It's been a roller coaster ride for the Virginia men's basketball team this season, but it looks like the Cavaliers are finally going in the right direction: Up.
For the second straight time, No. 11 Virginia (16-4, 5-4 ACC) rolled right over a ranked opponent before a sellout crowd at University Hall when it shut down No. 16 Wake Forest, 82-71. Three days earlier, the Cavaliers trounced No. 9 Maryland, 99-76.
"Tonight's game, in my opinion, was our best victory of the year for a lot of reasons," coach Pete Gillen said.
Virginia faced a handful of injuries, including a first-half hip pointer suffered by sophomore center Travis Watson that sent him out of the game. He returned in the second half, however, to score all of his 10 points after the break. Watson also ripped down 12 rebounds to give him his 10th double-double of the season.
"I wrote one word on the board after the game: character," Gillen said. "We defended and we had tremendous character. It wasn't any X's and O's or anything fancy. The kids just dug down. They showed tremendous grit tonight, and that's why I thought it was our best win."
Virginia's defense held Wake Forest (15-6, 4-5 ACC) to just 39.1 percent shooting. The Cavaliers also managed to out-rebound the bigger Demon Deacons, 41-37, thanks to junior guard Adam Hall. He pulled down a career-high 17 rebounds, which also ties the ACC high for the season. Hall also grabbed four of Virginia's nine steals.
"After what they did to us down there, it was about revenge," Hall said, referring to Virginia's 23-point loss to Wake Forest on Jan. 2. Tonight "it felt like the game was going in slow motion. I didn't break a sweat 'till the second half. I was just floating like a ballerina."
Virginia also outshot Wake at the free-throw line, going 31-39 from the charity stripe while the Deacons only went 10-13.
The first half featured a slower tempo that favored Wake Forest. The game remained close, and the half included four lead changes and seven ties. Virginia entered the locker room with a mere 34-31 halftime lead.
"We had more control over the situation in the first half," Wake Forest coach Dave Odom said. "We felt we really had a chance to come out and play in the second half."
And after Wake Forest players Craig Dawson and Josh Shoemaker hit a three-pointer and layup, respectively, to take a 36-34 lead in the opening minutes of the second half, the Demon Deacons almost did just that.
But the tide soon turned Virginia's way. At the 17 minute, 18 second mark, Wake's Darius Songaila committed his third personal foul. Furious with the call, Songaila yelled at an official and was immediately hit with a technical foul and his fourth personal. Songalia, who had 27 points on 11-of-12 shooting when the two teams last met in January, was limited to only 12 on Saturday.
"Darius reacted inappropriately, period," Odom said. "There's no excuse for that. At some point, he has to swallow it and say, 'Enough is enough. I'm not going to hurt our team anymore.' And it does hurt the team. There's no question about that."
After the technical, sophomore guard Roger Mason Jr. made both free throws, and junior forward Chris Williams followed with a hook shot to push the Virginia lead to 44-36. Wake trimmed its deficit back to four, but the Cavaliers regained control as they eventually built their lead into double digits.
Mason and Williams finished the game with 19 points and 14 points, respectively. Senior point guard Donald Hand added 21 points, including 12-for-16 showing at the free-throw line.
Dawson and forward Josh Howard led Wake Forest with 14 points apiece.
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