Men’s Basketball Falls at #5 Virginia, 76-57

Sunday, November 11

Charlottesville, VA

2:00 PM

George Washington University

0-3

#5 Virginia

2-0

Team	1	2	F
George Washington	17	40	57
Virginia	42	34	76

Photo by: Mitchell Layton

11/11/2018 5:51:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score Postgame Quotes

DJ Williams scored a career-high 17 points and the Colonials outscored UVA 40-34 in the second half

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. -- After opening the season with a pair of home games earlier this week, the GW men's basketball team made the two-hour trip down to Charlottesville for its first road game of the 2018-19 campaign as it took on the fifth-ranked Cavaliers of Virginia on Sunday afternoon.

Despite a career-high 17 points from DJ Williams, 15 of which came in the second half, a Virginia team that won a school-record 31 games while capturing the Atlantic Coast Conference regular season and tournament titles a year ago proved to be too much in a 76-57 defeat of GW.

The Colonials played their best after the halftime break, outscoring the Cavaliers 40-34 over the final 20 minutes as Williams and Terry Nolan Jr. (11 of his 13 points in the second half) asserted themselves. The duo helped GW race out on an 8-0 run to begin the half, with Nolan delivering five points and Williams connecting on a three.

Virginia kept the Colonials at bay with 54.5 percent shooting for the game as guards Ty Jerome and Kyle Guy went for 20 points apiece, with each connecting on four 3-pointers. Guy tallied 17 of his points in the first half on 7-of-11 shooting before GW limited him to 1-of-4 marksmanship in the second stanza.

In the first half, Virginia's pack-line defense – which has ranked first nationally in scoring defense four of the last five seasons – limited GW to 17 points on 22.7 percent shooting. That along with Guy's hot start allowed the Cavaliers to take a comfortable 42-17 lead into the break.

Undeterred, GW would go on to shoot 56.5 percent from the field in the second half, including a 5-of-9 effort from long range. Maceo Jack connected on a pair of those triples and finished with eight points off the bench. For the game, GW also connected on more free throws (15) than the Cavaliers attempted (13).

On the glass, Arnaldo Toro again paced the Colonials with eight boards as the visitors limited their lengthier hosts to six offensive boards, equal to their total. Williams matched his career high with five rebounds and contributed to the cause at the charity stripe with a 4-of-5 effort.

The road doesn't get easier for GW as their next test awaits in the form of 2018 national runners-up and 18th ranked Michigan in the Air Force Reserve Tip-Off Tournament at Mohegan Sun Arena next weekend. The Colonials square off with the Wolverines at 12:00 p.m. Saturday before getting either Providence or South Carolina the following day.