In the final of the Battle 4 Atlantis Tournament, No. 4 Virginia defeated No. 25 Wisconsin 53-46 to leave the Bahamas as champions. The Cavaliers (6-0) defeated Middle Tennessee and Dayton in the earlier rounds to reach the finals against the previously undefeated Badgers (6-1).
Virginia’s starting lineup in the final consisted of junior Ty Jerome, junior Kyle Guy, sophomore De’Andre Hunter and freshman Kihei Clark as guards, with senior Jack Salt at center. This was the first time Clark has started this season.
In the first half, Hunter led the Cavaliers with 12 points and four rebounds. Virginia also got an offensive boost from Jerome, who had nine points, and Guy, who had six points. Overall, the Cavaliers shot 48.1 percent on field goal attempts and were three-for-eight on three point attempts in the half.
Defensively, the Cavaliers stifled Wisconsin in the first twenty minutes of play. The Badgers didn’t have a single three-pointer, with all their points coming from nine field goals. While the Cavaliers had a comfortable 33-18 lead going into halftime, forward Ethan Happ, did prove a challenge for Virginia, as he scored 10 points.
Things looked differently in the second half as Wisconsin’s offense picked up and Virginia started to struggle to convert on their scoring opportunities. A quick surge by the Badgers, cut Virginia’s lead to seven within the first six minutes of the half. The Badgers continued to close in to Virginia’s lead, as they trailed by just five with about nine minutes to play. With 1:37 to go, the lead was again just five points for the Cavaliers. However, despite Virginia shooting 25.9 overall and 11.1 from three in the second half, Wisconsin never took over the lead and Virginia came away with the 53-46 win.
Hunter, the Tournament’s MVP, led the Cavaliers with 20 points, making him a double-digit scorer in every game of the season. He tied for the most or had the most points for Virginia in each round of the tournament. Jerome was the next best scorer for the Cavaliers with 11 points, but he struggled to find his rhythm shooting five-for-seventeen overall and one-for-six from three. Both Hunter and Jerome were named to the All-Tournament team.
Guy had nine points, junior forward Mamadi Diakite had six, Clark added five and Salt had two points to round out the scoring for Virginia. As a team, the Cavaliers shot 37 percent overall, 23.5 from three and 75 percent from the free-throw line.
Meanwhile, most of the Badgers scoring was funneled through Happ, who had 22 points to lead all scorers on the afternoon. No other Wisconsin player reached double-digits in scoring, and as a team the Badgers shot 43.8 percent on field-goal attempts, just 18.2 percent from three and 66.7 percent on free-throws. Happ also had 15 rebounds in the game.
Virginia’s next game will be Nov. 28 against Maryland in the Big Ten — ACC Challenge. Tip-off from College Park, Md. is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.
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