NICEVILLE, Fla. — The Hoos powered their way to a 63-52 victory over the Providence Friars and captured the Emerald Coast Classic Championship.
The key to UVA’s success this season has been the packline defense as it has not allowed a team to score more than 52 points in a game all season in its 6-0 start. Senior point guard London Perrantes was named Tournament MVP and junior forward Isaiah Wilkins was named to the all-tournament team. Despite losing four seniors from last year’s team, the Cavaliers have impressed so far and have not missed a step.
This team has shown a ‘next man up’ mentality, which was on display this weekend. On Friday night, sophomore forward Jarred Reuter scored a career-high and team-high 14 points on 7 of 9 shooting against Iowa in a 74-41 victory. Reuter was not the only one, as Redshirt Freshman Mamadi Diakite scored 10 points and blocked 3 shots and provided a spark off the bench in the championship game against Providence.
The Hoos look to build on this success as they will face some tougher competition coming up as the Cavaliers host the Ohio State Buckeyes Wednesday night at JPJ at 9:15pm on ESPN2. After that, West Virginia comes to town on Saturday, December 3rd at 2:00 pm and that game will be aired on ESPNU. The Cavaliers will need to use their depth and strong defensive play to win these games.
