Monmouth Hawks at Virginia Cavaliers

Hunter's 23 PTs lifts Virginia past Monmouth 75-53

Behind a pace-setting, 23 point, eight-rebound performance by redshirt-freshman Deandre Hunter, Virginia (4-0) found the right mixing of players to pull away from the Hawks, 73-53, at John Paul Jones Arena before 13,427.

Hunter, after receiving hardly any looks against Virginia Commonwealth Friday, saw an opportunity to jumpstart the Cavalier offense down 15-10 with 11:38 to go in the half.

"I'd say it was my confidence," said Hunter of this performance being different from his recent ones. "Last few games, I felt I hadn't been playing my game as best as I could. Coaches just told me to be confident and stay ready and that's what I tried to do."

Hunter went on his own 10-0 run to put Virginia up 20-15 with eight minutes before halftime and the Cavaliers led the rest of the way. Hunter finished with 15 first-half points.

"I told you guys from the get-go, you were going to see flashes from Deandre and Jay (Huff)," Virginia head coach Tony Bennett said. "You saw a nice flash, it's about now, can we get consistent and keep up with the pace of the game."

Monmouth head coach, King Rice, said of Hunter: "Man, I didn't know he was that good. He's just good. He kept getting to his spots and scoring. Our kids were in front of him. It wasn't like he was wide open."

With Hunter's work at the forefront, the Cavaliers' 13-0 run over the course of four minutes built an insurmountable, 39-21 halftime lead.

For Monmouth (2-2), gaining the opportunity, according to Rice, to play a "big time program" will be the greatest result of its first-ever visit to Charlottesville.

"We got shown all of our warts, and that's what Virginia does to you. He's such a disciplined coach," Rice said of Bennett. "When you're watching his team's play, you see it, but you don't really see it until you're out there with your kids."

The depth and size of Virginia's lineup were accentuated with a 30-16 scoring advantage inside the paint and a bench that outscored Monmouth's 44-27.

Kyle Guy added 13 points to Virginia's point total, while Mamadi Diakite finished with 10 alongside six rebounds. UVa shot 52 percent from the field.

BIG PICTURE

Monmouth: Monmouth will face a diverse group of teams before Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference play, facing three Ivy League opponents and a top-10 Kentucky team in the next month.

Virginia: Escaping potential early season scares from Virginia Commonwealth and Monmouth, the youthful Cavaliers will continue to learn how to mix its breadth of talent.

WHO WANTS TO PLAY?

Virginia had nine players who saw at least 10 minutes of action.

HE SAID IT:

UP NEXT

Monmouth will continue its southern swing of opponents, next heading to face UNC-Asheville Wednesday.

The Cavaliers will travel to New York and face Vanderbilt on Thanksgiving Day as part of the NIT Season Tip-off.

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