Clark's Season-High 20 Points Propels Virginia Over Virginia Tech 78-68
Virginia and Virginia Tech entered this Commonwealth Clash matchup with the No. 1 and No. 3-ranked scoring defenses in the ACC, respectively. On Wednesday night in Charlottesville, however, it was the offenses who reigned supreme.
Both the Cavaliers and the Hokies had their entire starting fives score in double figures. Virginia Tech hit 12 three-pointers as a team and Virginia shot better than 50% from the floor. Holding off the Hokies required one of UVA's best offensive showings of the season and the Wahoos delivered just that. Behind a number of solid performances up and down the UVA lineup, including a phenomenal 20-point effort from Kihei Clark, No. 10 Virginia (14-3, 6-2 ACC) took down Virginia Tech (11-7, 1-6 ACC) 78-68 on Wednesday night at John Paul Jones Arena.
In front of a packed house at JPJ that included a number of notable figures sitting courtside, including Ty Jerome, Stephen Curry, Michael Vick, and ACC Commissioner Jim Phillips, the Cavaliers came out of the gate with some swagger, holding the Hokies without a field goal for the first four minutes and jumping out to a 10-2 lead that eventually grew to 19-10 behind a couple of three-point plays from Reece Beekman and Ryan Dunn.
Virginia Tech came into this game on a five-game losing streak, but four of those losses were suffered without the services of Hunter Cattoor, as the MVP of the 2022 ACC Tournament recovered from an elbow injury. Cattoor's elbow looked pretty healthy at JPJ on Wednesday night, as he tallied 11 points, six rebounds, and five assists. Eight of those points came in the first half as Cattoor helped Virginia Tech recover from the early punch from Virginia.
As they have so many times this season, the Cavaliers then endured a scoring drought of nearly five minutes. During that stretch, Virginia Tech went on a 13-2 run, including an 11-0 spurt. Darius Maddox knocked down back-to-back jumpers to tie the game and then give the Hokies their first lead of the game.
Jayden Gardner scored on consecutive possessions to end the scoring drought, sparking the Cavaliers to go on a strong run to end the half. 12 first-half points from Armaan Franklin helped the Hoos get back in front, but Cattoor made a couple of shots to prevent the game from getting out of hand. With the clock winding down, Reece Beekman drove to the basket and elevated for a thunderous one-handed dunk. The buzzer sounded a couple of seconds later to send the game to halftime, but nobody in the arena heard it as JPJ erupted in response to Beekman's dunk, which gave Virginia a 40-31 lead at halftime.
Both teams continued to execute at a high level on the offensive end in the second half. The Hokies generated several open looks from three-point range with effective ball screens set by Grant Basile and Justyn Mutts, while the Cavaliers poked holes in the Virginia Tech defense with strong dribble drives from their guards.
Virginia Tech hit seven three-pointers in the second half, including two each from Grant Basile and Darius Maddox, who paced the Hokies with 13 points. Basile finished with 12 points and was a matchup problem for Virginia with his size. Despite Virginia Tech consistently producing and making open shots against UVA's defense, the Hokies could never quite equal the Cavaliers on the scoreboard thanks to Virginia's own impressive offensive execution.
Virginia hit five threes in the second half, including two big ones from Kihei Clark down the stretch. Clark finished with a fantastic statline of 20 points, five assists, one block, one steal, and only one turnover. 12 of those 20 points came in the second half as Clark willed Virginia to win for the 111th time in his career, passing Mamadi Diakite for most career wins in Virginia program history.
Clark's backcourt partner Reece Beekman finished with 11 points and seven assists and did not commit a single turnover. Virginia was very good as a team with ball security, turning the ball over just five times all game. Virginia Tech turned the ball over only eight times, but the Cavaliers managed to score 13 points off of those takeaways.
Every time Virginia Tech drew close to Virginia, coming within a possession or two of tying the game, the Cavaliers came up with a big bucket. A dunk from Justyn Mutts made it 59-55 with 9:20 to play, but Virginia responded with a 6-0 run behind a three-pointer from Clark and a three-point play from Gardner, one of five three-point plays for the Cavaliers in the game.
Virginia Tech never got closer than eight points after that, as the Hokies had no answer for the UVA offense, which made clutch play after clutch play. An and-one from Beekman gave the Cavaliers their largest lead of the game at 74-60 with under four minutes remaining. Virginia Tech shot 49.1% from the floor and 44.4% from three, usually a good recipe for a victory, but Virginia's high level of offensive execution and a few timely defensive plays down the stretch allowed the Hoos to come out of the game with a 10-point win.
Jayden Gardner played a big hand in UVA's ability to stay in front, scoring eight points in the second half. The fifth-year senior finished with 12 points on an efficient 5/6 shooting and four rebounds. Armaan Franklin had 15 points and five boards and Ben Vander Plas rounded out Virginia's starting five in double figures with 10 points, including a pair of three-pointers, and seven rebounds.
The freshman duo of Isaac McKneely and Ryan Dunn also gave UVA a lift off the bench, with McKneely scoring seven points and Dunn playing excellent defense against several different Virginia Tech players. Although he scored only three points, Dunn finished with a +/- of +15 in 24 minutes played, serving as a crucial cog in Virginia's small-ball lineups.
The victory gives Virginia a half-point in the 2022-2023 Commonwealth Clash, which UVA now leads 5.0-1.0. The other half-point for men's basketball will be up for grabs when these two teams meet again on Saturday, February 4th in Blacksburg.
Winners of four-consecutive games, Virginia (14-3, 6-2 ACC) heads down to Winston-Salem to take on Wake Forest on Saturday at 2pm.
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