COLUMBIA, S.C. -- After trailing 30-16 with 6:44 left in the first half Friday afternoon, No. 1-seeded UVa flipped a switch. The Wahoos outscored the 16th-seeded Runnin' Bulldogs 16-8 going into the break and then put up 22 of the first 27 points in the second half on the way to a 71-56 win.
Fans certainly felt the ghost of 2018 creep in as Virginia (30-3) fell behind early. But the Cavaliers made some adjustments, got a game-high 23 points and six boards from De'Andre Hunter and big contributions from Mamadi Diakite (17 points and a game-high nine rebounds) and Kihei Clark (three points, five rebounds, and four assists) on the way to the victory.
After shooting 53.6 percent from the field early, the Runnin' Bulldogs (23-12) made just 31.8 percent of their shots and turned it over 12 times in the second half. Jose Perez had a team-high 19 points in the loss while leading scorer David Efianayi added 12 on 4-for-11 shooting and DJ Laster had 10.
Things certainly started out well for G-W. Laster made a bucket inside to get things going before UVa answered on the other end with a Hunter pump fake and drive for a dunk. After Perez scored on a drive as well, Ty Jerome—who had 13 points in the win—tied things up on a drive of his own. Nate Johnson stole a Jerome pass and went coast to coast to make it 6-4 at the under-16 media timeout.
UVa forced a turnover on the ensuing possession but Jerome's pass to Diakite out of the slip was too deep and went out of bounds. It was the second of five straight turnovers for the Wahoos, who ended up turning it over six times on their first 15 possessions.
With Gardner-Webb up 26-14, Tony Bennett didn't wait for the under-8 and called timeout with 8:10 left in the first half at a point when the Runnin’ Bulldogs had made eight of their previous nine shots.
Things turned shortly thereafter, starting with a jumper by Jerome to cut the lead to 12. It was not only the start of the big run but it, along with a 3-pointer from Kyle Guy with 6:25 left until the break, gave the Hoos some confidence.
And they played with it from that point forward, barely looking back.
By the time the first media timeout of the second half arrived, UVa had already grabbed the lead for good on a Hunter and-1 with 16:16 left. It was part of a 14-2 run inside of a larger 25-5 spurt over the first 9:36 of the second frame that basically ruined the upset bid.
In it, the Cavaliers feasted in the paint, controlled the boards, got timely 3-point shooting from Jerome, Hunter, and Braxton Key, and made what was a nail bitter early into a easy W.
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