Virginia outlasts Boston College

“Room and Rhythm” may sound like some new club on The Corner, but it's actually what Virginia players say was lacking in their brutal offensive performance against Virginia Tech on Sunday. Tech defenders crowded the Cavaliers, bothered them with their length, and didn’t give them many quality looks at the basket.

On Thursday night, though, Virginia had plenty of room and rhythm.

No. 19 UVa, behind 18 points from Mike Scott and a possible slump-busting performance from Sammy Zeglinski, defeated Boston College, 66-49, at John Paul Jones Arena.

UVa scored 21 more points than it did in its loss to Tech.

“I think we took the shots that were there and they went in more frequently,” said Virginia coach Tony Bennett, with a laugh. “You saw them double Mike or really play off of Jontel [Evans] - you have to stretch the defense with the 3-point shot when the defense does that.

“Also, I thought we got into the lane. We were solid.”

Virginia (16-3, 3-2), which must turn around quickly for a game at N.C. State on Saturday night, shot 51 percent from the field and held BC to 40-percent shooting.

The win didn’t come as easy as the final score would indicate, though.

After taking an 11-point lead on a 3-pointer by Joe Harris off a nice kick-out pass by Scott on its first possession of the second half, Virginia let BC crawl its way back into the game. 

The Eagles (7-13, 2-4) started hitting 3-pointers - the third of which from the corner by Danny Rubin tied the game at 44 with 10:24 remaining.

But Virginia answered with back-to-back driving layups by Evans and Malcolm Brogdon to take a four-point lead and BC never got any closer the rest of the way.
The Cavaliers boosted their lead to eight after a jumper from the baseline by Darion Atkins and floater in the lane from Evans.

The crowd then got as loud as it did all night when Zeglinski - who had made just four of his last 23 shots, including 2 of 17 from 3-point range - drained a 3 from the wing after a nice pass from Scott to put Virginia back up by 11 with 3:18 to play.

“Mike got double-teamed and found me crosscourt and that’s an example of a room and rhythm shot,” said Zeglinski, who finished with eight points and four steals. “I was wide open stepping into it...

“If you get a good look at the rim, you’ve got to shoot it with confidence and I felt like we did that tonight.”

Two possessions later, Zeglinski knocked down another 3-pointer and chants of “Sammy Z!” reverberated throughout the arena.

“It felt good,” Zeglinski said. “When you’re in a slump like that you always want to knock [them] down and get the crowd going. It felt really good.”

Virginia ourebounded BC by six and looked more aggressive in transition than usual.

“I just said, ‘If our guards can get a rebound, then we’ll look to get up on the floor and get some pressure on them...,” Bennett said. “I think you have to be willing to do that. We didn’t do that against Virginia Tech for whatever reason. As long as there are good decisions, I think that’s sound for us.”

Virginia got off to a slow start. BC, which entered the game as one of the worst rebounding teams in the country, scored when Ryan Anderson tipped in his own miss and then hit a 3-pointer to take an early 7-2 lead.

UVa started to find its groove about midway through the half. Akil Mitchell, who was making his second start of the season in place of the injured Assane Sene, ignited a 12-4 surge. First, he had a nice post move in the lane. Then the sophomore took a nifty pass from Evans along the baseline and scored on a reverse. On the Cavaliers’ next offensive possession, Mitchell penetrated the lane and set up Scott for a 17-foot jumper.

Bennett was very pleased with what he got out of Mitchell and Atkins. After non-productive games against Virginia Tech, the duo combined for 16 points and eight rebounds.

“Darion and Akil were solid,” Bennett said. “Darion bothered them defensively. They’re both active. They finished. Obviously they had a size advantage and Akil took advantage of that early on and had some plays right in front of the rim.

“And Darion was just active. I think that’s his strength. He needs to learn to keep pursuing and being continuous, but they both gave us nice lifts.”

The duo’s performance made up for Harris’ quiet night. Playing sick, the sophomore guard finished with eight points and five rebounds in 26 minutes of action. Bennett never played him longer than three or four minutes at a time.

“Joe was dying,” Bennett said. “You guys, I don’t know if you knew or not, but he had a fever and he didn’t practice the other day. He practiced a little yesterday and he felt worse this morning. His fever spiked and we weren’t sure he was going to play.”

Dunks
Mitchell scored a career-high 10 points...Virginia matched its win total (16) from last season...UVa held an opponent under 50 points for the ninth time this season.