On a snowy afternoon in Charlottesville, the Virginia men's basketball team continued its stellar play at John Paul Jones Arena. Virginia dispatched the Demon Deacons of Wake Forest 88-76 and improved its record at home to 10-1. Virginia's overall record now stands at 11-6 (3-2 ACC).
Senior guard JR Reynolds had a career night and was the undisputed leader of the game, knocking down several deep three-pointers. He finished with a career-high 40 points on 12-18 shooting and added four assists.
Junior guard Sean Singletary contributed 19 points and seven assists. He had the hot hand early on but picked up his third foul early in the second half. Singletary's foul trouble forced Virginia coach Dave Leitao to come up with another answer -- Reynolds.
"Both JR and Sean were nothing short of phenomenal in the first half," Leitao said. "Both of them were backed up and they still hit shots. When they do that it makes it a little bit simpler for us. JR continued his strong performance in the second half and really allowed himself to make plays."
Virginia got off to a very quick start against the Demon Deacons. Thanks to several three pointers from Singletary and Reynolds, the Cavaliers jumped out to an early 13-2 lead three minutes into the game. The duo pushed the pace and created several open scoring opportunities, on which the Cavaliers were able to capitalize. Reynolds continued his hot shooting throughout the first half, finishing 4-5 on threes.
Virginia finished the first half with a two-point lead, 40-38. Reynolds and Singletary led the Cavaliers with 20 and 17 points, respectively. The rest of the Cavaliers only put up three points in the first half, two of which came on Jason Cain's jumper in the opening minute.
Wake Forest coach Skip Prosser changed his tactics in the second half by going to a "triangle and two" defense in order to limit Reynolds' and Singletary's production.
Virginia started the second half much like it did the first half -- with a flurry of points. The Cavaliers opened the half with 10 points in less than two minutes. Sophomore forward Mamadi Diane came up with two three pointers while Reynolds and Singletary were being marked closely.
After Singletary picked up his third foul early in the half, Leitao was forced to rest the star point guard.
Diane, Reynolds and senior forward Jason Cain picked up the slack and continued to shoot the ball extremely well. With nine minutes left in the game and Singletary on the bench, Reynolds took over the game. He hit another long three pointer, and moments later, he went coast to coast with a number of nifty moves and dropped in an impressive layup. Additionally, Virginia was able to contain Wake Forest's best player -- Kyle Visser -- who finished with eight points on 2-10 shooting from the field.
Down the stretch, Virginia relied on Reynolds' shooting and a number of free throws to hold off Wake Forest. Virginia connected on over 86 percent of its free throws, a statistic that reflects the team's overall stellar shooting. Virginia made 52 percent of its field goals and 50 percent of its three pointers.
JR Reynolds reflected on his career night after the game.
"I think that I just let the game come to me, that was the biggest thing," Reynolds said. "I didn't rush anything but just let it come to me. I was just playing my game."
Read More
Volleyball holds off Boston College in tight five-set win
By Lauren Halak | 14 hours agoSenior outside hitter Elayna Duprey led the team throughout the match with 22 points and 18 kills.
Virginia annihilated 41-14 in a must-win contest versus North Carolina
By Peter Kriebel | YesterdayJust about everything that could have gone wrong for Virginia football went wrong.
No. 24 women’s soccer not to be denied in late win over Clemson
By Sam Chun | 2 days agoThe Cavaliers topped Clemson 1-0 in front of a packed out Klöckner Stadium.
