-9 shooting, and he was 6-for-6 from beyond the arc.

“I want iMac to have his best college basketball season yet,” Sanchez said. “I want him to really enjoy what he’s doing. I want him to enjoy his teammates. Today, just on the floor, I could see the smile on his face …  But he’ll be the first one to tell you, he shot the ball well because his teammates passed him the ball at the right time and on target.”

Junior guard Andrew Rohde chipped in 13 points (5-for-8 FG, three 3-pointers), while freshman post player Jacob Cofie rounded out the double-digit scorers with 12 points and six rebounds.

The Cavaliers held the Wildcats to 35-percent shooting (19-of-54).

In preparing his team for the game, Sanchez stressed the importance of “being thankful for the opportunity that we have here and making the most of it, and I thought we did that tonight,” McKneely said. “Villanova is a tough opponent. We took them seriously. Had two really good days of practice, good prep days, and we knew we had to come out and play tough against them and we did that. I thought we were hitting shots, but also our defense was good. We just did a lot of great things tonight. I’m super excited for the win.”

HOW IT HAPPENED
After Villanova led by as many as seven points in the game (9-2) before the first media timeout, the Cavaliers went on a 21-5 run that featured seven consecutive 3-pointers to claim a 23-14 advantage at the 6:38 mark. The next four minutes saw a back-and-forth sequence before Villanova responded with a seven-point burst to cut its deficit to five (31-26) heading into the break. Virginia went 8-for-14 from deep in the first half, led by Rohde’s nine points off 3-for-3 shooting from beyond the arc.

The Cavaliers opened the second half trading buckets with Villanova before logging 11 unanswered points en route to a 17-point lead. A pair of made free throws broke the seal on five scoreless minutes for Villanova. The Wildcats scored nine of the game’s final 11 points but never seriously threatened UVA.

UP NEXT
Virginia will play No. 11 Tennessee at the Baha Mar Hoops Championships in Nassau, Bahamas, on Thursday, Nov. 21. Tipoff is set for 9:30 p.m. on CBS Sports Network.