To say Virginia completely turned around from a disappointing Friday road loss is an understatement. The Cavaliers (2-1, 0-0 ACC) took a couple of pages from Oklahoma’s book, jumping out to an early lead to defeat Radford 83-41 at John Paul Jones Arena Wednesday. The Highlanders (1-3, 0-0 BSC) were completely overwhelmed by Virginia’s talented offense. However, the Cavaliers’ defense was the main highlight, holding Radford to just 41 points after allowing over 100 against the Sooners Friday. Before the game, the Cavaliers donned orange U.Va. Strong shirts to honor Lavel Davis Jr., Devin Chandler and D’Sean Perry, who were tragically killed two years ago. In memory of its fallen brothers, Virginia dominated.
“I thought that was a great way to bounce back,” Coach Amaka Agugua-Hamilton said. “I thought we dominated the game for 40 minutes, and that was what we wanted to do. We didn't want to let up at all. We didn't want to get complacent. We kept fighting and held him to six points in the fourth quarter. So it's definitely a lot of growth in that game.”
At the top of the game, junior guard Yonta Vaughn was still missing due to concussion recovery. Vaughn suffered the injury a few weeks ago, and Agugua-Hamilton was hoping for her to be ready to be back on the court for this faceoff.
Fortunately, Vaughn had recovered enough to play again, but she had to ease back into game action, leaving her to play along the wings instead of in her normal position. Together, junior guard Paris Clark and sophomore guard Kymora Johnson took control over the backcourt.
Early on, Virginia’s defense was strong and led to easy offense, displaying a much better performance than the ugly showing against Oklahoma.
On the other end, the Highlanders had to scramble to get their first points on the board, almost missing passes and allowing Cavalier turnovers. Clark, interpreting a pass before it was completed, jumped in and stole the ball for a fastbreak layup. Seven points behind and just three and a half minutes in, Radford had no choice but to take a timeout.
The Cavaliers quickly sunk into a rhythm. Three consecutive three-point goals — scored by Vaughn, Johnson and Hurd — had the crowd erupting into cheers multiple times, as everyone was in awe of their unstoppable offense.
At the end of the first quarter, Virginia had completely flipped the script from its last game, leading 24-9. Characterizing the first period of the game was 10 points just from fastbreaks, a scoring percent of 57.9 percent and Johnson leading the team with seven points.
By the beginning of the second quarter, Vaughn was also back at her normal place as point guard, moving the ball and calling plays like she had never left the court. The Cavaliers’ defense left Radford flustered — the Highlanders traveled, abandoned rebounds and could not escape the two-man defense Virginia was putting on them.
Johnson was happy to have Vaughn back as her go-to in the game.
“It was great,” Johnson said. “She's great to have. Even playing with her … just the energy and the spark that she gives me … I'm just happy to see what she does this year.”
Halfway through the second quarter, Virginia appeared to reach a standstill, and Radford noticed it. Furthermore, Cavalier fouls gave the Highlanders more possessions. Agugua-Hamilton set a precedent and began to substitute players that fouled to ensure that they would not put Radford on the free throw line for point opportunities. Already at four team fouls, there was not much room for error.
However, foul troubles quickly subsided as a pair of Cavaliers were on fire. The first was sophomore guard Olivia McGhee. Taking a pair of wide-open three-point shots to give Virginia a 18-point lead and scoring a layup shortly after, McGhee was stepping up as a leader on the court.
Johnson also played extremely well. She continued to lead the team in points and closed out the first half with a successful three-point shot and 13 points scored so far. With the first two periods of the game done, the Cavaliers led by almost double the amount of points with the score at 45-23.
The areas that needed improvement had been fixed — Virginia outrebounded Radford 25-13 in the first half and its shooting accuracy was at exactly 50 percent, but only the second half could show if these would be improvements that would stick.
The third quarter started off at a deadlock, with both teams executing strong defense and struggling to make an indefensible offensive run. The Highlanders struggled with this standstill, and their exasperation led to three fouls in less than three minutes. The Cavaliers weren’t without fault, though, and made core errors like traveling and not rebounding.
A fight for the ball led to McGhee going onto the sidelines after getting hit in the face and needing to take a moment to recover from a bloody nose. Virginia still managed to move the ball around and keep Radford on its toes, but it struggled to actually add to its lead.
The Cavaliers officially brought their lead to 30 points less than two minutes into the final quarter, and continued to let it grow in the final 10 minutes of the matchup. There continued to be electric highlights — including a strong fastbreak by McGhee, a pair of defensive blocks by Lattimore and a layup followed by a free throw by Vaughn.
Defense was also electric, as Virginia held the Highlanders to a measly 12.5 percent shooting from three-point range and only six points in the fourth quarter. Only two Highlanders scored more than five points. Ultimately, Virginia took a 42-point lead that gave the Cavaliers their second win of the season.
After a comfortable victory, Virginia gets three straight home games — none of which are against teams from a Power Four conference. First, Virginia hosts La Salle at 2 p.m Sunday. The game will be broadcast on ACCNX.
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