CHARLOTTESVILLE -- Four years after he made 14 3-point field goals in a game for Oak Hill Academy, J.R. Reynolds can remember neither the opponent that day or his final point total.

The memory of his 40-point outburst Sunday at John Paul Jones Arena might stick with him a little longer.

Reynolds became the first player to hit the 40-point mark at UVa's new coliseum, scoring 20 points in each half of the Cavaliers' 88-76 victory over Wake Forest.

It was the high in the ACC this season and a career high for Reynolds, a 6-foot-2¹₂ senior from Roanoke whose previous high was 32 against Miami in the 2005 ACC Tournament.

Second-year UVa head coach Dave Leitao said it was the best he has seen Reynolds play.

"By far," Leitao said.

Reynolds made 12-of-18 shots from the field, including six of eight 3-pointers, and went 10-for-10 from the free-throw line. In addition, he played point guard when Sean Singletary was out of the game for 12 minutes and contributed four assists with only one turnover.

"How much more impressive do you want to get?" Wake Forest coach Skip Prosser said.

Reynolds picked up two first-half fouls, not usually a good omen for the Cavaliers, but Leitao's decision to reinsert him with 3:16 remaining paid immediate dividends.

Wake Forest, which had trailed 13-2 when Prosser called timeout after less than 3 minutes, had fought back to take the lead at 29-27.

Normally, Leitao likes to save a player with two fouls until the second half, but five Virginia players had two fouls and the Deacons (9-9, 1-5 ACC) were beginning to control the action.

Reynolds and Singletary combined for 11 points on the next five possessions and the Cavaliers (11-6, 3-2) took a 40-38 lead into halftime.

At that point, Reynolds and Singletary had scored 37 of Virginia's 40 points, including 37 of the last 38.

Prosser became quizzical when asked why he opened the second half in a gimmick defense, the triangle-and-two.

"You were here for the first half?" Prosser asked. "We had to try something. The theory was to try and make someone else beat us."

Thus challenged, UVa outscored the Deacons 10-2 to start the second half, getting a pair of 3-pointers by Mamadi Diane, two baskets by Jason Cain and one by Lauris Mikalauskas.

"As soon as I saw a guy at the top of the key and another guy guarding me, I knew what it was," said Reynolds, who said the Cavaliers had seen a triangle-and-two maybe once or twice all season. "They're trying to say the other guys can't play."

The triangle-and-two didn't work, nor did conventional defenses, at least not against Reynolds.

"He was pulling up from everywhere, hands in his face and it didn't matter," Wake senior Mike Drum said.

Prosser added, "Some of his 3s were like 4s."

Surprisingly, Reynolds entered play Sunday without the required number of made 3-pointers (2.5) to rank among the ACC leaders. He had made 23 in 16 games.

"I hadn't made that many 3s or taken that many 3s," Reynolds said. "Coach Leitao and I had talked about that."

Still, Reynolds ranks third on UVa's all-time 3-point list with 188, which puts him third among active ACC players.

"There's a delicate balance between a shooter who can make plays and a player who can shoot and I thought that he was being a little bit too fine with that," Leitao said.

Once Reynolds establishes his shot, Leitao reasons, it's easier to make plays.

"Today was a special day for us because of him," Leitao said.

The last ACC player to score 40 points in a game was North Carolina's Tyler Hansbrough last February. Reynolds' fellow Roanoker, J.J. Redick, had three 40-point games as a senior for Duke last season.

When asked if it felt like he was having a 40-point game, Reynolds said, "Not really."

Fans serenaded Reynolds on several occasions as they followed his increasing point totals on the scoreboard. Reynolds never looked.

"Not one time," said Reynolds, who entered the game with a 16.2-point average. "I keep my eye on the score. That's the biggest thing."

By the time he returned to the locker room and activated his cellphone, Reynolds saw that his mother already had called five times. The threat of snow had caused her to remain in Roanoke.

"She comes most of the time," Reynolds said, "but there was no way she coming over the mountain in the snow. I'm sure she watched on TV. We can probably get her a tape if she wants one."

He might want to grab one for himself.

Wake Forest MP FG FT R A F PT

Swinton 14 0-1 5-6 3 0 0 5

Drum 28 4-8 0-0 0 1 4 10

Visser 24 2-10 4-6 5 1 3 8

Smith 33 5-12 1-2 3 3 4 13

Williams 26 4-8 0-0 3 1 4 8

Dukes 8 1-2 0-0 2 0 2 2

Hale 13 3-7 3-4 4 1 3 11

Stanley 4 0-2 0-0 0 0 0 0

Skeen 26 6-9 0-2 8 2 1 14

Gurley 11 1-5 0-0 1 1 0 3

Weaver 13 0-2 2-2 4 0 2 2

Team 5

Totals 200 26-66 15-22 38 10 23 76

Virginia MP FG FT R A F PT

Mikalauskas 21 1-2 0-0 7 1 3 2

Cain 18 4-6 2-2 4 3 4 10

Reynolds 33 12-18 10-10 2 4 3 40

Diane 31 4-8 0-2 2 3 1 10

Singletary 28 5-8 6-6 2 7 4 19

Harris 14 0-2 0-0 3 0 2 0

Tucker 10 0-1 0-0 1 0 2 0

Soroye 12 0-0 1-2 4 0 3 1

Joseph 24 3-8 0-0 6 1 0 6

Burns 0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0

Tat 6 0-2 0-0 0 0 0 0

Meyinsse 3 0-0 0-0 0 0 1 0

Team 2 1

Totals 200 29-55 19-22 33 19 24 88

Wake Forest 38 38 -- 76

Virginia 40 48 -- 88

3-point goals: Wake 9-21 (Drum 2-4, Williams 0-1, Smith 2-4, Hale 2-3, Stanley 0-1, Skeen 2-5, Gurley 1-3), UVa 11-22 (Reynolds 6-8, Mamadi 2-5, Singletary 3-4, Harris 0-1, Tucker 0-1, Joseph 0-3).

Turnovers: Wake 17 (Visser 5), UVa 17 (Cain 5).

Blocked shots: Wake 1 (Weaver 1), UVa 3 (Diane 2).

Steals: Wake 6 (Skeen 2), UVa 3 (Diane 2).

Officials: Lucky, Hess, Kelly.

Attendance: 14,564.