Virginia cruises to 93-49 victory over Austin Peay behind huge debut from Huff

The Virginia Cavaliers improved to 2-0 on Monday night as the Hoos dominated Austin Peay, 93-49. This one was never in doubt as Virginia jumped out to a 29-point lead in the first half as they held the Governors to just eight field goals in the first 20 minutes. The 93 points scored is the most registered by Virginia in the Tony Bennett era.

Devon Hall led all scorers with 19 points - a new career high - and Isaiah Wilkins had eight rebounds to lead the way for the Hoos.

The Hoos shot 63% from the field (47% from three), and registered five blocks and eight steals. An impressive 49 points were scored by the bench, and and Virginia got 38 points in the paint.

Virginia saw the same five starters - Ty Jerome, Devon Hall, Kyle Guy, Jack Salt, and Isaiah Wilkins - as the season opener against UNC-Greensboro, but Marco Anthony and the long-awaited Jay Huff both made their collegiate debuts in the game.

Huff was the real story of the game for the home team. He didn’t play against the Spartans on Friday because of what Coach Bennett described as “matchup” issues. There were definitely no issues of any kind for Huff tonight as he scored 16 points (13 in the first half). He went 7-for-8 from the field (2-for-2 from three), and added four rebounds, and five blocks.

Virginia took a 51-22 lead into halftime, led by Huff’s 13 points. Guy contributed 10 of his own in the first 20 mins in which nine players scored for the Hoos. DeAndre Hunter scored his first points of his career as he put up six in the first half, and Hall had eight.

Austin Peay had 12 turnovers in the first half and finished with 20 in the game. Dayton Gumm scored six points for the visitors in the first half as the Virginia defense held them to 40% shooting from the floor in the first half. Gumm finished with 13 to lead Austin Peay in the game.

Hall opened the second half with a backdoor cut for a layup - the same way Virginia opened their the second half against UNCG - as Hall scored double digits for the second straight game. He finished with nine points on 6-for-9 shooting, something that will be crucial to Virginia’s success as he returns the most points from last year’s team.

With a Salt dunk with 13:31 remaining in the game, all 10 players who saw significant time scored.

Virginia had five players (Hall, Huff, Hunter, Guy, and Johnson) score in double digits in the game.

MVP

Hall set a new career high, but Huff was just ridiculous. He scored on pull-up jumpers, three-pointers, and put back dunks. Huff finished with 16 points, and finished all the scoring with a three pointer that gave the Hoos their biggest point output for Bennett.

Shoutouts

-Marco Anthony had four assists and no turnovers in his debut, playing 20 minutes and scoring a basket on a jumper. Not too shabby.

-Wilkins had another quietly awesome game with four points, eight rebounds, a steal, and about five times he tipped the ball out to keep it alive on offense.

-DeAndre Hunter 13 points going 3-for-3 from the field and 6-for-7 from the line.

-Walk-on Austin Katstra buried a three-pointer for the Hoos to hit the 90-point mark with under two minutes remaining.

-Chelsea Shine Wilson is an absolute delight on the call. She is fantastic and a total pro.