Facing its first second half challenge of the season, the Virginia men’s basketball team overcame a shaky final 10 minutes to defeat La Salle on Friday night in Brooklyn. The No. 8 Hoos saw a robust halftime lead dwindle to four points before they took home a 64-56 victory in the Barclays Center Classic Semifinals.
UVa coach Tony Bennett said the adversity could be good down the road.
“They are scrappy. We missed a couple layups, started fouling, and lost our composure with a technical foul. When [La Salle] got in foul trouble they went with four guards and we started standing around. That was the first team that has done that to us. We exploited it a little bit, but then we had trouble. That is a credit to [La Salle Head Coach John Giannini] and those young men. They didn’t lie down,” Bennett said. “We’ve got work to do. You saw some of our flaws, but I think there were some good things in our game.”
The Explorers made their run behind an aggressive pair of defenses that seemed to knock Virginia out of rhythm after intermission. Showing a match-up zone in the early moments of the second half, La Salle managed to slow down the ball movement and inside touches that helped UVa build a dominant 37-19 halftime advantage. Anthony Gill played a big role in that first-half surge and tallied 16 points and 10 rebounds for his first career double-double at UVa. After a few minutes, the defense flipped to a switching man-to-man scheme that neutralized the Cavalier screening game by changing defenders any time a screen was set.
As a result, the Wahoos seemed sped up and a bit too isolated in their approach. They missed some easy opportunities on drives to compound the problem, but all of it led to a poor shooting half. The Cavaliers made just 36.4% percent of their shots (eight of 22) after halftime on the heels of a 58.3% (14 of 24) effort in the first half. La Salle won the second half 37-27.
Still, the bigger concern may have been the other end of the floor. Virginia’s offensive frustrations appeared to bleed over to the defensive end in the second half. After periodically having trouble with containment on dribble penetration in the first half, that became a regular occurrence in the second half. Plus, the Hoos were late with rotations and foul-prone as Explorers went to the line 24 times for second-half free throws. They made 16 of 24 (66.7%) to get close on the scoreboard.
“We took our foot of the gas and didn’t take care of the ball. They took it to us,” Malcolm Brogdon told The Associated Press.
Fortunately for the Hoos, their All-ACC guard Brogdon helped stymie any upset hopes. He handled the ball frequently against fullcourt pressure in the last five minutes and earned multiple trips to the free throw line. While he did miss one free throw down the stretch, he finished the game eight of nine at the line and helped settle his team down the stretch. Brogdon posted a season-high 20 points to go with five rebounds and three assists.
The Cavaliers needed that calming influence from Brogdon as sophomore point guard London Perrantes uncharacteristically lost his composure as the Explorers made their run. Perrantes got called for a walk as he tried to split a trap on the baseline and then committed a foul on the other end of the floor reaching in for the ball on a shot attempt. He reacted to that whistle with a slight push to La Salle’s player and drew a technical foul too. Perrantes also committed an unusual turnover where he picked the ball up early and forced a long pass toward Anthony Gill in the high post area. All of that action helped the underdogs quickly cut into the deficit.
Perrantes finished with five points, three assists, four turnovers, and four fouls. And what Bennett hopes will be a valuable learning experience.
“I don’t know if it was complacency, maybe we just got tight. It’s early in the season and we’ve got to figure this stuff out,” Bennett said. “London, our point guard is usually very collected. That was his strength for us as a freshman last year. He was not himself out there. This will be a tremendous learning experience for him and for us.”
The Hoos return to action in the Barclays Center Classic Championship on Saturday night in Brooklyn. They take on Rutgers at 9:30 p.m.
