Mike Scott told his Virginia teammates that three losses in four games was nothing to panic over, and then went out and put them at ease with a dominating performance.
The senior forward had 25 points and seven rebounds and No. 22 Virginia took command with a 16-0 run early in the second half and beat Maryland 71-44 on Saturday.
''We're fine,'' Scott said he told his teammate, even after an injury to No. 2 scorer Joe Harris made it seem as if offense was going to be scarce. ''At Carolina, our defense didn't hold up. At Clemson, we turned the ball over. We were just paying for our mistakes.''
The Cavaliers kept those to a minimum against the Terrapins, turning the ball over just seven times and making Maryland earn everything it got on offense. In the first half, that was seven 3-pointers, several against good defense. In the second half? Very little.
Virginia coach Tony Bennett had no problem with the 3s Maryland made, either, noting that on almost every one, the shooter had a hand in his face.
''If they can make those all game, well, there's not any defense that can stop that,'' he told his team, encouraging them to maintain the intensity on defense.
Virginia scored 16 consecutive points in the second half after Maryland hit a jumper to start the half, and the Terrapins went 8:18 before notching another point. They finished 5 for 24 after halftime, 0-for-6 on 3-pointers and shot 26.9 percent for the game.
''We emphasized playing 40 minutes of our defense,'' guard Sammy Zeglinski said. ''Imposing our will, we would say. ... I thought if we kept imposing our will and wearing them down, they would start missing some shots and we would turn it into offense.''
Malcolm Brogdon added 14 points and Sammy Zeglinski 11 for the Cavaliers (20-6, 7-5 Atlantic Coast Conference), who ended their first two-game losing streak of the season.
Terrell Stoglin scored 14 points, all in the first half, and Nick Faust had 13 for Maryland (15-11, 5-7), but first-year coach Mark Turgeon followed Bennett's lead late and pulled his primary players and inserted walk-ons.
''I'd just had enough,'' Turgeon said. ''Selfishness, not boxing out, not defending.''
It probably stung more seeing the Cavaliers doing all those things.
''I thought they executed, they defended their tails off and they played with more toughness,'' he said. ''They were clearly the team that wanted it more today. ... We had a two-point lead in the second half and then it was all them. Total domination.''
Maryland broke a 31-all halftime tie on a jumper by James Padgett to start the second half. By the time they scored again, on a putback by Ashton Pankey, it was 47-35 and the Cavaliers were showing no signs of letting up.
Meanwhile, Harris hit two jumpers with his broken left hand heavily padded, Scott scored the next seven points, Zeglinski made a 3 and Harris capped the 16-0 burst with a jumper.
Even after Ashton Pankey's putback dunk broke the Terps' scoreless drought, the Cavaliers scored eight of the next 10 points, delighting a sold out John Paul Jones Arena.
Scott, whose point total was his career high in a conference game, dominated early. At one point, he had outscored the Terps 14-13, and he had 10 during a 15-7 run that gave the Cavaliers a 22-13 lead. Then Stoglin and the Terps heated up, scoring 13 of the next 15.
Stoglin hit three 3-pointers in the burst, and Maryland was 7 for 13 from behind the arc in the half. That kept them in the game, but they missed all six of their shots from deep in the second half, and finished 14 for 52 overall, just 26.9 percent.
