Virginia led from start to finish and used a dominant first half defensively to defeat the Miami Hurricanes 59-50 on Tuesday night at the Watsco Center.
Virginia’s defense has been the best in the country all season. The first half against the Miami Hurricanes was no exception. Miami shot 21.4 percent from the floor and made just two of their 12 three points attempts in the first half against the Cavaliers.
Virginia complemented their dominant defense by making 10 of 22 from the floor and four of nine from three-point range. The Miami Hurricanes were better in the second half, but they were not able to overcome their poor shooting first half.
The Hurricanes opened the second half with a 10-2 run to cut the lead to 29-26 early in the second half. An 11-2 Virginia run extended their lead to 49-36 with 6:05 remaining in the game. Miami would not cut the deficit back into single digits from there.
Miami also struggled with 50/50 balls throughout the game. At least a couple of times two Miami Hurricanes players fought over the ball and it fell out of bounds and gave Virginia possession.
The Hurricanes played decent defense holding Virginia to six of 17 on threes. The Cavaliers did shoot 45.8 percent from the floor overall. Virginia led the entire way. The game was never tied. The Cavaliers got off to an 11-2 start. Miami did not get on the board until a Chris Lykes layup more than four minutes into the game.
Virginia’s pack-line defense was just too much for the Miami Hurricanes offense. When Miami won in Charlottesville last season Bruce Brown led a comeback. The Hurricanes were without Brown for the fifth straight game.