Jacob Groves seemingly couldn’t miss.
He barely did for the first 30 minutes of Virginia’s 65-53 home win over Notre Dame men’s basketball.
The 6-foot-9 forward made five of his six shot attempts in the first half at John Paul Jones Area in Charlottesville, Va., all of which came from behind the 3-point line. He played a big role in the Cavaliers (16-5, 7-3) taking a 38-23 lead into halftime.
Groves’ teammates did most of the heavy lifting in the second half as he waited nearly 11 minutes to take and miss his first attempt. He finished with 18 points on 6-of-8 shooting from 3. In Notre Dame’s 76-54 victory over Virginia in South Bend on Dec. 30, Groves scored just four points in 18 minutes as a starter.
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Notre Dame (7-14, 2-8) didn’t do anything differently with its defensive scheme that should have led to Groves getting open 3s.
“We guarded him with the same people in how we started the last game and started this game,” said Notre Dame head coach Micah Shrewsberry. “He just got free and we had communication mistakes. Now once you hit one, you start feeling good. He hits probably two or three on pick-and-rolls.
“Then he gets another one in transition where it’s just recognition of he’s already made some, I should run to him and make him skip it to somebody else. A couple other ones late. Once you let a guy get in a rhythm, it makes it really tough.”
Groves wasn’t alone in finding success from deep. The Cavs shot 52% from 3 with 13 makes on 25 attempts. Guard and leading scorer Reece Beekman, who finished with a game-high 21 points, made four of his seven 3s. Guard Isaac McKneely scored nine of his 11 points on 3s. Virginia hit just two 3-pointers in its loss at Purcell Pavilion earlier this season.
Virginia, winners of 22 straight at home for the nation’s longest such streak, turned up the defensive intensity Wednesday night. The Cavaliers forced 18 turnovers and turned them into 20 points.
Notre Dame starting forward Kebba Njie, who played 19 scoreless minutes, committed four turnovers, with three coming in the first half. Starting guard Markus Burton, who led the Irish with 17 points, committed three turnovers himself.
“It was a tough task for us coming in here,” Shrewsberry said. “I’ve never been here. This is my first game. But that’s a tough environment for Notre Dame in general. We knew it would be a tough task. We already have a small margin for error. The way they shot the ball and the way we turned it over just wasn’t a recipe for success.”
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Notre Dame moved to 0-9 in road games at Virginia all-time, with the last eight coming since the Irish joined the ACC in 2013.
The Irish cut Virginia’s lead to eight twice in the second half with 3-pointers from Braeden Shrewsberry and Logan Imes — the last of which came with 10:28 remaining in regulation. But seemingly every time Notre Dame made a run, Virginia had an answer on the offensive end and would eventually string together some defensive stops.
With the help of 4-of-8 shooting from 3, Braeden Shrewsberry notched 16 points, 10 of which came in the second half. Besides Burton and Shrewsberry, no other Irish player scored more than five points, which belonged only to bench guard Julian Roper II.
Imes, a freshman, made his first career start and became the ninth player to start a game for Notre Dame this season. Micah Shrewsberry was encouraged by his poise on the road with five rebounds, three points, three assists, one steal and one turnover in nearly 30 minutes.
Imes replaced freshman forward Carey Booth, who had started the last nine games, in the starting lineup. Booth scored four points, grabbed one rebound and dished one assist in nearly 10 minutes. He lit up Virginia for 17 points on Dec. 30, but he hasn’t scored more than five points in a game since then. He was benched in the second half of the loss to Miami last week.
Senior forward Matt Zona played 19 minutes off the bench, the most run for him since the fourth game of the season when he was a regular starter. He scored three points on his lone shot attempt, grabbed only one rebound and committed two turnovers.
As Notre Dame searches for positives amidst a five-game losing streak in conference play, Micah Shrewsberry pointed to the performance of his freshman guard trio of Burton, Imes and his son, Braeden. The Irish will head to Pittsburgh (13-8, 4-6) on Saturday (6 p.m. EST on ACC Network) for the second game of a three-game road trip.
“Notre Dame’s never won here [at Virginia]. These dudes ain’t even been here. There are three freshmen right there that are doing impressive things,” Micah Shrewsberry said. “They’re getting stronger as the year goes on. That’s all we’re looking for.
“We’re going to keep competing. That’s the only thing I got in my DNA is competing. Right now, we’re finding out who else is going to compete in that same exact manner. These dudes are starting to show me.”
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