CHARLOTTESVILLE – Even on an afternoon when Virginia got out in transition with regularity and forced William and Mary to commit a season-high 19 turnovers on the Cavaliers’ way to a 67-52 victory, U.Va. Coach Tony Bennett was able to find fault.
He detected some lethargy, a U.Va. offense that was “out of sync” at times. Though No. 10 U.Va. (7-1) was playing without point guard London Perrantes for a second straight game while he continues to recover from an appendectomy last Sunday, the Cavaliers were never threatened after the opening minutes, but Bennett still sees room for improvement.
“It just seemed like, you know, we wanted to go inside, we wanted to make a play, but we were out of sync with our timing,” said Bennett, whose team shot 44.8 percent from the floor, and made just 18.2 percent of his 3-point shots (2 of 11). “We always talk about pace and timing in the offense. I thought we were below average (Saturday). Some nice plays were made, but it was a so-so half-court, man-to-man offensive effort.”
Guard Malcolm Brogdon and forward Anthony Gill led U.Va. with 16 points each, while guard Darius Thompson scored 12 points and had four of the Cavaliers’ 15 steals in his second straight start in place of Perrantes. The last time U.Va. had more than 15 steals was Feb. 24, 2008, when it had 16 in a 78-60 win against North Carolina State.
U.Va. used a 16-2 run to turn a 6-6 game in the first four minutes into a 22-8 edge with 8:34 remaining in the first half. Brogdon scored U.Va.’s first eight points, and had 10 points at halftime, but he didn’t score again – and missed six consecutive shots – until he hit a short jumper in the lane with 3:12 left to put the Cavaliers ahead 61-47.
“I felt like (Gill) and other guys were getting into their rhythm, so I thought the ball needed to keep moving, and I would take my opportunities when I could because we were in such a good flow and building a lead,” said Brogdon, adding he stopped aggressively looking for his shot when he started missing them.
W&M (5-3), which was led by guard Daniel Dixon’s 15 points and guard Omar Prewitt’s 14 points, closed to within six points twice in the second half – the last time coming with 12:16 left when Dixon’s layup sliced U.Va.’s advantage to 42-36 – but the Cavaliers clamped down defensively, forced turnovers and went on to extend their lead to as high as 18 points.
W&M, which shot 41.3 percent from the floor and 31.6 percent from beyond the 3-point line (6 of 19), had 11 of its turnovers in the second half.
“There is one stat line that I know is going to be glaring and that was our turnovers,” said W&M coach Tony Shaver, whose team matched U.Va. in rebounding with 32 apiece. “Turnovers were the difference in the ballgame. I understand a team of (U.Va.’s) quality makes you do some things that aren’t characteristic, but our decision-making as a ball club was very poor (Saturday).
“It was a tough loss, and they are a very talented basketball team. They can beat you a lot of ways, but I am disappointed that we didn’t play better. We can play better than we did.”
Bennett mentioned “some nice plays,” but none was more spectacular than Thompson’s thunderous one-handed jam in transition with 4:13 left over Dixon, who was called for a foul. The dunk elicited a collective “oohhhhh” from the John Paul Jones Arena crowd.
“That had to be probably the best dunk I’ve had in college so far,” said Thompson, who started his career at Tennessee before transferring to U.Va. and sitting out last season per NCAA transfer rules.
Thompson’s dunk put U.Va. ahead 59-44, and accounted for two of the Cavaliers’ 20 points off turnovers. W&M had just two points off turnovers. U.Va. out-scored W&M 12-0 in fast break points.
“I thought that we capitalized on those (turnovers) and made some plays in transition,” Bennett said. “That’s one of the things (reporters) asked me early in the year, ‘What does Darius bring?’ I think he’s good in the open court. He brings a different dimension that way, and he slashes, as you saw (Saturday).”
Thompson’s huge dunk was particularly impressive to Gill. He expected the rest of the nation to get a good look at it Saturday evening.
“It better be an ESPN Top 10 play,” said Gill, who had a game-high seven rebounds. “It better be number one. That’s the craziest dunk I’ve seen in person in a long time.”
Though it was missing Perrantes’ ball-handling skills, U.Va. took care of the ball, committing just six turnovers.
Bennett said he’ll get a feel in practice Sunday for whether Perrantes, who is averaging 10 points and 5.3 assists per game, is ready to return for Tuesday’s game against No. 20 West Virginia in New York’s Madison Square Garden.
“He has not practiced yet,” Bennett said. “We’re hopeful, and I don’t think there have been any setbacks.”
Wood can be reached by phone at 757-247-4642
