Virginia Falls 87-69 at No. 13 Florida
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – In its first road game of the season, Virginia (5-3) lost 87-69 to No. 13 Florida (9-0) in the SEC/ACC Challenge on Wednesday night (Dec. 4) at the O’Connell Center.
Elijah Saunders led UVA in scoring with a career-high 19 points on 6-of-12 shooting and made all four of his attempts at the line. Isaac McKneely (12 points, 4-8 3FG) also scored in double figures for the Hoos while recording career highs in rebounds (7) and assists (5).
The Cavaliers shot 45 percent in the contest and outrebounded Florida 34-30. The Gators capitalized with 20 points off Virginia’s 15 turnovers.
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Cavaliers got off to a blistering start, scoring on their first three possessions and draining seven of ten from the field en route to doubling up the Gators [18-9] at the 14:17 mark. Thirteen points from Florida’s bench enabled a 20-2 Gator scoring run and allowed the home team to claim its first lead of the night [29-20]. A pair of Elijah Saunders makes from the line put an end to those seven scoreless minutes for the Cavaliers, who battled back with 11 gritty points over the next three minutes to bring the score back within four [37-33]. A second-chance layup by Blake Buchanan closed out the first half’s scoring with Virginia trailing 39-35 after shooting 52 percent. Saunders led all scorers at the break with 12 points off 4-for-6 shooting.
A triple from Saunders shrunk UVA’s deficit to just one [39-38] to begin the second half. The Gators then fired off seven unanswered points, to which Isaac McKneely promptly responded with his third 3-pointer of the night. However, the Gators’ momentum continued as the next six minutes saw them outscore the Cavaliers 18-6. After Florida led by as many as 20, Taine Murray tallied three consecutive buckets to bring the score to 76-62. But the Gators shot 64 percent in the second half to effectively shut the door on any chance of a UVA comeback.
UP NEXT
Virginia travels to SMU for its ACC opener on Saturday, Dec. 7. Tipoff at Moody Coliseum is set for 2:15 p.m. ET on The CW.