Virginia coach Tony Bennett got the best of his alma mater Friday night. The Virginia Cavaliers got out to an early lead and never looked back, beating University of Wisconsin – Green Bay, 68-42.
Virginia’s Mike Scott had 15 points and 10 rebounds and KT Harrell scored 14 points of his own in the win.
Bennett, in his third season at UVA, played at Green Bay from 1988-92 and is the program’s all-time leading scorer with 2,285 career points. He played for his father, Dick, and his career three-point percentage of 49.7 percent is still the NCAA record. He helped lead Green Bay to its first NCAA Tournament in 1991.
Now coaching the Cavaliers, Bennett has his team out to a 5-1 start.
The Phoenix (2-4), meanwhile, played its fourth road game of the month of November – and it showed. Freshman Keifer Sykes took the first 20 minutes to gain his balance and finished scoring all 11 of his points in the second half. Sophomore big man Alec Brown and Terry Johnson each added nine points for the Phoenix.
By the time the Phoenix players were all on the same page, though, they were already looking at a 27-7 deficit – allowing Virginia to hit 10 of their first 15 shots.
Green Bay cut the lead to 33-23 by halftime, but Virginia opened the second half with a 10-0 run.
Green Bay will return to Charlottesville in 2012-13 before Bennett and the Cavaliers visit the Resch Center in Green Bay in 2013-14.
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