CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — Trey Murphy III scored 15 points and No. 16 Virginia returned to competitive basketball action with a 76-40 victory over William & Mary at John Paul Jones Arena on Tuesday.
Virginia Finally Returns To Action
Murphy III, who shot 6-of-9 from the field and made three 3-pointers, scored seven of his total points when helping Virginia grab a hold of the game with a 13-0 run in the first half to lead 36-14 at the break.
Kadin Shedrick added 10 points and made 3 of his 5 shots from the floor to go with his six rebounds for the Cavaliers (4-1), who were a long COVID-19-related pause since beating Kent State on Dec. 4.
Yuri Covington paced William & Mary with 12 points and four rebounds with Connor Kochera adding eight points with six rebounds and Ben Wight grabbed seven boards for the Tribe, who were suffering back-to-back defeats.
William & Mary’s Series Drought Continues
Tuesday’s loss was the 12th straight in this head-to-head to meeting for the Tribe (2-3), who last won in this series in the 1984-85 campaign. Virginia leads the all-time series against William & Mary 56-26.
Virginia, which outrebounded the Tribe 35-29 and forced 17 turnovers, shot 51.9% from the field on 28 of 54 attempts, while going 9 for 27 for 33.3% from 3-pointers.
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William & Mary was 14 of 49 for 28.6% from the field, but missed 15 3-point attempts and shot just under 17% from long-range in the defeat.
Jay Huff and Sam Hauser each scored nine points for Cavaliers, who had 12 players scoring at least one point in the game, as coach Tony Bennett emptied his bench.
It was the final preparation before the Cavaliers take on No. 1 ranked Gonzaga in a Top 25 showdown on Saturday.
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UPCOMING SCHEDULE
Virginia will continue its preparations a few more days before going on the road to battle with the Zags at a neutral site in Fort Worth, Texas, this weekend. Saturday’s game tips off at 4:00 p.m. ET and will be live on CBS.
Meanwhile, the William & Mary Tribe will get a long rest before opening Colonial Athletic Association Conference play with a pair of games at Hofstra on Jan. 2 and 3.
