Virginia 100, Penn 85

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FINAL: Virginia 100, Penn 85

A good effort from the Quakers sees the second half end the same way the first did - with a 15-point lead for the Wahoos. The score belies the solid defense Penn played for much of the middle of the game, and the offense improved a lot in the second half.

0:34 2nd Half, Virginia 98, Penn 80

It looked like UVA had locked up triple-digits and a big lead, but with a minute to go it is stuck on 98.

A Cofield and-1 three closes it back to 18, and Gaines hits a jumper to make the score respectable.

1:58 2nd Half, Virginia 98, Penn 76

Lewis gets a nice block, and Eggleston scores, but it won't matter. Brennan Votel checks in, forgot about him, he hasn't played at all, and I believe is the 12th player to enter the game for Glen Miller's squad.

I forget if I mentioned earlier, but the crowd is very sparse, and few Quakers fans are here. The Red and Blue Crew consists of my brother, his friend and maybe seven other people. I also really thought we'd get some more Philly fans here, especially since a top 25 team is playing here.

4:13 2nd Half, Virginia 96, Penn 72

Singletary is out of the game, and gets a nice ovation from the crowd. My friend from Penn Charter sitting right behind me tries to get his former classmate's attention by yelling "Sean" every 10 seconds. I pretend I don't know him.

The game is over now, as Virginia continues to pile on the points. The Penn offense really has played well in the second half, but the D has started to collapse.

5:46 2nd Half, Virginia 89, Penn 66

Gaines drives and draws a foul on Singletary, but surprisingly it's only his second.

The ACC All-America gets an and-1 to go, though, and it's a 19-point game.

The offense is doing alright, but a tomahawk jam later and the Quakers defense is getting pourous.

7:42 2nd Half, Virginia 80, Penn 62

A Virginia fans goes onto the court for a shooting promotion, tries to slap the ref's hand, but gets the cold shoulder. The refs are busy enough this game.

Bernardini drives, gets respect from the help defense, and kicks out to Schreiber for an open three.

Mikalauskas adds FTs and a layup, but Grandieri adds two and it's back to 15.

A fifth three from Joseph and Virginia is keeping its distance.

Ouch, Virginia makes a great pass to a wide open Mike Scott, but as he cocks back for a monster dunk he gets fouled hard by Eggleston and sent to the floor. It sounds dirty, but it was almost a clean block.

11:12 2nd Half, Virginia 71, Penn 54

Mikalauskas misses a layup, but gets his own rebound for an and-1.

Gaines makes a nice drive-and-kick, and Eggleston hits the three. 

Miller subs in Schreiber for some defense as Gaines gets fouled on the floor, and will shoot two at the line.

13:02 2nd Half, Virginia 67, Penn 51

Penn's in the bonus already, but Cofield misses the one-and-one. Reilly hustles for a loose ball and grabs a jump ball as he's thrown to the ground.

Bernardini hits a big three, but Pettinella answers with a left-handed layup. Pettinella then fouls Reilly, who's having a nice game for himself, nailing his free throws for at least 7 points at this stage.

Another UVA turnover, and they can't seem to widen the lead. 

Hello, Bernardini hits another three, Singletary travels, and the Quakers have the ball down 15.

Joseph hits his fourth three of the game. That's real big.

14:51 2nd Half, Virginia 60, Penn 42

There have been 10 fouls already this half, six on UVA, as Penn is in the bonus from now on.

Lewis gets, believe it or not, his fourth personal foul on a three from Joseph.

Miller is pissed. He slams his hand down on the scorers table, subs in Eggleston for Lewis and yells at Bernardini "play some defense!"

15:30 2nd Half, Virginia 58, Penn 42

Bernardini has stayed in the game since starting the second half. The Quakers are keeping up the stout defense from the end of the first half, but the offense is getting painful to watch. Ten turnovers in the first half was a lot, but this feels like even more than that. Late in the first half Penn got some nice slashing cuts to the basket, let's see if they can keep those up. 

Cam Lewis is at the line, apparently banks are open on Friday nights, as he hits the first off the glass, then swishes number two.

Singletary throws a terrible kick-out pass that's intercepted, and Grandieri is fouled on the way to the hoop. But he misses both foul shots.

