Cavaliers cruise in first game since player departures

Having two players transfer two months into your season isn’t usually a good thing, no matter how you slice it. But the Virginia basketball optimist could find two silver linings in the recent departures of KT Harrell and James Johnson: 1) The Wahoos have a soft spot in their schedule now and 2) Harrell and Johnson weren’t contributing very much anyway.

On Tuesday night at John Paul Jones Arena, No. 23 Virginia didn’t miss a beat without the players.

UVa, behind 17 points and six rebounds from two-time reigning ACC Player of the Week Mike Scott, easily took care of Maryland-Eastern Shore, 69-42, in front of a crowd of 8,661.

The win was Virginia’s ninth straight. UVa (11-1) is off to its best start since the 2000-01 season.

“What I liked about tonight and what I like about this team is that they’re unselfish and that’s good,” said Virginia coach Tony Bennett, whose team hosts 0-12 Towson on Friday night. “They’ll share the ball. They don’t really care who gets the points or the credit and that’s a good thing thing and an important thing for our defensive system as much as it is our offensive system.

“I said, ‘You’re a smaller group. We lost two guys that were valuable to us, so now you got to come together more. You got to circle the wagons a little tighter.’”

Virginia shot 50 percent from the field and held the Hawks (3-10) to 28 percent. UVa outrebounded the visitors 41-29.

One of the biggest discrepancies came in fast-break points, where Virginia held a 14-3 edge. On numerous occasions, UVa turned steals into easy layups and dunks.

“We’re not normally a transition team,” said Scott, who, wearing his orange and blue Kevin Durant sneakers, was one of the biggest beneficiaries, “but when there’s a chance to get buckets in transition, we’ll take them.”

Freshman Paul Jesperson, who had been redshirting, made his college debut. He entered the game at the 9:19 mark of the first half and received a warm ovation from the crowd. In the second half, he scored his first college points on a 3-pointer from the corner off an inbounds pass from Sammy Zeglinski.

UMES (3-10) pulled to within seven points early in the second half on a 3-pointer by Hilary Haley before Virginia went on a 12-0 run in which Scott scored 10 of the points. The spurt was highlighted by a Jontel Evans steal that led to a Scott dunk.

Virginia, which notched a season-high 22 assists, was in control the whole way, leading from wire to wire.

One of the plays that drew the loudest cheers — and exemplified the unselfishness that Bennett liked — occurred in the second half when Virginia perfectly executed a 3-on-1. Zeglinski passed to Joe Harris, who touch-passed to Scott for a layup.

In the first half, the Wahoos got off to a fast start. Evans pickpocketed Percy Woods, dribbled the length of the court, then at the last second flipped back to a trailing Scott for a crowd-pleasing windmill dunk for an early 9-0 lead.

UMES (3-10) pulled to within three points on a 3-pointer by Hilary Haley before Virginia answered with a 12-5 run. The spurt was highlighted by the play of Akil Mitchell and Darion Atkins, who combined for nine of the points.

Mitchell hit a rare jump shot and Atkins threw down a thunderous two-hand put-back jam off a Malcolm Brogdon miss. Atkins finished with a career-high 13 points.

“We got our young guys a lot of minutes and when we can sit some of our older guys, that’s good, especially with three games in a short amount of time,” Bennett said. “It was nice to see some liveliness on the glass and some bounce. Akil and Darion did a nice job rebounding.”

Mitchell, who shared an off-campus apartment with Harrell and Johnson, said he wished his former teammates the best.

“I think they just kind of got caught up in playing time and playing style,” he said. “I hope they go somewhere they can flourish.”

Mitchell said it was odd not having Harrell and Johnson.

“You look down the bench and you expect your buddies to be there and they’re not there,” he said. “You’re looking around your apartment and seeing if anybody is riding with you [to the game] and nobody’s there.”

In the wake of the players’ departure, Scott gave the team a pre-game pep talk.

“I just told them to stay together. It’s just us now,” the fifth-year senior said. “We’re a lot smaller group, not a lot of people, so we just have to be more unified.”

Dunks

Mitchell tied his career high in points (nine) and rebounds (nine)...Freshman Malcolm Brogdon lost his shoe late in the game. Atkins, a fellow freshman, then proceeded to pass him the ball. “Freshmen,” said Scott, smiling...The Cavaliers’ nine-game win streak is its longest since 2001-02...The Cavaliers have won eight straight home games, their second-longest win streak at JPJ...Scott moved into 34th place on Virginia’s career scoring list with 1,168 points, moving past Chip Conner.