WASHINGTON – Tony Bennett consistently reminds his bench to be ready. On Friday night in the ACC Tournament semifinals, a pair of key reserves heeded that advice and came up big in Virginia’s 73-68 victory over Miami.
Cavalier guards Marial Shayok and Darius Thompson had their numbers called to provide a lift early and both played a role in crunch time. Both delivered at different moments with big shots. Shayok played 23 minutes and scored 10 points on 4-of-5 shooting. He added 3 rebounds as well. Thompson logged 17 minutes and tallied 6 points, 2 rebounds, and 2 steals.
Shayok’s minutes tripled from Virginia’s quarterfinal game against Georgia Tech.
“I feel like I can get into the paint pretty well. I think that’s one of my strengths,” Shayok said. “I just wanted to come out and play aggressive and pick my battles.”
What’s under-rated and perhaps unnoticed at times in Shayok’s offensive game is his ability to create a jump shot off the dribble. When Miami made it a one possession game at the 13:14 mark, the next trip down the floor Shayok pulled up on the right wing and connected for two late in the shot clock. His buckets were critical in a game where Devon Hall struggled and Brogdon drew extra attention in the second half.
On the defensive side of the floor, Shayok’s length and versatility were critical down the stretch too. With just less than eight minutes remaining both teams put out small ball lineups. Virginia went with an unconventional five featuring London Perrantes, Brogdon, Thompson, Shayok, and Isaiah Wilkins in the middle. During this stretch the Hoos were able to balloon the lead while holding the Canes to just one field goal in a five minute span.
In regard to experimenting with smaller lineups in practice Shayok responded: “Lately we have, because we know how basketball is changing.”
Another Cavalier reserve who played a role in the win was Thompson. Bennett coined the phrase,“different guys, different times” at one point this season. Thompson’s minutes were up and down during the regular season and before Friday’s semifinal, he had scored just 2 points in his past 4 games. But Friday night was one of his times. He hit his first 3-pointer since the infamous buzzer beater at Wake Forest and provided ball handling late when Miami looked to trap.
The one blemish on the night from Thompson and Shayok was in the free throw shooting department, which made matters more tense for Virginia in the final minutes. But the duo’s ballhandling and ability to match up when Miami went to a small lineup aided Virginia’s effort to hang on for the victory.
“We have a lot of people who can dribble the ball and handle the ball,” Perrantes said of the four-guard lineup. “It just shows we can go with two bigs or go with four guards. It’s huge in games like this when they have four guard lineups. It just shows we can do it as well.”
If there’s one thing we’ve learned watching Virginia teams under Bennett, it’s never assume a bench player gets buried in the lineup for good. Two years back, Evan Nolte seemingly came out of nowhere to rescue Virginia against Coastal Carolina in the NCAA Tournament. Darion Atkins went from deep reserve to key starter a year later too.
Thompson’s minutes tailed off after non-conference play this year, but he saw plenty of the floor Friday night. Shayok did not play in consecutive January outings due to a coach’s decision, but he’s found his way back into important minutes in March as well.
With the season’s biggest games ahead – North Carolina in Saturday’s ACC Championship and the NCAA Tournament after that – the message remains the same. Be ready.
