Virginia vs. Iowa State: Score and Twitter Reaction from March Madness 2016

Any concerns about the Virginia Cavaliers' offensive capabilities were squashed by their 84-71 victory over the Iowa State Cyclones in the Sweet 16 on Friday.

Virginia exploded out of the gate, building a 26-9 lead after 11 minutes, and fought off Iowa State's valiant second-half comeback attempt to secure the school's first appearance in the Elite Eight since 1995. 

There was nothing Iowa State could do to slow down the Cavaliers' ball movement, as shown in the play leading up to this layup finish by Anthony Gill, via March Madness:

Going into halftime, Virginia was in control with a 45-31 lead, which prompted some fun snark from Mark Titus:

This is the NCAA tournament, though, where no lead is safe until the final buzzer sounds. Northern Iowa knows that better than most teams, but Iowa State tried to give Virginia a run for its money. 

The Cyclones opened the second half on a 13-6 run that cut the deficit to seven points. Georges Niang, in what turned out to be his final college game, did all he could to help his team with plays like this:

Niang ended the game with 30 points and eight rebounds, but he also got into foul trouble, which hurt Iowa State's ability to make a comeback. His fourth foul, which came on a controversial call, was captured by the Big Lead's Jason McIntyre:

That call came when Iowa State was trailing 54-46 with just over 13 minutes remaining. Virginia went on a 9-2 run over the next four minutes to increase the lead to 15 points.

In defeat, Niang was able to make tournament history, though, per Iowa State's official Twitter account: 

Yet this was Virginia's game. Head coach Tony Bennett has had his team ready to go in all three of the Cavaliers' tournament games thus far, though this was their most impressive performance. 

Mark Ennis of ESPN 680 summed up Virginia's effort on both sides of the ball:

He sent that tweet out early in the first half, yet it held true until the end of the game. Iowa State did shoot well against the usually stingy Virginia defense. However, the Cavaliers forced 12 turnovers and outrebounded the Cyclones 33-24.

Even though Iowa State hit 51.9 percent of its attempts from the field, Virginia had its big moments on defense. Gill stuffed this drive to the basket by Niang to close out the first half:

Virginia's size turned out to be a huge difference in the win. Senior center Mike Tobey scored a season-high 18 points off the bench, and Isaiah Wilkins finished with 12 points, his first double-digit-scoring game since Feb. 9. 

This was the kind of win Virginia needed to show skeptics its offensive style will work against another excellent offensive team. The Cavaliers are known for their slow pace, averaging just 70.9 points per game during the regular season. 

However, what Virginia lacks in flash, it makes up for in substance by having the 12th-most-efficient offense in the nation, per Sports-Reference.com. This is an elite defensive team that doesn't often have to score 75 to 80 points to win games, but it's nice when the offense can pull that off. 

The win over Iowa State is an excellent omen for Virginia, as ESPN Stats & Info pointed out previous No. 1 seeds to pull off that feat in the tournament have had great success:

This is shaping up to be the best team Bennett has had in his seven years at Virginia. It's also a good sign that the Cavaliers were able to score as often as they did despite Malcolm Brogdon going 4-of-13. 

Virginia's offense will likely never look better in this year's NCAA tournament, but it probably won't have to. The Cavaliers' confidence will grow, knowing they can drop a lot of points in a short amount of time, which makes them even more dangerous heading into the Elite Eight on Sunday.

Post-Game Reaction

Bennett told reporters after the game (via Mike Barber of the Richmond-Times Dispatch) he received some advice from his father about how to handle Iowa State: “He said, ‘You know what your grandfather would tell you? He'd tell you, ‘Don't tiptoe into this one.' No tiptoeing.”

The message was received loud and clear from his team, with Perrantes noting in Barber's report that Bennett "wanted us to be aggressive from the jump."

Gill echoed Perrantes' sentiments, adding that "Bennett has been drilling in our heads that we have to attack it. We just can't let the game come to us, and we have to be ready from the start.”

Tobey, who played hero for Virginia off the bench, earned high praise from Brogdon, per Andrew Ramspacher of the Daily Progress:

For Iowa State, head coach Steve Prohm noted in Barber's report that his team just wasn't "good enough defensively in the first half. When you get behind 10 with them, you've almost got to be perfect at times.”

It's hard to be perfect playing against Virginia, something Prohm found out the hard way on Friday night.