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Sean Singletary had 24 points, 7 rebounds, and 4 assists in the win. |
Virginia coach Dave Leitao walked into the pressroom of the John Paul Jones Arena on Saturday with a worn and weary air about him. He eased into the waiting interview chair and paused for just a moment.
His eyes were searching. Searching for what to say. Leitao’s team had just picked up ACC win No. 10, rallying for a 75-69 win in the final four minutes. But for most of the day, Georgia Tech had dominated the rebounding battle, defended the 3-point shot well, and forced the Cavaliers to work extremely hard on both ends.
So yes, Leitao was searching. Searching for an answer to the question that everyone in the room had to be thinking. How the heck did Virginia win that game?
“As I just told the team and the assistant coaches for the life of me, I’m not sure what just happened,” Leitao said. “We started the game really well and we finished the game really well. All that stuff in the middle …”
“I told Coach [Paul] Hewitt after the game that they really kicked our tails physically,” he continued. “They kicked our tails in the way that I try to have our team do to other people.”
But then, the Hoos’ coach found his way to the answer for nearly every Virginia basketball question. J.R. Reynolds and Sean Singletary happened. Everyone else followed their lead and just in the nick of time, the Cavaliers turned to the two things that make winning possible for this team: defense and rebounding. That helped the Hoos pitch a shutout in the final 3:41 and they staged a 13-0 rally to win by six.
“I think what happened – simply put – we have two very special players who at any point and time can make plays,” Leitao said. “If you surround them with a team that plays defense and plays tough and rebounds, then you have a chance to win each and every night. For a lot of that game we had two guys who could play, but we weren’t defending and rebounding and playing tough. They decided at the end of the game to get some stops as a group.”
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J.R. Reynolds gets fouled on this second half shot and completed the traditional 3-point play |
Suddenly, a team that looked “dead in the water” according to Hewitt’s observations, came to life. Singletary drove and drew contact, leading to two free throws at 3:32 that cut the seven-point deficit to 69-64. The Cavaliers forced a turnover on the other end, which was quickly followed by a critical three-point play from Reynolds. He caught the ball on the right wing, drove left-handed around an on-ball screen from Tunji Soroye , and streaked down the lane where he was fouled by Ra’Sean Dickey while making a lay-up. The follow-up free throw drew the Hoos to within two at the 2:45 mark, 69-67.
In Hewitt’s estimation, that play was the critical spark the Cavaliers needed for their comeback hopes to truly take flight.
“There was one major breakdown at the end when we allowed Reynolds down the lane. We just inexplicably got out of his way. We were running out to a guy we didn’t think was going to shoot a three, and if he was going to kick the ball out to the guy for a three, we’d like to see him do it,” said Hewitt, seemingly in reference to Jason Cain on the opposite wing. “We know in that situation these kids are going to put their head down and go to the basket. We just jumped out of the way. They got a three-point play, and that’s what got their momentum going. That was a critical breakdown because the guy he was going to throw it to, we’d have loved to see him take the three.”
Still, the Hoos’ growing comeback chances needed defensive stops in the final two minutes, something they had struggled with for much of the afternoon thanks to the Yellow Jackets’ tenacious offensive rebounding effort. That’s when a different duo stepped to the forefront.
Soroye and Cain to be more specific. Soroye deflected a high-low post entry pass near the perimeter, which led to a fastbreak shot opportunity for Singletary. But his shot bounced off the rim. Enter Cain. He grabbed the rebound and scored to tie the score at 69-69. After the teams swapped a pair of offensive foul calls, Cain disrupted Thaddeus Young’s drive attempt by trying to take a charge. Soroye grabbed the rebound to give UVa a potential go-ahead possession.
As it turned out, Soroye delivered the offensive part of the equation too. Virginia’s offense freed Singletary for a 3-point shot, but the attempt caromed into the air where Soroye snared the ball in monstrous fashion. And then, he followed it up by calmly collecting his balance and scoring on the putback to give UVa the 71-69 lead, which it did not relinquish.
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Jason Cain scored all 7 of his points in the final 7 minutes. |
“I just made up my mind to go for the ball. I didn’t have that many rebounds in the whole game and Coach kind of challenged me and asked if I had any rebounds and I said ‘No.’ So he was like, ‘Go get one.’ So that’s basically what I did when I went out there,” Soroye said. “I wasn’t even looking [to see if defenders were there]. I got the ball and I was like ‘I’m going to go up strong and they will foul me or something.’ I wasn’t even thinking about it.”
For Soroye and Cain, they produced at the most critical juncture of the game. Until the closing minutes, it had been a frustrating afternoon against a relentless Yellow Jackets’ team that physically took it to them in the paint. Still, Cain finished with 7 points and 6 rebounds; Soroye added 6 points and 3 boards.
That was just enough to boost the Cavaliers, who had been carried for much of the afternoon by their star guards. Reynolds poured in 25 points, 4 rebounds, 4 steals, 2 assists, and 1 block. Singletary posted 24 points, 7 rebounds, 4 assists, and 1 steal. More importantly, they collectively willed the team to stay within shouting distance for much of the second half. At one point, for example, Singletary and Reynolds had 8 of the team’s 17 rebounds – GT held a 32-17 advantage on the glass at the time.
With their All-ACC caliber guards leading the way, the Cavs persevered and rallied. They closed the game with 13 unanswered points. They out-rebounded the Jackets 10-3 in the final minutes. They picked up ACC win No. 10 and a first-round ACC Tournament bye. They likely made themselves a lock for the NCAA Tournament field.
The last of which seemed to be far from the Cavaliers’ minds after defeating Georgia Tech.
“It’s been a long time, a long four years, and it’s finally starting to come together,” Reynolds said. “But we’ve got another tough game on Thursday. The season doesn’t stop. It keeps on moving, and we want to keep it moving in a positive direction.”
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