Gill Delivers Big Performance

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Anthony Gill created a lot of offense in the paint for UVa. ~ Mike Ingalls

GREENSBORO, N.C. – It was Anthony Gill’s first ACC Tournament but you wouldn’t know it by the way he played.

Gill’s effort against Florida State, particularly in the first half, was one of the best of his career. He scored 12 of his 16 points, a new career-high in ACC play, in the first half when the Cavaliers needed them most. The Seminoles kept the game within reach and never trailed by more than five points before intermission.

Gill went 6 for 7 from the floor in the first half with most of his points coming on high percentage shots. Three shots were put-back dunks that helped Virginia stay ahead on the scoreboard. That got the team and the crowd energized.

“When anybody gets a dunk on our team it’s exciting,” Gill said. “Just to see my teammates cheering me on is great. I feel like I was able to get those because the other big on the other side was drawing so much attention. They would try to block their shot and I would just get the rebound.”

When Florida State cut UVa’s lead to just three points late in the half, it was Gill who quieted the Seminole faithful when he nailed a 15-foot jumper to close out the period. That’s the eighth time this season that the Cavaliers beat the halftime buzzer and they went into the locker room leading 32-27.

Gill grabbed five rebounds for the game, four of them on the offensive glass. Florida State could not keep the sophomore forward out of the paint.

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Anthony Gill helped UVa advance to the semifinals. ~ Mike Ingalls

“I saw that we didn’t come out the way we should have,” Gill said. “I knew that I was going to have to come in and step up and try to help my team as much as possible. Coach Bennett told us there were weaknesses on the glass. That’s what we wanted to do. Just go out there and rebound.”

“We needed that,” Cavalier coach Tony Bennett said. “I thought Anthony was all over the offensive glass. They’ve got such shot blockers when we got into the paint and a shot went up. Anthony has good timing and a good nose for that.”

Gill also contributed two blocks and an assist in 26 minutes of play. And while he struggled from the foul line throughout much of the season, Gill calmly knocked down all four of his free throw attempts. Perhaps he just felt comfortable playing in front of family and friends at the Greensboro Coliseum, which is just 20 minutes from his hometown of High Point.

“You know, I joke with you all of the time saying High Point is the greatest city in the world, and I believe it,” Gill said. “It was good to have the fans out there for me and everything. So it was good.”

When Gill transferred from South Carolina a year ago and had to sit out a year due to NCAA rules, many expected he would be one of Virginia’s starters coming into the season. But Gill needed work on the defensive end and throughout much of the early part of the season, that kept him off the floor and prevented him from developing as an offensive threat for the Cavaliers.

But since Feb. 5, Anthony has come on strong. He has scored 9 points or more in seven of the last 10 games.

“If there’s a reason I’m not playing, it’s going to be because of my defense,” Gill said. “Throughout the year it’s been a challenge trying to understand the Pack Line. I’m learning every day. Coach Bennett is starting to get trust in me on the defensive end. Once he starts to trust me on the defensive end, it frees me up [offensively], because I’m not always thinking ‘Oh, I’m going to mess up’.”

Last season, the Cavaliers exited the ACC Tournament quickly, losing a first round match-up with NC State. Gill only could watch, unable to help his team into the next round. Not so this year.

“Yeah, I was here to watch the loss last year to NC State,” Gill said. “I feel like today we just really wanted to go out there and prove to everybody that we deserved to be here. We deserved to be the No. 1 seed. We went out there and executed.”