Virginia vs. Florida Live Updates | NCAA Men's Basketball

Matt Newton | Dec 4, 2024

Virginia Athletics

Virginia (5-3) suffered an 87-69 loss to No. 13 Florida (9-0) in the second-annual ACC/SEC Challenge on Wednesday night at O'Connell Center in Gainesville, Florida. See a full play-by-play and live analysis for the game in the thread below.

Stay tuned to Virginia Cavaliers On SI for more postgame coverage.

Read five takeaways from the game here: Key Takeaways From UVA Basketball's 87-69 Loss at Florida

Virginia 69, Florida 87 | Final

Saunders is blocked on one end and then gets scored over by Alex Condon on the other end. Florida makes two free throws and then McKneely misses the front end of the one-and-one. Florida dices up Anthony Robinson in the pick and roll and Condon scores easily. Robinson gets fouled in the paint and throws in a wild hook shot off the glass. Condon scores off the glass over Robinson. Cofie gets a putback to go. Martin hits a three to push the Florida lead back to 20. Robinson scores with a putback. Florida then dribbles out the clock on the 87-69 win over Virginia.

Virginia 69, Florida 87 | Final

Saunders works hard for a couple of offensive rebounds and draws a foul, making both free throws. Taine Murray gets to the rim on three-straight possessions for layups. Todd Golden calls timeout as Virginia has narrowed the deficit to 14 points.

Virginia 62, Florida 76 | 4:21 2H

Jacob Cofie draws a foul and makes both free throws. Thomas Haugh uses a spin move and scores off the glass plus a foul on Saunders. McKneely hits a deep three-pointer, his fourth three of the game. Aberdeen cuts baseline and draws a foul, making both free throws. Virginia forces a rare Florida turnover and Rohde is fouled in transition, making both free throws. Ames fouls Walter Clayton Jr. on a three-pointer and he drills it anyway. It's getting out of hand now. UVA turns the ball over for the 20th time tonight as Buchanan basically hands the ball to Florida. It's a quick 6-0 Gator run and the lead has ballooned to 20 points. Timeout Ron Sanchez.

Virginia 52, Florida 72 | 7:52 2H

Martin drives baseline and scores with a reverse over Rohde. Buchanan gets the ball on the low block and scores. Clayton gets a glimmer of space and quickly pulls the trigger and splashes his fourth three of the game. He's up to 19 points and it's clear right now Virginia is missing an elite on-ball defender like Reece Beekman to shut down a player like Clayton. Taine Murray checks into the game and slashes to the rim for a layup. Alex Condon responds with a three-pointer on the other end to stretch the Florida lead to 12. Saunders misses a gimme layup on one end and Condon uses a crafty move on the other end to score with a reverse layup. The Gators have their largest lead of the game at 15 points.

Virginia 45, Florida 60 | 11:43 2H

McKneely gets a rare open look from the right wing and swishes it for his third three of the game. Florida sets a great back screen and Clayton gets to the rim for an easy layup. Virginia commits another shot clock violation, its 12th turnover of the game.

Virginia 41, Florida 48 | 15:26 2H

Virginia gets called for two quick fouls to open the second half, an offensive foul on Saunders for a moving screen and then a foul on Buchanan on the other end. Saunders makes two great plays, quickly pulling a corner three and knocking it down and then coming up with a steal on the other end. Clayton Jr. pulls up and swishes a three from the top of the key. Martin continues to have success driving on McKneely, getting to the rack for a layup. UVA turns it over and Clayton gets inside too easily for a layup. It's a 7-0 run for Florida after the Cavaliers got it back within one.

Virginia 38, Florida 46 | 16:58 2H

Jacob Cofie keeps an offensive rebound alive and kicks out to Elijah Saunders, who splashes a three from the top of the key to get UVA back within four points. Richard draws a foul on Cofie and makes two free throws. Virginia gets a stop and has the last possession, but can't get a good look. Still, the Cavaliers have to be feeling good after weathering that 15-0 run and only being down four points at the halftime break.

