One of the keys to Virginia winning back-to-back ACC Regular Season Championships was the ability to win conference road games. UVA posted road records of 7-2 and 8-1 on the road in league play the last two seasons en route to outright first-place finishes.
That’s been a big barrier in the Cavaliers’ quest for a regular season three-peat, which took a big hit Monday night in Miami with a hard-fought 64-61 loss. That dropped the Hoos (21-6, 10-5) to 3-5 on the road in ACC play this season. They now stand in fourth place in the league standings with three games to play. The Hurricanes (22-5, 11-4) hold a half-game lead for second place after bouncing back from a 96-71 loss at league-leading North Carolina on Saturday.
“You knew, when you get beat like they did, they were going to be awake,” Virginia coach Tony Bennett said. “They were going to be ready. I’m sure Coach had their attention. They ran into a buzzsaw down there in Carolina. Carolina came off a hard loss [against Duke]. They were going to come ready, and we knew that. … We fought, played pretty hard, had chances, but didn’t get it done. We left too many out there. They’re resilient young men, they’re a well-coached team, made it hard for us. In the second half we got it going a little bit. But we’re two teams that were fighting, and that’s what it’s all about, … late in the conference race.”
The Cavaliers fell behind by at least 8 points twice in the second half, but responded both times. Miami grew a 39-29 lead early in the second half with a 9-2 run that Davon Reed capped with a 3-pointer at the 17:24 mark. UVA responded with a 19-8 spurt of its own to take a 48-47 lead with 9:38 to go. Mike Tobey scored a layup to push the Hoos ahead at the end of that surge.
The Canes claimed the lead again less than a minute later when Ja’Quan Newton scored in the paint and the hosts never trailed again. That bucket sparked a 13-4 burst from Miami, which took a 60-52 lead with Reed again providing the finishing kick. This time, he scored 5 straight points with a driving layup and a 3-pointer off a screen.
Reed ended up with 21 points thanks to a 5-of-6 shooting night from behind the 3-point line. Miami also got 11 points from Sheldon McClellan, including a running 3-pointer at the halftime buzzer that proved to be the final margin on the scoreboard. Tonye Jekiri chipped in 9 points and 4 rebounds, while Kamari Murphy added 4 points and 11 rebounds. Miami made 10 of 19 triples in the game (52.6%).
“Saturday was a tough game for us,” Reed said. “I told the guys from the beginning, we need to come out and be the aggressors. It just happened to be that night for me. Shots were falling, my teammates were giving me the ball. All the credit to them.”
Virginia kept pace thanks to another monster outing from Malcolm Brogdon. The senior guard matched his career high with 28 points on 12-of-18 shooting. He made 8 of 9 shots in the second half, including a pair of jumpers for 5 quick points that sliced Miami’s 60-52 lead to one possession at 60-57 entering the final 2:05. Brogdon has 14 games of at least 20 points this season and he has climbed into 14th place on the program’s all-time scoring list with 1,626 career points.
After the Hoos cut the deficit to 60-59, good ball movement produced a shot near the rim for Tobey but unlike the earlier surge that ended with a Tobey layup for the lead, this attempt didn’t fall with 37 seconds remaining. Miami added a free throw after that miss for a 61-59 edge and Brogdon missed a potential go-ahead 3-pointer with 25 seconds to play. Later with UVA still only down by 3 points, Miami took away another set play designed for Brogdon to get a 3-point look and London Perrantes drove for a layup instead with less than 5 seconds to go.
Outside of the big night from Brogdon, no one else reached double figures for the Hoos. Anthony Gill posted 6 points, 10 rebounds, and a career-high 4 blocked shots. Perrantes managed 9 points, 7 assists, and 0 turnovers. No one else had more than 4 points. Gill hit only 3 of 9 shots, while Perrantes made 3 of 11. Other than Brogdon, the Wahoos shot 13 of 40 from the field (32.5%).
The Cavaliers couldn’t make up for the shooting struggles at the free throw line where they made 6 of 9 shots as Miami was whistled for only 7 fouls in the entire game.
“I thought we fought to get back in the game, and we had our chances,” Bennett said. “I thought we left some points on the board with some finishes, we were right there. I thought we had a couple chances, but their guys made some big shots. I think Malcolm had a terrific second half. With that play where we were down two [points], we said, ‘if you get a clean look, take it.’ If not, maybe we wanted to attack, maybe we could have gotten a better shot, but he was really feeling it.”
UVA now will try to regroup for a top 10 showdown with North Carolina on Saturday with ESPN’s Game Day in town. The Cavaliers might have to go without starter Isaiah Wilkins in that one after he left the Miami game late after getting hit in the head.
