Isaac McKneely scored a career-high 22 points, Reece Beekman added 13 points with eight assists, and hot-shooting Virginia defeated Syracuse 84-62 in an ACC opener on Saturday.

McKneely was 8-for-11 shooting, making 6-of-8 3-pointers, and grabbed five rebounds. Andrew Rohde added 10 points, four assists, and three rebounds. Virginia shot 54.5 percent for the game and made 12 of 21 3-pointers (57.1).

The Cavaliers (7-1) hit eight 3-pointers in the first 12 and a half minutes of the second half, pushing a 13-point halftime lead to 33 points at 75-42. The Orange struggled from 3-point distance in the second half, making only two of 12, but a 10-0 run over a three-minute stretch against UVa’s backups helped cut their deficit to 22 points by game’s end.

JJ Starling led Syracuse (5-3) with 16 points and Maliq Brown added 10. Syracuse shot 40.7 percent overall and 5-for-20 on 3-pointers.

Judah Mintz, who leads Syracuse in scoring this season (20.4 ppg coming in), was held to five points after going for a career-high 33 against LSU earlier in the week. Beekman was the primary defender against Mintz.

McKneely made four of six 3-pointers and scored 16 points in the first half, leading Virginia to a 37-24 halftime lead. The score was tied at 17 with 7 minutes left and the Cavaliers led 19-18 a minute later before closing the half an 18-6 run in which McKneely scored eight points.

UVa improved to 15-0 in ACC openers under coach Tony Bennett.