SYRACUSE, N.Y. - The last time Virginia ventured to the tundra of central New York, a 12-point halftime lead dissipated, and Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim high-fived fans as he left the court. A boisterous student section spilled onto the Carrier Dome court.
Virginia was shocked by the Orange's press defense that game. It sped them up, then around and about. Momentum was lost.
This time around, Syracuse went to the press after scoring early in the second half. A double-digit deficit was sliced. Virginia had to face the momentum-grabbing press defense again. This time, it was an easy break, and a wide-open Jack Salt completed an alley-oop. There was no big Syracuse run, no comeback, no shift in momentum. Just a 59-44 blowout Virginia win.
The 44 points were the lowest total for a Syracuse team in Carrier Dome history. More importantly for U.Va., it was its 14th straight win. The Cavaliers’ offense shot 48.9 percent from the floor. A raucous crowd of 27,083 that came to see an upset went home disappointed. De’Andre Hunter came off the bench to lead the team with 15 points, Kyle Guy added 14 points, Mamadi Diakite put in 12, and Isaiah Wilkins recorded 6 points, six rebounds and four blocks.
A Syracuse team that scored a combined 43 points in its previous two first halves looked like it had broken out of the gate quicker against U.Va.’s elite defense. A Frank Howard 3-pointer midway through the half tied the game at 11. From there, Virginia toyed with the Orange en route to its second win over Syracuse in the past month.
Hunter checked into the game five minutes in and resumed his domination from the high post that he began showing in the Jan. 9 meeting in Charlottesville. Any fears of a lingering right ankle injury were put to rest as the redshirt freshman connected on his first four shots. He had 11 points in the first half.
The Orange offense that hung around long enough to score 18 points in the first 13 minutes made just one shot the rest of the first half. It used two 30-second possessions in a row, both ending in futility. On the other end, Ty Jerome silenced the “air-ball” chanting crowd with a long 3-pointer. Hunter hit a long ball of his own off a broken play.
The Orange brought back the pressure defense early in the second half — the same pressure that caused upset wins the past two seasons and unsettled a comfortable Cavaliers team when they met in January.
This time, U.Va. handled it. The first attempt to use it led to a Salt dunk. Aside from a 4-0 run early in the second half that rallied the Carrier Dome crowd, there was no sustained momentum from the home team. With more than six minutes to play, the crowd — the largest of the college basketball season — started to thin out considerably.
Syracuse continued to press. Aside from a few plays here or there, the Cavaliers continued to handle it.
There was no celebratory coach partying with his court-storming students. There was only Virginia, storming its way toward an ACC title.
