Virginia treated Syracuse’s 2-3 zone defense like a Thanksgiving turkey.
Virginia carved up the zone with ball movement, crisp passing, dribble penetration and red-hot 3-point shooting in an 81-58 win over the Orange at the John Paul Jones Arena in Charlottesville, Va., on Monday night.
Virginia torched Syracuse with 14-for-31 shooting from 3-point range. For the game, Virginia had 23 assists on 29 made shots.
>> Box score
Sam Hauser paced the attack, hitting seven out of 11 shots from beyond the arc. The 6-foot-8 senior finished with 21 points; well above his season average of 14.5 points per game. The Marquette transfer had 15 points in the first half. He connected on seven of 13 attempts from the 3-point line for the game.
Jay Huff, Virginia’s 7-foot-1 center, added a career-high 21 points and 12 rebounds. While Hauser did his damage from outside, Huff scored most of his points on dunks. Huff made eight of his 11 field goal attempts.
Many of Huff’s dunks came off short lob passes from Kihei Clark, who dished out nine assists.
Syracuse’s record dropped to 9-5 overall and 3-4 in the ACC.
The eighth-ranked Cavaliers improved to 11-2 for the season and 7-0 in the conference. Virginia has won seven straight games. Its last loss came on Dec. 26 in a 95-78 decision to No. 1 Gonzaga.
Syracuse never found its offensive rhythm against Virginia’s tenacious defense. The Orange made just 38 percent from the field and shot a woeful 5-for-24 from 3-point range.
Quincy Guerrier managed to score 15 points and grab seven rebounds, but he was limited to 6-for-16 field goal shooting. Alan Griffin had 13 points and eight boards, but he made only one of his five 3-point attempts.
Buddy Boeheim’s shooting struggles continued. The junior went 1-for-8 from beyond the arc and is now shooting 27 percent from long range for the season.
After leading 35-26 at halftime, Virginia got 3-pointers from Hauser and Huff to start the second half and suddenly the margin was 41-26 less than two minutes into the second half.
Syracuse, despite going to its fullcourt press, never challenged again.
Syracuse’s inability to score from the perimeter limited what the Orange could do against Virginia’s tough defense. The Orange made only two out of 11 shots from 3-point range in the first half. Syracuse survived mainly on difficult jumpers from 12 to 17 feet out.
Meanwhile, Virginia feasted on 3-pointers against Syracuse’s 2-3 zone. The Cavaliers went 7-for-17 (41 percent) from 3-point range in the first half.
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