Defensive-minded No. 18 Virginia cruises past Pitt

Sam Lewis scored 15 points, Thijs De Ridder had a double-double and No. 18 Virginia eased to a 67-47 win over Pitt on Tuesday night in Charlottesville, Va.

The Cavaliers (19-3, 8-2 Atlantic Coast Conference) have won eight of their last nine games. They improved to 11-1 at home and 17-1 when outrebounding the opposition, posting a 38-31 advantage over the smaller Panthers (9-14, 2-8).

De Ridder, the reigning ACC Player of the Week and Rookie of the Week, had 10 points and 12 rebounds, and Lewis sank 4 of 8 3-pointers. Chance Mallory had 11 points and four steals, Malik Thomas added 10 points and the Virginia defense racked up 12 steals and six blocks.

Pitt has lost five of its last six games and fell to 1-6 on the road and 0-3 against Top 25 opponents. Cameron Corhen and Nojus Indrusaitis led the Panthers with 11 points each.

Virginia grabbed the lead for good at 10-7, led by 13 at halftime and was never threatened in the second half.

The Cavaliers led 49-32 with 11:07 left in the game on a dunk by Ugonna Onyenso, who had five points, six boards and four blocks.

Consecutive 3-pointers by Lewis stretched the lead to 55-37 with 7:32 to play.

The Cavaliers shot 35.5% from beyond the arc (11 of 31), with eight players making at least one triple.

Virginia scored 23 points off 17 Pitt turnovers and limited the Panthers to 37.0% shooting (17 of 46).

None of the Cavaliers’ opponents has shot 50% from the field this season and 12 have shot worse than 40%.

After a sluggish start following a 9 p.m. ET tip-off, Virginia used a 12-0 run to open a 15-7 lead.

The Cavaliers’ lead reached double figures at 24-14 on a layup by Thomas with 5:48 remaining.

Virginia led by as many as 14 points in the first half and held a 33-20 advantage at intermission.

–Field Level Media