National Basketball Association
Virginia 75, Pittsburgh 63
When: 9:00 PM ET, Wednesday, March 8, 2017
Where: Barclays Center, Brooklyn, New York
Officials:
# Bert Smith, # Brian Dorsey, # Bill Covington
Attendance:
17732
By The Sports Xchange
NEW YORK -- Just over a month ago, during a rare four-game losing streak for Virginia, it seemed as though they couldn't drop in a 3-point shot even if it was handed to them. In an embarrassing loss to North Carolina, the Cavaliers shot just 2-20 from deep and were grasping for answers.
Recently, that trend has shifted.
No. 6 seed Virginia knocked off No. 14 seed Pittsburgh for the second time in four days, 75-63 Wednesday night in the second round of the ACC Tournament at Barclays Center.
Virginia will move on to face No. 3 seed Notre Dame in the quarterfinals on Thursday night.
The Cavaliers knocked down 11 3-pointers on the night, which matched a school record for triples made in an ACC Tournament game. Virginia is now 43 of their last 84 from bonusphere.
"I think the Carolina game was an outlier. They really took it to us. They played great. We really struggled. We weren't right," Virginia head coach Tony Bennett said. "The other games, we've hung in there and tried to guard hard, just ran a little better offense. We've taken care of the ball better. We made some shots. We made adjustments. But we were really close in all those games. We had chances, played some good games."
Freshman Kyle Guy led the way with 20 points as he connected on four 3-pointers while London Perrantes scored 15. Virginia shot 49 percent as a team for the game and held Pittsburgh to 40 percent.
After having their lead trimmed to just one midway through the second half, Perrantes rattled off 10 of Virginia's next 15 points including back-to-back 3-pointers to cushion the Cavaliers' lead.
"He responded. You know," Bennett said of Perrantes. "I challenged the guys. I told them in the locker room after the game and I think about the 12-minute mark, we've got to tighten it up defensively, and they did, but then London made some big shots. You know, he's done that for us his whole career, and we needed that."
The Panthers were led by Cameron Johnson, who scored 20 points while Jamel Artis and Michael Young scored 18 and 14, respectively. Pittsburgh connected on 10 3-pointers of their own, but managed just eight makes from inside the bonus line and turned the ball over 10 times, leading to 17 Virginia points.
"We're very disappointed. Congratulations to Virginia. They just played better than we did," Pittsburgh head coach Kevin Stallings said. "Our inability to keep them away from effective 3-point shooting, I thought, really cost us for the whole game really and ended up being the difference."
Virginia led by as many as 11 in the first half as they connected on four of their first six 3-pointers, before knocking down seven of their 14 attempts in the half. The Cavaliers got 11 first-half points from Guy as they led 34-23 after 20 minutes of play.
Pittsburgh led by three early in the game but struggled to 35 percent shooting as they also turned the ball over seven times leading to 13 Virginia points. Artis and Johnson led the way with eight points apiece.
NOTES: Virginia ranks first nationally in scoring defense at 54.9 ppg. ... Virginia G London Perrantes was named to the All-ACC second team earlier this week. ... Pittsburgh failed to record a bench point in the game while Virginia had 23. ... In the two team's matchup last week, Pittsburgh's Michael Young and Jamel Artis were both benched for the first 10 minutes of the game for being late to a team breakfast. ... Virginia has now made double-digit 3-pointers in their last four games.
Top Game Performances
| Pittsburgh |
|
Virginia |
|
Cameron Johnson 20 |
Scoring |
Kyle Guy 20 |
|
Chris Jones 2 |
Assists |
Ty Jerome 4 |
|
Sheldon Jeter 7 |
Rebounds |
Isaiah Wilkins 8 |
|
Michael Young 8 |
Free Throws Made |
London Perrantes 5 |
|
Sheldon Jeter 2 |
Steals |
Devon Hall 1 |
|
Sheldon Jeter 2 |
Blocks |
Mamadi Diakite 1 |
Team Stats Summary
| Team |
Points |
FG% |
3PM-3PA |
FTM-FTA |
Assists |
Rebounds |
Blocks |
Steals |
Turnovers |
| Pittsburgh
|
63 |
40.0 |
10-29 |
17-23 |
8 |
25 |
3 |
2 |
10 |
| Virginia
|
75 |
49.0 |
11-22 |
16-19 |
16 |
27 |
1 |
2 |
8 |
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