Field Level Media
Jan 25, 2021
Sam Hauser and Jay Huff each scored 21 points as No. 8 Virginia cruised to an 81-58 win over Syracuse in Atlantic Coast Conference play Monday night in Charlottesville, Va.
The Cavaliers (11-2, 7-0 ACC) shot 45.2 percent (14 of 31) from behind the arc and extended their winning streak to seven. Virginia is 7-0 at home and has won 15 consecutive conference games dating back to last season.
Hauser made 7 of 13 attempts from 3-point range. Huff set a career high in points and matched his career high with 12 rebounds for the double-double. Trey Murphy III added 16 points and Reece Beekman scored 10.
Quincy Guerrier tallied 15 points to lead the Orange (9-5, 3-4), who had a two-game winning streak snapped and fell to 1-4 in road games this season. Alan Griffin added 13 points and Buddy Boeheim had nine points but was just 1 of 8 from long distance.
Syracuse shot 37.3 percent from the field and 20.8 percent (5 of 24) from 3-point range.
The Cavaliers outrebounded the Orange 41-28 and had 23 assists on their 29 made field goals, including nine assists by Kihei Clark.
Virginia opened the second half with back-to-back 3-pointers by Hauser and Huff to pull ahead 41-26. The Cavaliers led by double figures the rest of the way.
The closest Syracuse got down the stretch was 65-54 on two Griffin free throws with 5:17 to play.
Virginia led 35-26 at halftime thanks to Hauser's hot hand. After making a combined 8 of 10 attempts from 3-point distance in the Cavaliers' previous two games, he canned 5 of 8 from deep before the break.
Virginia took an early 14-6 lead with a 12-0 run that featured three straight alley-oop passes from Clark, two of them to Huff. The Cavaliers' largest lead of the half came at 30-18 on a Hauser 3-pointer with 5:34 left.
UVA shot 41.2 percent (7 of 17) from behind the arc in the opening half, while Syracuse missed its first seven from long range and finished the half 2 of 11.
--Field Level Media