Virginia 35, Florida 39 | Halftime

After getting off to a blistering start on the offensive end, Virginia endures a six-minute scoring drought, during which the Cavaliers turn the ball over five times. UVA is sorely missing Dai Dai Ames, who is on the bench with two fouls. Aberdeen hits another three from the corner to continue what is now a 13-0 run for Florida. Alex Condon gets an alley-oop pass and finishes with a dunk. 15-0 now. Elijah Saunders draws a foul with a spin move in the paint and finally ends the scoring drought with a pair of free throws. Walter Clayton Jr. swishes a heavily-contested three-pointer; nothing UVA can do about that. Cofie makes UVA's first field goal in quite a long time with a nice spin move into a lefty layup. Virginia gets a stop and then Ames patiently works inside for a layup. Clayton pulls up for three and knocks it down for his second triple in a row. Saunders gets open inside for a dunk. Virginia commits a turnover in the back court and Aberdeen cashes in with a dunk. Ames hits a short baseline jumper.

Virginia 30, Florida 37 | 2:40 1H

Florida gets multiple offensive rebounds and Sam Alexis eventually scores off the glass - that was a major concern for UVA entering this game. Virginia commits another shot clock violation and Aberdeen hits a deep three on the other end. It's a 12-2 run for the Gators to take their first lead of the game. Alexis grabs another offensive rebound and kicks out to Will Richard, who hits the corner three. Make that a 15-2 run and a 10-0 run for Florida to open up a 24-20 lead. Ron Sanchez calls timeout.

Virginia 20, Florida 24 | 8:15 1H

Virginia knocks down its fourth three-pointer of the game as Elijah Saunders sets a screen and pops to the top of the key for an open triple. Martin hits a tough shot off the glass, but Rohde gets a lane to the rim and scores. Denzel Aberdeen hits a pull-up mid-range jumper plus a foul on Rohde. Florida gets a third and-one early in this game as Thomas Haugh slashes through the lane and scores through contact. Saunders drives and uses a nice jump stop move to score off the backboard. Martin drives on McKneely and scores fairly easily. Both teams are shooting pretty well right now, as both the Hoos and the Gators have made five of their last six shots.

Virginia 20, Florida 16 | 11:12 1H

Virginia wins the opening tipoff and cashes in on its first offensive possession, as Isaac McKneely gets a good look from the left wing and knocks down the three. Two possessions, two triples for the Hoos as Dai Dai Ames gets free on the right wing and splashes the three-pointer to put UVA ahead 6-0. Alijah Martin knifes his way to the basket for a layup for Florida's first basket, but the Cavaliers answer on the other end as Blake Buchanan snags an offensive rebound and lays it in. Florida pushes the ball up the floor quickly and takes advantage of a mismatch as Alex Condon scores over Ames in the paint. Elijah Saunders hustles to create a second chance opportunity and it pays off as McKneely swishes his second three of the game. Blake Buchanan gets a wide-open look in the paint and he hits the push shot to extend UVA's lead to 13-4. Clayton fires back on the other end, scoring off the glass plus a foul on Ames.

Virginia 13, Florida 6 | 15:16 1H

The starting lineups have been posted for both teams.
Virginia: Andrew Rohde, Dai Dai Ames, Isaac McKneely, Elijah Saunders, Blake Buchanan
Florida: Walter Clayton Jr., Will Richard, Alijah Martin, Alex Condon, Rueben Chinyelu

As we await our 7:15pm tipoff between Virginia and Florida on ESPN2, read a full preview of the game here: Virginia Basketball vs. Florida Game Preview, Score Prediction

Keep up with all the scores in the 2024 ACC/SEC Challenge here: 2024 ACC/SEC Basketball Challenge Score Updates | UVA Basketball

Virginia vs. Florida Pregame Notes

• Virginia and Florida are meeting for the second season in a row, but for the first time as part of the SEC/ACC Challenge.
• UVA is 2-2 all-time against Florida in a series that dates back to 1992.
• The Cavaliers defeated the Gators 73-70 in the Hall of Fame Series last season at Spectrum Center in Charlotte, North Carolina.
• Florida defeated Virginia in the first round of the 2012 NCAA Tournament and in the second round of the 2017 NCAA Tournament.
• UVA defeated Florida in the semifinals of the 1992 NIT in the first-ever meeting between the two programs.
• This will be the first time these two teams are meeting on the campus of one of the two schools, as each of the previous four games were played at neutral sites.
• Virginia is 1-0 in the ACC/SEC Challenge, beating Texas A&M 59-47 in the inaugural edition of the Challenge last season in Charlottesville.
• UVA is 0-2 against ranked opponents this season, falling to Tennessee and St. John's in The Bahamas.
• Virginia is 70-63 all-time against current members of the Southeastern Conference.

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