Juniors guard Joe Harris and forward Akil Mitchell have performed admirably in the first month of the season to compensate for the Virginia basketball team’s dearth of reliable offensive options. Senior guard Jontel Evans turned the duo into a trio Saturday with his long-awaited breakout performance in the second half against Green Bay.
Evans had six second-half assists and a career-high five steals to help Virginia (6-2, 0-0 ACC) take control after the break and notch its fifth consecutive victory following a 1-2 start to the season.
Evans, Harris and Mitchell scored or assisted on all 15 of the Cavaliers’ second-half field goals and Virginia topped the 60-point mark for the fifth consecutive game in the 67-51 win.
“I love that kid, man,” Mitchell said of Evans. “It’s so good having him back because he creates so many mismatches with his quickness. He’s a defensive stopper, he can lock guards down and his passing ability—just little things that you miss with a senior point guard. Getting him back is crucial for this team so I’m really excited for the rest of the season with him.”
Green Bay (3-4, 0-0 Horizon) led by one point with under two minutes remaining in the first half, but Harris drilled one of his four 3-pointers from directly in front of the Phoenix bench to give Virginia a 29-27 lead. The Cavaliers would not trail again as Harris’ deep ball sparked a 10-0 run that was bookended by a long two pointer from Mitchell that gave Virginia a 36-27 lead.
Mitchell finished with a career-high 20 points and nine rebounds and Harris added 20 points on 8-of-14 shooting. Sophomore forward Darion Atkins complemented Mitchell in the post with seven points and a career-high 11 rebounds and four blocked shots.
“They’re not the bulkiest of guys, but they can use their feet and their position to be effective,” coach Tony Bennett said of Mitchell and Atkins. “I like what I’m seeing. Then, when you get some scoring inside off them, or offensive rebounds, it really helps our offense.”
The Phoenix closed the deficit to four with 15:07 remaining in the second half on a pull-up jumper from the right baseline by junior guard Kam Cerroni, who also drew a foul on sophomore guard Paul Jesperson on the play. But Jesperson made amends on the next trip down the court by drilling the Cavaliers’ sixth 3-pointer in nine attempts to push the lead back up to 43-36.
From there, the reigning All-ACC defender and playmaking ball handler Evans showed precisely what the Cavaliers have sorely lacked for much of the season. The point guard drove across the left baseline and kicked to Harris for an open jumper. Evans then added his first and only two points of the season with a learner in the lane, giving Virginia its largest lead of 11 and invigorating the 9,600 fans in attendance.
“He was huge,” Harris said of Evans. “Defensively, obviously he’s a great defender, first-team all-defense in the ACC. Offensively, he almost gets to the paint at will and opens up a ton for our offense, especially for guys like me and [Jesperson] on the wing.”
Evans proceeded to assist on three straight baskets, setting up a two-handed slam by Mitchell amid an 11-0 run, lobbing an alley-oop to Mitchell off of a screen-and-roll and dishing to Jesperson on a fast break to extend the Cavalier lead to 55-38. With 5:09 remaining, Evans snuck back into the lane and slid a pass to Mitchell for a two-handed slam for the team’s last basket.
“He gets there and then he made the right decisions,” Bennett said. “He’s quick and strong so he can put pressure and you need to do that.”
Evans played a season-high 23 minutes in his third game of the season while recovering from right foot surgery and appeared more assertive on offense. A referee came up to Evans and told the floor general that he looked quicker than he had last year.
“That’s funny, because a lot of guys have been saying that,” Evans replied.
Virginia made 26-of-52 field goals overall, including 7-of-14 from beyond the arc. The Cavaliers outscored Green Bay 36-24 in the second half despite having just two players finish with double-digit points and receiving just 12 points from its normally potent bench.
Harris and Mitchell picked up the slack by becoming the first pair of Cavaliers to score 20 points in a game since then-seniors forward Mike Scott and guard Sammy Zeglinski did so last season against Maryland.
“We were rusty early, but in the second half we played the way we needed to,” Bennett said.
Virginia will host Tennessee Wednesday.
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