Cavaliers Now

Hoos in the NBA: Five Former UVA Basketball Stars Score in Double Figures

Matt Newton

David Richard-Imagn Images
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To any UVA basketball fans who do not have a vested interest in the NBA, may we suggest that you consider following and rooting for the Cleveland Cavaliers? Here's the argument:

  • The Cavaliers have the best record in the Eastern Conference at 43-10 and the second-best record in the entire NBA, but they haven't won an NBA Championship since the famous 3-1 comeback against the Golden State Warriors in 2016 and that was their only NBA title in franchise history.
  • Then there's the name, the Cavaliers, so a very minimal learning curve for Virginia fans looking to adopt the Cavs as their NBA team.
  • And oh yeah, thanks to a transaction just hours before the NBA trade deadline last week, there are now two former UVA basketball stars who helped win the 2019 National Championship playing together for the Cleveland Cavaliers. De'Andre Hunter was traded to Cleveland from the Atlanta Hawks last Thursday, reuniting him with his old Virginia teammate, not to mention one of his best friends, Ty Jerome.

I challenge any UVA basketball fan to look at these pictures without smiling.

Before Hunter and Jerome played their first game together in the NBA, the two made the trip to Charlottesville on Saturday for "Tony Bennett Day", as their old coach was honored at halftime of the Virginia basketball game against Georgia Tech. The scheduling was quite fortunate, as the Cavs were up in Washington D.C. the night before playing the Wizards, making it easy for Hunter and Jerome to attend the UVA game in Charlottesville the next day.

Two days later, Hunter got the start in his debut with the Cavs and scored 12 points, knocked down three of his four three-point attempts, and posted one rebound and one steal in 23 minutes to help the Cavaliers defeat the Minnesota Timberwolves 128-107 on Monday night in Cleveland.

Meanwhile, Ty Jerome finished with 15 points, four assists, two rebounds and a steal and was +14 in 24 minutes off the bench. Jerome shot 4/8 from the floor, 5/5 from the free throw line, and 2/6 from three, including this sequence at the end of the third quarter where Jerome stole the ball and drained a three just before the buzzer.

Hunter started this game, but that might have been more due to the Cavs being without Max Strus due to injury and Cleveland head coach Kenny Atkinson says he'll work through those options after the upcoming All-Star break. Hunter was having a career-year in Atlanta coming off the bench, plus he has the built-in chemistry with Ty Jerome, who leads the Cleveland bench mob as the team's backup point guard.

Elsewhere in the NBA, three other former UVA basketball players also scored in double figures on Monday night. Sam Hauser dropped 15 points, four rebounds, and two assists, shot 5/8 from three-point range and was +17 in 24 minutes to help the Boston Celtics beat the Miami Heat 103-85. Trey Murphy III scored 23 points on 7/15 shooting from the floor, 4/7 from three-point range, and 5/5 from the free throw line to go along with seven rebounds, five assists, and one steal, but it was all for naught as no other Pelican reached 20 points and New Orleans was crushed by the Oklahoma City Thunder 137-101. Finally, Malcolm Brogdon recorded 11 points on 5/10 shooting, five assists, five rebounds, and a steal for the Washington Wizards in their 131-121 loss to the San Antonio Spurs, dropping their record to 9-44 as the only team in the NBA who has yet to reach double digit wins on the season.

Read More on Former UVA Athletes in the Pros

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Ty Jerome Goes 8/8 From Three, Scores Career-High 33 Points

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Matt Newton
MATT NEWTON

Matt launched Virginia Cavaliers On SI in August of 2021 and has since served as the site's publisher and managing editor, covering all 23 NCAA Division I sports teams at the University of Virginia. He is from Downingtown, Pennsylvania and graduated from UVA in May of 2021.