The collective murmur that rippled through John Paul Jones Arena on Sunday night was the audible reaction to one of Virginia fans’ biggest nightmares. Shock, fear, and worry all rolled into one loud silence.
With 14:43 remaining in the contest with Florida State, starting guards London Perrantes and Malcolm Brogdon collided at full speed on defense. Perrantes crumpled into a heap on the floor near the top of the key as blood soaked his jersey and trickled to the playing surface. Brogdon paced away holding his head above his right eyebrow.
To make matters worse, the Seminoles ended the possession with a 3-pointer that cut the UVa lead to 41-38. With Justin Anderson already sidelined after finger surgery on his shooting hand, Virginia’s one-loss stranglehold atop the ACC standings appeared in jeopardy. The Cavaliers, however, had a resilient answer once again and pulled away late for a 51-41 victory. They now stand 25-1 and 13-1 in the ACC.
“It sure was hard-fought. We talked before the game that whoever wants this will get it,” Virginia coach Tony Bennett said. “It’s the time of year when it’s more about the effort, whether you’re the road team or the home team. And they wanted it, especially in the first half. But, I thought our guys just found a way. When London went out and Malcolm for a bit, we challenged the rest of our guys to dig down deep. And I thought we won it with our defense, and not our free-throw shooting. There were enough stops and it was what we had to do. I thought our guys responded well in a tough situation. And the crowd was, once again, special.”
Brogdon exited the game for a total of 1:40 after the collision, returning with three stitches. FSU greeted his return with an immediate 3-pointer by Xavier Rathan-Mayes and tacked on two more jumpers over the next 2:26 to edge ahead 37-36. After briefly losing the lead, however, Virginia closed the game on a 15-4 run to get the victory. That shot was the last field goal the Hoos allowed as the Noles manufactured only those 4 points in the final 10:33. That’s the eighth time this season the Cavaliers have held an opponent without a field goal for a span of at least nine minutes this season (sixth time of at least 10 minutes).
Redshirt freshman Devon Hall, one of Perrantes’ replacements at guard, started the Hoos’ final surge with a tough reverse lay-up on the ensuing possession that gave Virginia the lead back for good. Marial Shayok, another beneficiary of minutes in Perrantes’ absence, added a break-out dunk and two free throws in the game-ending run too. Hall finished with 2 points, 1 assists, and 1 turnover, while Shayok added 7 points, 6 rebounds, and 1 steal.
“We both knew that we had to step up,” Shayok said. “That is what Coach Bennett has been emphasizing all year: next man up. We both came in prepared.”
While the two freshmen responded well, UVa’s experienced core players raised their game down the stretch to lead the way to victory. It started when both Brogdon and Perrantes were out of the game and Darion Atkins stepped to the forefront. The Cavaliers’ lone senior scored on back-to-back moves in the post to help keep the team afloat. Atkins tallied 11 points, 2 rebounds, 4 steals, 1 blocked shot, and 1 assist on the night. Those 4 steals pushed UVa to 11 steals as a team.
Over the final 12:30, Anthony Gill grabbed rebounds, hit some free throws, and jammed a two-handed dunk threw the rim. He recorded 13 points, 9 rebounds, 2 steals, and 1 assist in 31 minutes. Gill has been in double figures 16 times this season.
And, of course, there was Brogdon stitches and all. He scored a layup and assisted on Gill’s dunk. Plus, other than the immediate 3-pointer from Rathan-Mayes when Brogdon re-entered the game, he slowed down the freshman the rest of the way too and that in effect short-circuited the FSU offense that struggled otherwise (15-46/32.6% shooting). Brogdon ended up with 10 points, 4 rebounds, and 2 assists. He moved into a 44th place tie with Mac Caldwell (1963-65) on the all-time scoring list with 1,013 career points.
The Hoos made 9 of 16 shots in the second half (56.3%) to finish at 18 of 41 (43.9%) for the game and 13 of those 18 field goals came from Atkins, Brogdon, and Gill. That trio made 13 of 21 shots (61.9%).
“Virginia came out in the second half and executed very well,” FSU coach Leonard Hamilton said. “They put us on our heels early in the half, and were shooting very well. I thought they did a tremendous job defending us. The difference in the game was that when we defended them well they had some guys come up with big plays. Atkins and Brogdon created big shots and willed them to victory.”