Bernardini, though, takes a pass in transition for a reverse-layup-and-1

16:14 2nd Half, Virginia 54, Penn 37

Gaines hits two free throws, but bad in-bounds defense and the lead is back to 15.

Eggleston misses a wide open layup and Singletary makes a nice jumper.

Gaines airballs, and Penn still has no field goals this half.

17:33 2nd Half, Virginia 50, Penn 37

Eggleston misjudges Gaines'  route in transition and turns it over, throwing it right to his head coach. Miller slams the ball down in frustration.

Schreiber gets a great block off on Laurynas Mikalauskas, the thick, 6-foot-8 forward.

Gaines drives right by Singletary and gets fouled.

HALFTIME: Virginia 50, Penn 35

The Quakers looked a little nervous coming out of the gate, but have settled down recently. If you go by the media timeouts Penn went -10 the first period, then -1, -1 and -3. Virginia has a 26-15 rebounding edge, though I must admit it didn't seem like the disparity was that large.

No surprise here: Penn's shooting 1 for 10 from three, the lone make from surprisingly good shooter Justin Reilly, while Virginia has hit 7 of 13. That's actually only the Cavs' average percentage, believe it or not.

What I am shocked about is Sean Singletary. It was clear he's be driving and passing the rock - playing against a team that can't defend the three, but he has gone 1 for 7 for 7 points so far. And his three assists are only on his average.

The successes of the first half for Penn: Cofield (12 points, 4 for 4 shooting) and Grandieri (3 for 7 for 6 points, three offensive rebounds and five total.

0:15 1st Half, Virginia 50, Penn 35

After starting, Tyler Bernardini hasn't been in the game since. Miller doesn't seem too happy with Harrison Gaines' performance either, he's missing a bunch and had some early turnovers, and as a result Aron Cohen has played a good deal.

Mamadi Diane has made some nice plays, here pump-faking around Cofield for an open jumper.

Cofield makes another nice cut to the basket, and Eggleston finds him for an easy layup.

Wow, Cofield hits an acrobatic layup in transition, and Penn is keeping this a game. We're finding out which freshmen have the mettle to play against an ACC opponent, and which youngsters still don't.

2:11 1st Half, Virginia 47, Penn 30

The Quakers' defense has let in a few baskets lately, but has been very good in the last 10 minutes or so, following a poor start. Virginia airballs a three, but Andreas Schreiber gets whistled on the boxout, and it cost the Quakers 2 FTs.

Penn's offense, on the other hand, has been horrendous. The only reason the Quakers have as many points as they do is because of tough, scrappy work on the offensive boards.

Jack Eggleston now takes a tough offensive rebound, and gets fouled, making his freebees.

3:38 1st Half, Virginia 41, Penn 24

Remy Cofield just made one of the most amazing shots I've seen in a while. While being hit off-balance in the lane, just before he travelled, the freshman guard flipped up a shot over his shoulder 15 feet in the air without even looking at the basket, and it somehow went in.

Virginia star and Philadelphia native Sean Singletary has let his teammates do the work so far, but he makes two free throws here and the Cavaliers are up 17.

5:01 1st Half, Virginia 34, Penn 20

Once again, the internet wasn't working properly, but now it magically comes to life, and here we are live from the Palestra.

7:35, First half, Virginia 28, Penn 16

Some ups but some more downs for the Quakers. Remy Cofield has been in for Brian Grandieri, and he just made a nice move to get free and hit a layup in the post. Other than that, though, the Quakers have been miserable in the paint. Justin Reilly had Penn's first three, but he followed that up with a miss from point-blank.

On the other end of the floor, Ryan Pettinella hasn't seem to have shaken his free-throw woes since passing through about six different conferences on his way from Penn to Virginia. He just missed two, the second a near-comic effort that nearly hit above the box.

15:00, First half: Virginia 12, Penn 2 

The Quakers got their only points off a couple of free throws by Tyler Bernardini, but otherwise it's been all Cavaliers. Penn has had some trouble feeding the ball into the post and has had two entry passes picked off. Bernardini has two early fouls, so the starter was pulled for Michael Kach. That leaves him, Harrison Gaines, Jack Eggleston, Brian Grandieri and Andreas Schreiber on the floor.