Cavs clobber 'Canes
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Charlottesville, VA (SportsNetwork.com) - There was no looking ahead for the 12th-ranked Virginia Cavaliers, who ran their win streak to 12 games with a 65-40 drubbing of Miami-Florida behind London Perrantes' career-high 15 points.
Perrantes didn't miss a shot in the rout, going 4-for-4 from 3-point range and 5-for-5 overall while also hitting his lone free throw in the Cavaliers' tune- up for Saturday's huge ACC showdown with No. 4 Syracuse at John Paul Jones Arena. Virginia (24-5, 15-1 ACC) currently holds a 1 1/2-game lead on the Orange for first place in the conference.
"He got some good looks, and I have seen him shoot the ball well," said Cavaliers head coach Tony Bennett of Perrantes. He played a very good game. We need that - different guys stepping up at different times on this team is what has made us the most successful."
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Malcolm Brogdon also had 15 points for a Cavaliers squad that had its trademark tough defense in peak form as well, limiting the Hurricanes to a measly 12-of-46 (26.1 percent) success rate from the field and an 0-of-12 showing on 3-pointers.
"We definitely wanted them focused on the game tonight," said Bennett. "I thought we played solidly. We had to make Miami earn it and contested most of their shots. I think our guys had the right mindset."
Erik Swoope and Rion Brown finished with 13 and 12 points, respectively, for Miami (14-14, 5-10).
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Neither team shot better than 33 percent during a slow-paced opening half, but Perrantes led Virginia on a 19-7 run that sent the Cavaliers ahead to stay. The freshman point guard accounted for the first six points of the surge, then later capped it by feeding Darion Atkins for a dunk that staked UVa to a 24-15 lead with three minutes left in the period.
Perrantes also closed out the stanza on a strong note, burying a 3-pointer with 48 seconds left to put the Cavaliers up by a 27-20 count at the intermission. Virginia went 5-of-10 from beyond the arc for the half and ended 9-of-16 on long-distance tries.
The Cavaliers broke the game open early in the second half, putting together a 13-2 spurt that featured two more Perrantes treys to extend the margin to 43-25 with 12:31 to play. The Hurricanes were held without a basket over the course of the run, a drought of more than five minutes.
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"We couldn't score easily tonight," Miami head coach Jim Larranaga stated. "We had some good looks and they didn't fall for us. We were in a hole that we couldn't dig ourselves out of - the credit goes to them. Virginia makes you take difficult shots."
Miami's offensive woes continued over the remainder of contest, with the Canes hitting on a woeful 4-of-21 shots in the second half as Virginia increased its advantage. A late 12-3 burst, ignited by five straight points from Joe Harris ended any hopes of a Hurricanes' comeback and had the Cavaliers ahead by a 65-38 score with under two minutes to play.
Game Notes
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The win was Bennett's 100th at Virginia (100-58) as well as the Cavaliers' 17th straight at home in ACC play, breaking a school record previously held from 1980-82 ... The Cavs assured themselves no worse than a No. 2 seed in the upcoming ACC Tournament ... Perrantes' previous career best was 14 points, set at Florida State on Jan. 4 ... Harris went 3-for-5 from 3-point range in an 11-point, five-assist effort.