There's no place quite like home.
Returning to the friendly confines of University Hall, Virginia (11-6, 2-3 ACC) used a balanced scoring attack to snap a three-game skid and upset 17th-ranked Wake Forest (12-2, 2-2 ACC) Thursday night, 85-75.
The Cavaliers trailed for much of the first half, but junior guard Majestic Mapp came off the bench to give Virginia an emotional lift, as he logged his first significant minutes of the season.
Virginia trailed by seven when Mapp entered the game with 6 minutes and 43 seconds left in the first half, but Mapp immediately hit a three-pointer and helped steady the Cavaliers.
"We needed" Mapp, Virginia coach Pete Gillen said. "Our guys like Majestic because he finds them. He gave us a big lift and he got the crowd going. He's a very emotional player. He wants to win. He gives you some energy and emotion and passion and fire."
Mapp played 17 minutes, more than double his previous season total and the most since he tore his ACL in 2000, forcing him to miss two and a half seasons.
Virginia trailed for most of the first half, but junior guard Todd Billet hit a three-pointer with 8 seconds left to give Virginia a 42-40 halftime lead.
The Cavaliers opened the second half with a 6-0 spurt, and the game never again got closer than six, with Virginia stretching the lead to as many as 13.
After the 18-point loss last Tuesday at Virginia Tech, Thursday's game was a must-win for the Cavaliers and Gillen.
"I had people telling me which bridge to jump off of, and they were going to drive me to the bridge," Gillen said. "It was a must win."
Despite playing in front of a less-than-capacity crowd, the Cavaliers played with defensive intensity and passion that seemed absent in their last two games.
"We knew they would be a wounded animal, for a lack of a better analogy," said Wake Forest coach Skip Prosser, who spent eight years under Gillen as an assistant coach at Xavier. "They played with a lot of passion. They were out in the passing lanes and they did a good job. They guarded us better than we executed on offense."
Virginia held the Demon Deacons to 45 percent shooting from the floor and forced Wake Forest point guard Taron Downey into eight turnovers. The Cavaliers played a lot more man-to-man, as Wake Forest exploited their zone early. Sophomore forward Jason Clark drew the daunting assignment of guarding senior All-American candidate Josh Howard.
"Jason Clark did an excellent job of making Josh Howard work," Gillen said. "He certainly didn't stop him, but he made him work for his points."
Clark, who had two eye-opening dunks in the second half that erupted the student section, finished with 10 points. Clark welcomed guarding Howard, who despite Clark's efforts, still finished with 20 points.
"Josh Howard is one of the top five players in the league and he's real athletic," Clark said. "Coach Gillen kept saying, 'You've got Josh Howard' and that's the type of challenge that I want. I think I did a pretty good job."
Billet led Virginia with 23 points despite shooting only three-of-nine from behind the arc. Sophomore forward Devin Smith, starting at shooting guard against a big Wake Forest team, shook off his first-half shooting struggles to finish with 17 points, including two big three-pointers down the stretch.
"I just kind of got into a rhythm," Smith said. "I was getting the ball in the right positions to do things. I got a couple mismatches with a big guy on me and I just took advantage."
Watson had his eighth double-double of the season, finishing with 11 points and 13 rebounds. He also had a career-high five assists. Junior center Nick Vander Laan had seven points and seven rebounds against the nation's leading rebounding team.
"Nick was great," Gillen said. "He did the dirty work. This is the leading rebounding team in the country, and they only beat us by two" rebounds.
After playing four games in eight days, Virginia is now enjoying a six-day break before hosting Florida State Wednesday.
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