CHARLOTTESVILLE -- Season openers have a tendency to go one of three ways: Either the better teams rolls, the upset bid emerges, or the better team has to shake off the rust before rolling. And Tuesday night was certainly the latter for No. 5 UVa, which got 20 points from Ty Jerome and a double-double from De'Andre Hunter in a 73-42 win over Towson.
The Wahoos (1-0) got to that margin slowly, leading just 15-12 at the under-8 in the first half. Just before, Jerome, who shot 6-for-10 from the floor including a 6-for-9 night from long range, got going. His first 3-pointer gave the Cavaliers the lead for good with 9:52 left in the first half and then Braxton Key, who started his first game at Virginia, did the same.
They were the start of a key 16-2 run during which the Tigers (0-1) went scoreless for more than six minutes and didn't make a field goal from the 10:31 mark to the 1:49.
All the while, UVa was finding its groove a bit. Marred by some foul trouble, including Mamadi Diakite picking up a pair in less than three minutes of action, the Hoos went small and it paid off. Kihei Clark showed in the opener why the rumblings had been so positive. He was a bulldog defending on the ball, allowing UVa to extend its pack-line defense at times. He was also a pest in the back court and he made timely passes. Clark finished the night with four points, a team-high six assists, and just one turnover in 24 minutes of action.
But it was Jerome, Hunter (13 points and 10 rebounds), and Key (seven points and nine boards) that led the charge on this night, at least until the second half when it became apparent that Towson—which finished with no assists—wasn't going to mount any sort of comeback.
After leading 28-17 at the half thanks in large part to Jerome's pair of 3s late, UVa had to withstand a pair of early 3s from Tobias Howard (who finished with a team-high 10 points in the loss) before settling in for another run. Key's tip in started it, followed by a Jack Salt free throws, then a Jerome 3-pointer and a Key bucket on a pass from Jerome.
By the time Diakite slashed to a basket off a Jerome dime and the Jerome got a steal and hit a 3-pointer in transition, the rout was on. That was especially the case when Clark stole the inbounds pass coming out of a timeout to put UVa up 49-33 with 11:29 left.
It was a great debut for Clark, one of several new or fresh faces to see time. Jay Huff played eight minutes and had as many points on 3-for-4 shooting, including a sweet alley-oop dunk off a Clark lob after hitting a 3-pointer a couple of minutes earlier.
