Anderson Fuels UVa Rally Against VT

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Tony Bennett’s team improved to 19-0 on the season with a win in Blacksburg. ~ Courtesy Ivan Morozov

For the second straight year in Blacksburg, Virginia stared at a double-digit second-half deficit. For the second straight year, the Cavaliers thwarted Virginia Tech’s upset hopes.

The Hoos rallied from 10 points down on Sunday to win 50-47, their sixth straight victory in the series. They have also won five straight in Blacksburg. The No. 2 Cavaliers improved to 19-0 and 7-0 in the ACC ahead of next Saturday’s matchup with Duke at the John Paul Jones Arena.

“I think how scrappy Virginia Tech was and how inspired they played, even without one of their good players Justin Bibbs, is a credit to them. Those guys battled. I knew that, it’s a rivalry game and we talk about those things,” UVa coach Tony Bennett said. “They were aggressive and presented some match-up problems for us. I kept telling our guys, there are a lot of possessions left, and it’s going to come down to can you get a good look, get a stop.”

Needing to put together scores and stops made Sunday’s rally look like a near carbon copy of last year’s comeback at Cassell Coliseum. Last February in Blacksburg, Virginia trailed by 11 points early in the second half and remained behind 43-35 with 10:13 left on the clock. This time around, it was a nearly identical time and score as UVa fell into a 43-33 hole with 10:34 to play.

That’s when Coach Bennett called a timeout to help his team regain its composure. After that break, the Wahoos took control for the final 10 minutes and closed the game on a 17-4 run. That included a 5:42 defensive stretch where the defense held the Hokies scoreless. It’s the 19th time this season that Virginia accomplished that feat. VT ended the game at 45.2% shooting, the 44th straight time an ACC opponent fell short of 50%.

“We were struggling to score, obviously. We only had that one field goal for that long stretch. One-of-12 at one point, I think we were. I actually went with a four guard lineup. They had hard matchups for us and they were running good stuff. So I went with Marial [Shayok] for a while and said we would switch on ball screens,” Bennett said. “I wanted to be a little more mobile and see if we could close on those shooters and still block out. They were so spread out they weren’t offensive rebounding that much but their spacing was good and obviously that was their game plan, to shoot a lot of threes. I think Marial gave us a good lift and the guys held in there enough defensively, because we had to, it wasn’t there to start, for sure.”

Justin Anderson, in another similarity to last year’s rally, provided the spark that jumpstarted the offense down the stretch. He had only 2 points in the first 32 minutes, but erupted for 10 points in the final 8. Coming out of the 10:34 timeout, Anderson started Virginia’s game-ending surge with an assist to London Perrantes. Anderson drove the baseline on the left side and fired a pass to the top of the key where Perrantes canned the open look to start the comeback.

Anderson took full control from there. At 7:05, he drove the baseline and drew a foul that led to two free throws. At 5:41, he banged a 3-pointer that cut the VT lead to 45-41. After a pair of Darion Atkins free throws, Anderson struck again. This time, it was a designed lob play out of a timeout that led to a thunderous dunk and a tied score at 45-45.

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Justin Anderson led Virginia with 12 points, including 10 in the final 7:05. ~ Courtesy Ivan Morozov

“Justin [Anderson] has been begging me for three years, when are you gonna put in a lob for me, coach? When are you gonna put in a lob? So I said, there you go, Justin. I’m glad we put it in because it was well timed,” Bennett said. “It’s a simple play. They were jamming the lane, we weren’t making shots. Even when we got to the lane we were struggling. It was the perfect pass, great screens to set it up, and it was just something against a zone that we needed.”

After that jam, Anderson grabbed the defensive rebound on the other end and then backed it up with another triple at the 2:47 mark that gave Virginia the lead for good. On that play, Malcolm Brogdon drove the baseline and kicked it out to the left corner for Perrantes, who made the extra pass to Anderson at the top of the key for the long-range jumper. The late 3-point barrage brought back memories of last season’s rally when UVa made 5 treys in the final 10 minutes to get the win. Anderson had a pair of triples in the final 3:27 last season in addition to sparking a late surge with a defensive hustle play.

Anderson finished with 12 points, the only Cavalier in double figures. He added 6 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals, and 1 blocked shot (also came in the final 10 minutes).

“I think he understood it was time,” UVa’s Anthony Gill told The Associated Press. “It was time to go ahead and pick it up and that’s what he did. He really carried us in those last couple minutes.”

While Anderson carried the scoring load down the stretch, the Hoos got a balanced stat sheet otherwise. Gill added 8 points and 7 rebounds despite ending up with 4 fouls; he had a big put-back basket during the late run too. Atkins finished with 9 points and 4 rebounds, while Perrantes chipped in 6 points and 7 assists. Brogdon, meanwhile, finished with 8 points and 3 rebounds. It’s only the third time in his last 28 league games that Brogdon fell short of 10 points.

Virginia Tech countered with spread-out scoring as well. Adam Smith led his team’s upset effort with 15 points, while Malik Muller finished with 9. Devin Wilson and Ahmed Hill tallied 7 each. Smith had a good, though long, look to tie the game as the buzzer expired but the 3-point attempt bounced off the rim.

“I thought it was in,” Smith told the Associated Press. “I thought we were going to overtime.”

Final Stats

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