Virginia Suffers Worse ACC Loss of Bennett Era in Blowout at Virginia Tech

The Hokies dominated the Cavaliers from start to finish and sent UVA back to Charlottesville with a humbling 75-41 loss

Sure, there were some expectations coming in that this might not be a good game for Virginia. The Cavaliers were 0-3 in their last three trips to Cassell Coliseum and the Hokies just tend to play really good basketball when their in-state rivals make the drive over from Charlottesville. 

But nobody expected it to be quite so bad as to be UVA's worst ACC loss of the Tony Bennett era. In 15 years with Bennett leading the program, no conference opponent had ever defeated his Cavaliers by more than 24 points... until Monday night in Blacksburg that is. 

Virginia (20-7, 11-5 ACC) delivered by far its worst all-around performance of the season, and of the worse games in recent program history, and was run off the floor by Virginia Tech (15-11, 7-8 ACC) in the Commonwealth Clash in a 75-41 beatdown on Monday night at Cassell Coliseum. 

While Virginia was the offensively-challenged team for most of the night, neither teams were putting on a shooting clinic early on, with UVA opening the game 1/5 and Virginia Tech going 1/6 and the score being just 2-2 at the first media timeout. 

For the next several minutes, both the Hoos and the Hokies got into a rhythm offensively, with Virginia Tech getting threes from Tyler Nickel and Hunter Cattoor and Virginia, who was hesitant to take many jump shots, having some success driving to the basket and getting layups from five different players to at least temporarily keep pace. 

That all went away as the Cavaliers suddenly looked completely inept on the offensive end of the floor in the final 10 minutes of the first half. It didn't help that Virginia Tech began to demolish Virginia's defense on the other end simply by slipping screens. Nickel knocked down a pair of three-pointers by faking picks and popping to the perimeter and Lynn Kidd, who was the main story of the first half for Virginia Tech, made several big plays slipping screens and diving to the basket before UVA's help defense arrived. 

Kidd, who was held to just two points on 1/3 shooting in the first meeting between these teams in Charlottesville, scored 12 points in the first half alone, including eight-consecutive points as part of a 10-0 run for Virginia Tech to take a 26-14 lead, prompting a timeout from Tony Bennett. 

The timeout didn't help things on either end of the floor, as UVA's offensive drought continued and the Hokies continued to execute on their offensive end, making a few jumpers to complement their success in the paint. Virginia's offense was stale and unimaginative and Virginia Tech did a great job helping off of non-shooters to stifle any driving lanes for Reece Beekman, or any Cavalier for that matter. 

Virginia ultimately went nearly nine minutes without scoring, a stretch during which Virginia Tech went on 20-0 run capped by a deep three from Hunter Cattoor. UVA's drought was finally snapped on a dunk by Leon Bond III, who hadn't played a second in UVA's last three games and was virtually absent from the rotation for the majority of ACC play. It was still a 20-2 run for Virginia Tech to close the first half and take a commanding 36-16 lead to halftime. 

Lynn Kidd had 12 points on 4/4 shooting in the first half and the Hokies shot 50% from the floor, while the Cavaliers were 32% from the field and 0/5 from beyond the arc. 

There have been instances throughout the Tony Bennett era where the Cavaliers were able to overcome large deficits, but since they play at such a slow pace, those examples are few and far between. It was therefore highly unlikely that UVA was going to do anything about the 20-point halftime deficit on the road and that ended up being the case. 

Just in case there was any doubt about that, Ryan Dunn fouled Robbie Beran on a three-pointer on Virginia Tech's first possession of the second half and Beran made all three free throws, leading to a 7-0 run for the Hokies to quickly push their lead to 43-16. 

Rather than making a run to ideally make the final score something more reasonable, the second half mirrored the first, with the Cavaliers unable to get into anything resembling a rhythm offensively and the Hokies consistently dicing up the UVA defense for easy baskets. 

Virginia Tech led by as many as 36 points and ultimately won by 34 points, UVA's largest margin of defeat against an ACC opponent under Tony Bennett and third-largest loss against any opponent under Bennett. 

Four Hokies scored in double figures in the game, led by Lynn Kidd with 14 points and Robbie Beran with 13 points and those two players combined to go a perfect 9/9 from the floor. Virginia Tech scored 24 points off of 12 UVA turnovers and shot 50.9% from the floor. Isaac McKneely was the sole Cavalier in double figures with 11 points and Virginia shot 32.7% from the field as a team and 16.7% from beyond the arc. 

Virginia will have to recover quickly from this humbling loss, as the Cavaliers welcome No. 10 North Carolina to John Paul Jones Arena on Saturday at 4pm on ESPN. 

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