But the Cavaliers come through down the stretch
In Sunday’s ACC Action, three games and three wins, but don’t get too excited: they were all buy games and not particularly exciting victories, least of all Virginia, slipping by American 63-58. NC State took care of Rider 89-63 while Notre Dame downed La Moyne 91-62.
American, which is coached by former Maryland star Duane Simpkins, pushed Virginia to the end, with the Cavaliers winning by just 63-58.
Virginia has struggled offensively for a few years now, but they always had Tony Bennett’s defensive genius to fall back on.
Still, the offense has steadily gotten worse. In this game, according to Streaking the Lawn, Virginia shot just 41.2 percent - on layups.
And UVA hit just 64.3 percent from the free throw line too.
Duke transfer TJ Power was starting at the beginning of the season but in this one, he got just four minutes off the bench and scored two points.
Elijah Saunders and Taine Murray led the way with 21 and 13 points respectively.
Saunders salted the game away with five free throws in the last :24 seconds.
With the win, Virginia moves to 7-5.
Rider led briefly against NC State but after that, the Pack took over and blew the game open, ultimately winning 89-63
This was scheduled as an easy win and, unlike Virginia, it really was. NC State got to the line 34 times, hitting 24 of those.
Rider was held to 39.3 percent overall and 25 percent from behind the line.
Jayden Taylor led the way for the Pack with 16 points. Ben Middlebrooks had 12 points and three boards.
State shot 55.8 percent overall and 35 percent from three point range.
Finally, Notre Dame handled LeMoyne, as they should have.
The Irish led from wire to wire and were never really challenged.
Tae Davis, who has certainly had his moments this season, had 24 points and six rebounds. Braeden Shrewsberry had 14 and Logan Imes had 11 off the bench.
Notre Dame is 7-5 but keep in mind that their best player, Markus Burton, is out indefinitely. Any word on when he’s coming back? Well...no. But this is encouraging.
With Christmas coming up, there are no games until Saturday.
