CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — Malcolm Brogdon might not have a tougher defensive assignment for the rest of the season than he had on Monday night, and No. 7 Virginia’s fifth-year senior would do well to repeat what he managed against Cat Barber should a similar opportunity arise.
“I love playing against great players. He’s a great player, a great scorer,” Brogdon said of Barber (24.1 ppg), who leads the Atlantic Coast Conference in scoring by a wide margin. “I don’t know if I was extra juiced up. I’m juiced up every night, but I definitely looked forward to playing him.”
Brogdon scored 22 points, helped limit Barber to 14 and the Cavaliers took command with a 13-2 run in a 73-53 victory.
The game, coming on a the heels of a controversial, last-second loss at Duke on Saturday, was the perfect tonic for the Cavaliers, point guard London Perrantes said, and Brogdon led the way in making sure there would be no hangover.
He had seven points in the first five minutes and 12 by halftime.
“Malcolm especially takes stuff like that personal,” Perrantes said of the matchup with Barber. “I think we all took this game pretty personal, especially coming after that loss. He stepped up for us big time tonight. When he starts off strong like that, we just follow behind him.”
Any question that the Cavaliers had moved on was answered as the second half began with the scored tied at 31-31.
Isaiah Wilkins hit a jumper, Anthony Gill scored his first points of the night on a dunk and Brogdon hit an 18-footer. Brogdon missed a driving layup off a steal, but Gill was there for a putback dunk, and after Caleb Martin’s three-pointer, Brogdon hit a three-pointer and Wilkins had a dunk.
The half was less than five minutes old and N.C. State had already burned two timeouts.
“We had some shots we didn’t make and they capitalized,” Wolfpack Coach Mark Gottfried said, noting that his team was 0 for 9 on three-pointers in the half. Virginia was 6 for 9. “They seemed to really get their offensive clicking. … They were the story. They played terrific.”
Brogdon had five points in the key burst, which broke a 31-31 halftime tie. Perrantes added 19 points for Virginia (21-5, 10-4 ACC), and Brogdon and Perrantes each also had five assists. The pair was a combined 9 for 15 from threepoint territory.
Isaiah Wilkins grabbed 13 rebounds. The Cavaliers built their lead to as many as 24 points before emptying their bench.
Barber led the Wolfpack (13-13, 3-10) with 14 points, but was just 4 for 11 from the field. Cody Martin added 12 points, Lennard Freeman had nine and BeeJay Anya eight. The Wolfpack shot just 40.4 percent (19-47) while allowing Virginia to shoot 53.7 percent (29-54).
NO. 2 KANSAS 94,
OKLAHOMA STATE 67
LAWRENCE, Kan. — Wayne Selden Jr. scored 18 points, Landen Lucas added 14 points and 10 rebounds, and second-ranked Kansas rolled over Oklahoma State.
Perry Ellis shrugged off a sluggish start to finish with 15 points, and Frank Mason III had 14 for the Jayhawks (22-4, 10-3 Big 12), who avenged a loss to the Cowboys last month.
Oklahoma State (12-13, 3-10) led much of the first half, fell behind by 18 points early in the second, then trimmed their deficit to 62-56 with about 11 minutes to go. But the Jayhawks got hot down the stretch, pulling away for a lopsided victory over Coach Bill Self’s alma mater.
The Jayhawks finished the first half on a 30-9 run. They finished the second on a 32-11 run.
Jeff Newberry scored 19 points and Jeffrey Carroll had 13 points for the Cowboys, who again played without leading scorer Jawun Evans.
SEC/TOP 25 WOMEN
NO. 3 SOUTH CAROLINA 62,
NO. 24 TENNESSEE 56
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — A’ja Wilson scored 25 points and had five blocks as No. 3 South Carolina beat No. 24 Tennessee to clinch at least a share of its third consecutive SEC women’s basketball title.
South Carolina (24-1, 12-0) won the SEC regular-season championship outright in 2014 and tied Tennessee for first place last season. The Gamecocks can clinch the championship outright Thursday by beating Georgia.
Tennessee (15-10, 6-6) led 35-32 in the third quarter before South Carolina’s Tiffany Mitchell scored six consecutive points to help the Gamecocks take control. After hitting a game-tying three-pointer, Mitchell made a basket that put South Carolina ahead for good with 2:47 left in the third.
The Lady Volunteers were within three points with seven minutes left before South Carolina went on a 12-2 run to seal the victory.
Diamond DeShields scored 21 points and Bashaara Graves had 13 points and 10 rebounds for Tennessee. Khadijah Sessions had 13 points and Mitchell added 12 for South Carolina
South Carolina has won its last three games with Tennessee, the program that has traditionally ruled the SEC. South Carolina won the only regular-season meeting between these two teams last year in Columbia and also knocked off the Lady Vols in the SEC Tournament championship game at Verizon Arena in North Little Rock.
NO. 12 TEXAS A&M 62,
MISSISSIPPI 48
OXFORD, Miss. — Courtney Williams scored 12 points with 11 rebounds and No. 12 Texas A&M beat Mississippi. Courtney Walker had 11 points, Chelsea Jennings added 10 points and Anriel Howard grabbed 11 rebounds. Texas A&M held a 47-39 advantage on the boards and made 20 of 24 from the free-throw line.
The Aggies (18-7, 8-4 SEC) never trailed. They raced to an 11-2 lead as Walker and Williams combined for nine points in the stretch. Texas A&M led 17-7 after one quarter and 27-16 at halftime as Ole Miss made just 7 of 39 shots before the break. Texas A&M led by 17 points after the third quarter. Ole Miss cut the deficit to 12 on consecutive possessions in the fourth but got no closer.
Shandricka Sessom led Ole Miss (10-15, 2-10) with 13 points. Erika Sisk had 11 points and A’Queen Hayes added 10 points and eight rebounds.
NO. 7 VIRGINIA 73, NORTH CAROLINA STATE 53
Sports on 02/16/2016