Virginia Punches Ticket to ACC Championship Following a 84-62 Victory over Miami

The Virginia Cavaliers had no trouble picking up win number two in the ACC Tournament against the Miami Hurricanes. A mixture of veteran presence like Ugonna Onyenso and Sam Lewis, mixed with a Freshman in Chance Mallory, absolutely took over the Spectrum Center Friday night.

The Virginia Cavaliers had no trouble picking up win number two in the ACC Tournament against the Miami Hurricanes. A mixture of veteran presence like Ugonna Onyenso and Sam Lewis, mixed with a Freshman in Chance Mallory, absolutely took over the Spectrum Center Friday night.

Chance Mallory was a big talking point in this one, contributing 12 points, 5 assists, and 6 rebounds. " It's just great. It's a dream come true to play on this stage," Mallory said postgame on performing on a big stage like this. Ugonna Onyenso had another stellar night shooting 8 of 9 from the floor and finishing with 17 points and 4 blocks. Ugo also hit another three Friday night. Mallory and Onyenso seem to have a great chemistry together always on the same page, Onyenso knows that. "Chance being able to pass to me, it's a good thing, because now instead of waiting to get a rebound, I'm looking up for a pass from him because I know it's coming. It's a really wonderful thing that we got going on and me and Chance we get a really great relationship on the court, and I feel like that's also been helping us the way the way we play."

Malik Thomas struggled to get going offensively initially, but once he got going, there was not stopping him. "Credit to them. They're a great team that's very physical." Thomas explained, "I think after we got adjusted to that a little bit and we got some key defensive stops, we got the ball rolling on the offensive end and was able to respond to some defensive plays." Thomas finished with 15 points. Meanwhile, Sam Lewis continued to snipe from the perimeter as he did Thursday night. Lewis went 4-5 from three again, finishing with 16 points and 5 rebounds. Thijs De Ridder continued to lead the team offensively with 16 points and three assists.

One more player worth mentioning is Point Guard Dallin Hall. Hall continues to fulfill his role as the distributer, as well as hustling everywhere he goes and playing at 100%. Hall finished with 5 assists, 3 rebounds, and a steal. Hall also had 2 important points, coming off of an offensive rebound with a nice putback.

The game started very slow with neither team getting going offensively. Miami spent the first portion of the first half shooting 0-7 from three bailing out the Cavaliers a handful of times. Virginia did not score its first bucket until Jacari White made a layup almost 4 minutes in. The game felt like Bennett ball as the score at the 4-minute mark was in Virginia's favor 21-17. From there, Virginia finally started to find themselves offensively, led by De Ridder making a three and a tough layup. "I feel really comfortable, but it's just all my teammates and my coaches that give me all the trust," De Ridder said postgame. At the two-minute mark was where Dallin Hall made the putback layup which pushed UVA's lead to 9. From there, Onyenso made a second chance dunk to push the lead to 8 as the first half was winding down. Great way to end the half, right? Wrong.

This is where one of the more pivotal points in the game happened. Miami attempted to hold for the final shot before Chance Mallory poked the ball away around halfcourt. With the clock winding down, Mallory decided to pull up from three and DRILLED it pushing the lead to 15. Mallory commented on the play postgame, "It was just cool to be able to hit that shot in front of this big of a stage. Just be able to get a stop that we needed it and luckily there was enough time for them to get a shot on time. Obviously, I made the shot so, lot of fun." It was debated if Mallory should have taken it to the hole instead, however, there likely would not have been enough time for it. Mallory was asked about his decision-making in that scenario, " It's just a feel for the game. I feel like just playing a lot of basketball. I've been playing basketball since as long as I can remember." That shot pushing the lead to 15 was certainly a turning point and a giant boost of momentum, Mallory agreed. "I feel like it gave us a little bit of a spark of energy. Obviously made the lead a little bit larger." Credit to Preston Willett from The Sabre for those questions to Mallory.

So, great end to the first half, how did Virginia open up the second half? Oh, just a Ugo Onyenso three-point shot. Anytime the big man hits a deep shot it gets the bench going to shifts momentum. From then on, Sam Lewis and Malik Thomas began to take over the game. In the second half, the two combined for 25 points. Mallory continued to infiltrate offensively with a layup and another three. The lead got so bad that Virginia was able to put in the role players to close the game. Elijah Gertrude got in the game and made a layup in the closing minute. Gertrude has come a long way from his scooter accident two offseasons ago. Gertrude gives a lot of credit to Coach Ryan Odom and the entire staff. "I wanna thank Coach Odom allowing me to get my legs under me get running and practicing with a great team like this, going against guys like Malik, Dallin, Johann, and Sam, having that competition. Having Coach put confidence in me to just keep playing, doing what I love, it means a lot.

Virginia will now face Duke for the second time this season for the ACC Championship. The first time the two played was in Cameron Indoor where Duke rolled winning 77-51. This time, however, will be a neutral site court with a bit more on the line. When it comes to the ACC Tournament, if you keep winning, you continue to play every day. Therefore, rest and recovery are huge entering Saturday night. "Just rest. Watch the game for sure right now and just trust the coaches again like they did yesterday for this game," De Ridder said postgame. The game will be at 8:30 on ESPN.

Photo credit: ACC