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Joe Harris and UVa finished |
The Virginia men’s basketball team wrapped up non-conference play with another solid road win on Monday night as it took down LSU 57-52 in Baton Rouge. It marked the program’s first ever victory on the home court of a Southeastern Conference team; the Hoos had been 0-12 previously in road trips to SEC gyms. The Tigers had won seven straight games before falling to UVa.
It’s been a long time since the Cavaliers have played this well. With Monday’s win, they clicked off a 13-1 start for the first time since 1981-82 when Ronald Reagan was eating jelly beans in the White House and Ralph Sampson was making University Hall his house. The Hoos have won 11 straight games for the first time since 1992-93 when coach Tony Bennett was playing his rookie season in the NBA.
Bennett was pleased with his team’s resolve to win in the Bayou.
“There’s so many good things that happened that needed to happen. We made some mistakes, but there’s a time when it gets in a game where a play has to be made,” Bennett told the Virginia Sports Radio Network. “You call that winning time where somebody needs to bang a three or hit a big shot or grab a rebound. … The fellas in all ways today [did that].”
Indeed, the Hoos did come through in winning time against LSU. Over the final 11 minutes, Virginia outscored the hosts 20-10 and overcame a 42-37 deficit in the process. The Cavaliers produced several well-executed plays offensively to take the lead and hold the Tigers at bay down the stretch.
First, the Cavs stepped up the defense to take control of the game. They certainly needed to improve their efforts on that end too. LSU center Justin Hamilton , who considered UVa as a transfer location from Iowa State before settling in Baton Rouge, had really created all kinds of problems in the game’s first 30 minutes en route to a career-high outing. Hamilton poured in 21 points on 9-of-14 shooting to go with 9 rebounds, 4 blocks, and 2 steals.
During the stretch run, UVa center Assane Sene – with a few well-timed post traps mixed in for good measure – did a good job of neutralizing Hamilton’s effectiveness though. Sene pushed Hamilton off the block to prevent deep post catches and recovered quickly to Hamilton rolling as the on-ball screener.
Once the Hoos got Hamilton’s offense slowed, they had the rest of the Tigers contained. Outside of Hamilton, the rest of the hosts combined to shoot 12 of 34 (35.3%) and no one else reached double figures in scoring.
“Justin Hamilton was a beast tonight. We knew he was going to be tough on the block for us. We tried to post trap and he made great decisions all night,” Virginia’s Sammy Zeglinski told the Virginia Sports Radio Network. “I thought down in the final two minutes were able to stay together and pull it out.”
With the defense picking up in the final 11 minutes, the Cavaliers needed some offensive firepower to pull away to the win and Zeglinski, Mike Scott, and Joe Harris proved to be the key cogs there. Scott hit a hook shot from the right block, a corner jumper on a set screening play after a timeout, and sealed the win at the free throw line. Scott finished with 12 points, 9 rebounds, 2 assists, and 2 steals. He moved into 32nd on UVa’s all-time scoring list and fifth on the program’s all-time rebounding list.
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Virginia senior Sammy Zeglinski scored 17 points in victory. |
Zeglinski, meanwhile, knocked down a 3-pointer just after the under-4 minute timeout on what looked like another set play that gave UVa a 51-47 lead. When LSU trimmed the lead to one, Zeglinski drove into the paint and pitched out an assist for a Harris 3-pointer. Zeglinski added 1 of 2 free throws in the final minute too. The senior poured in 17 points (6 of 12 shots including 4 of 7 triples) to go with 3 steals and 1 assist. Harris posted 14 points (5 of 9 shots, 2 of 3 triples), 5 rebounds, 2 steals, and 2 assists.
Add an inbounds layup, though it was temporarily knocked away, for Sene to the ledger and it was a well-executed final 10 minutes on offense for the Hoos.
“We just trust in each other. We’re a very mature team and have a lot of veterans,” Zeglinski told the Virginia Sports Radio Network. “We just thrive off of each other. We’re really unified this year and people stepped up tonight. It was great. … I think everyone contributed in their own way and we were able to pull out the W.”
Pulling out W’s has become a common thing for this season’s Cavaliers, who have hopes of returning to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2007 and for only the third time since Y2K arrived. To reach that goal, the Hoos will have to continue their strong play during the ACC portion of the schedule. Virginia begins conference games with Miami on Saturday at 6 p.m. in the John Paul Jones Arena.
Bennett knows his team will have to play with the same focus and alertness on defense as well as the same execution on offense to keep picking up victories this season.
“I tell our guys when you’re locked in and right [good things happen]. Our word before the game was conviction. When you play with conviction in every area then you have a chance to compete against good ball clubs wherever it is,” Bennett told the Virginia Sports Radio Network. “That’s certainly what we’re going to have to do night in and night out in our league.”
