UVA vs. Notre Dame: Score and Reaction from 2017 Regular Season

No. 12 Virginia put on a clinical road effort by stifling No. 14 Notre Dame, 71-54, from Purcell Pavilion on Tuesday night.  

London Perrantes led all scorers with 22 to pace the Cavaliers, who scored over 70 points for the third straight road game.

Notre Dame, a team that lives and dies by the three-pointer, could not solve Virginia's perimeter defense, as it hit just three of 18 attempts from beyond the arc for a 16.7 percent clip.

Instead, it had to rely on forward Bonzie Colson inside, who managed to score 20 points on the night, but it wasn't nearly enough.

A difference of offensive ideologies immediately favored Virginia once it was established that Notre Dame was in for a tough night from long distance. Focused on establishing a low-post and mid-range game, Virginia's strength near the basket afforded better scoring chances compared to Notre Dame, which couldn't find its shooting legs. 

Once the Irish got Colson involved, though, they went on a 10-3 run to get right back in it. Had it not been for him, it could have been a disastrous first half for Notre Dame as the forward had 14 of his team's first 22 points.

Instead, the Irish trailed by just one at halftime.

But Virginia's inside game coupled with the occasional three from Perrantes and Ty Jerome—they hit five threes combined in the second half—allowed the Cavaliers to stay in front and built a lead of nine with eight minutes left in the game. 

The visitors' stout organization tightened even further down the stretch, as their lead grew to its largest of the game in the final minutes to close out the win in style.

Notre Dame's Steve Vasturia was the most successful Irish shooter on the night as he went 2-for-5 from deep on his way to 14 points.

The Cavaliers had owned Notre Dame since the Fighting Irish joined the ACC for the 2013-14 season. They had won each of the four previous matchups, including an 11-point victory last season. 

In fact, Virginia had only lost to Notre Dame once ever, which came in 1981 per Ava Wallace of the Washington Post. 

But entering Tuesday, Virginia was looking up at Notre Dame in the ACC standings as the Fighting Irish held a one-game lead while in a tie for first place with Florida State and North Carolina. 

Now with five straight wins, Virginia has drawn level with Notre Dame in the conference but has a difficult test looming on Sunday when it meets No. 1 Villanova. 

Postgame Reaction

There was a chance that Perrantes would have missed Tuesday night's game as he told the Associated Press, (h/t VirginiaSports.com) that he woke up before the game with a fever. 

Virginia head coach Tony Bennett made it known how big Perrante's performance was, via the AP: "London was really good. I know he was tired, but as you expect from a good player like he is and the experience he has, we rode him hard and he delivered."

While Bennett spoke about his star, Perrantes talked about Virginia's stellar defense: 

"

We know how good of shooters they are. We were just trying to keep them from getting into the paint and then getting open shots. I felt like we did a good job of keeping our man in front of us.

"

That defense is going to have to come up just as big against a Villanova team coming off of a loss to Marquette on Tuesday.