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Virginia Basketball: Cavaliers take down Notre Dame on the road

By Bryce Bennett

Dec 3, 2016; Charlottesville, VA, USA; Virginia Cavaliers head coach Tony Bennett yells to his team from the bench against the West Virginia Mountaineers in the second half at John Paul Jones Arena. The Mountaineers won 66-57. Mandatory Credit: Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports
Dec 3, 2016; Charlottesville, VA, USA; Virginia Cavaliers head coach Tony Bennett yells to his team from the bench against the West Virginia Mountaineers in the second half at John Paul Jones Arena. The Mountaineers won 66-57. Mandatory Credit: Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports /
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Virginia basketball used 22 points from London Perrantes and stifling defense to silence the Fighting Irish in South Bend.

Virginia and Notre Dame was a game of differing styles.

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The Cavaliers like to slow the game down, play the famed “Pack Line” defense and methodically work their offense. Through limiting possessions and creating turnovers, Virginia wins basketball games.

Notre Dame, on the other hand, plays fast, loose and relies on three-pointers to overwhelm the opponent. Their skilled backcourt can get to the rim almost at will. This break neck pace eventually wears down and overwhelms the opponent.

The game Tuesday was played at Virginia’s pace and the Cavaliers easily dispatched the Irish to put themselves just a half a game outside of first place in the wild ACC.

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    • Perrantes apparently was battling the flu, but it was hard to notice. The senior guard was excellent with 22 points on 7-of-13 shooting. This included five three-pointers, many of them timely to stretch the lead in the latter half of the game.

    Little-used freshman guard Ty Jerome (averages only nine minutes a game), was also huge for the Cavaliers. He played 14 minutes and scored eight points on 2-of-3 shooting from three. The two three-pointers were made to extend the lead to 53-44 with eight minutes to go and then to 57-49 with just over five minutes to go. The Fighting Irish never got closer than down six the rest of the game.

    Notre Dame was led by Bonzie Colson who scored 20 points. He uncharacteristically only grabbed three rebounds, a sore spot for Notre Dame the entire game. The Wahoos dominated the boards 38-22. The offensive rebound numbing were 10-2 in favor of Virginia.

    Problem areas arose in other facets of the game for Notre Dame. Senior V.J. Beachem continued his uneven play with only three points on 1-of-10 shooting. The talented wing scored a career-high 30 points in the team’s previous game against Syracuse.

    The Fighting Irish were also held without a transition basket, a credit to Virginia’s swarming defense and ability to take care of the ball on offense. Without the opportunity to get out and run, Notre Dame struggled in the half court shooting only 41 percent from the field and 16 percent (3-of-18) from three-point range.

    Notre Dame is still an excellent 6-2 in the conference and next up comes a trip to Atlanta to face off against Georgia Tech. The Yellow Jackets have lost four out of their last six. After that, the Fighting Irish get Duke at home and then travel to Chapel Hill on February 4th.

    For Virginia, the potential is there for a giant week. Virginia will put their five-game winning streak on the line at No. 1 Villanova this Saturday. The Wildcats were upset by Marquette the same night, so the extra motivation will be there not to fall to 0-2. Should Virginia win, with all of the other upsets going on around the country, they should easily climb back into the top 10 and maybe top eight. After the trip to Philly comes a home game against in-state rival Virginia Tech.

    Next: Conference battles shake up top 25

    The win tonight should silence some of the doubts that Virginia had the talent to compete for the ACC title this season. Head coach Tony Bennett appears to have this group locked in.

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