One day after the Virginia men’s basketball program dispatched of Virginia Tech in Blacksburg to improve to 23-2 overall and 11-2 in Atlantic Coast Conference play, head coach Tony Bennett was on hand at the Birdwood Grill for another edition of “Coach’s Corner.” Coach Bennett discussed a variety of topics ranging from turnovers to free throw shooting to recruiting with the voice of the Cavaliers, Dave Koehn, on Tuesday night (February 19).
(Click hereClick hereClick here to view the show in its entirety.)
Virginia blew out Virginia Tech by 22 in the first meeting in Charlottesville. Coach Bennett was asked about the rematch with a team the Hoos beat handily the first time around. Is it hard to maintain that edge?
“I think that you have to understand that every game is a new game,” Bennett said. “It does not matter what you did against that team. Now sometimes there are certain matchups, things help. When you play a game, there’s so many variables – we shot great against Virginia Tech the first half here. They played us fairly even in the second half here.”
Virginia took care of business in Blacksburg on Monday, ultimately taking a 64-58 victory and earning a regular season sweep of its in-state rival. The Hoos downed Notre Dame, 60-54, two days earlier in Charlottesville. After crushing the Fighting Irish by 27 in South Bend, a 6-point victory over one of the worst teams in the ACC this year left some Virginia fans scratching their heads. Bennett pointed out that Notre Dame played a lot of zone the second time around, and Coach Mike Brey challenged them to be more competitive than they were at home.
“You just don’t assume anything because there is not a huge discrepancy in teams. It’s just that way in college basketball,” Bennett said.
Does the rivalry with Virginia Tech burn any hotter than other rivalries?
“First of all, it’s really hot in that gym,” Bennett joked in response to the question from Koehn.
“You feel it,” Bennett later added. “You feel it from the crowd. It’s like when you go to Maryland, you can just tell, they don’t like you. And we don’t like them and you know how that goes. In there, you feel it. There was nothing, at least that I heard, that was disrespectful or anything, but it’s a feel.”
Bennett called the contest between the Hokies “hard fought. They play hard, we play hard.”
Dave Koehn asked Coach Bennett for his assessment of his team’s performance versus Virginia Tech game after having had a chance to watch film. Specifically, what did he like the most?
“I liked Jack Salt’s first free throw,” Bennett said, referring to the two free throws Salt received after a hook-and-hold flagrant foul was called on Tech’s Kerry Blackshear at the 19:00 mark of the second half. Salt made the first but missed the second. “I really liked that one. That was great.”
Bennett spoke about how Salt has “worked so hard” on improving his free throw shooting. The redshirt senior has changed his form, which Bennett believes may be helping if the two free throws in Blacksburg are any indication. The first shot swished. While the second missed, it had nice arch.
“I don’t know if anybody caught it, but he was like, ‘I’ll take it,’” Bennett said with a laugh.
Answering Koehn’s question further, Bennett said: “The second half mindset and physicality, how we played. Different guys stepped up, but that was good, minus the missed dunk at the end of the game. I didn’t like how we missed dunk at the end of the game and how we turned it over at the end of the half. Those two things, they got to me a little bit, but I liked our second half a lot because our guys moved hard offensively, they screened, they rebounded, and then defensively they got back and they rebounded on that. They were just more physical and tougher to play against. I thought they – I don’t know if I want to say touched on something, but that has to be our way for us to be as good as we can.”
“Our program and our team, it’s a blue-collar mindset, and there’s not one thing wrong with that,” Bennett continued. “It has to be that way, how we approach things, how we play. Physicality is part of that. Mental strength is part of that. In the second half I had a good feel about them.”
Virginia once led the country in fewest turnovers per game but now ranks fourth with an average of 9.4 per game. The Cavaliers have had 13 or more turnovers in four of their last six games. What is Coach Bennett seeing?
“Second half we were better against Virginia Tech,” Bennett said. “Part of it is good defense, of course. Some are unforced errors. Some of [the turnovers] are that. Some of ‘em are risky plays, but, you know, you just go to work at it. If I had the right answer, we wouldn’t be talking about this. You just want to tighten that up, and, again, you have to run your offense to score, you have to look, but some of ‘em have just been some offensive fouls or silly plays that are under our control, and some haven’t. It’s an important part. [Louisville is] very physical, so we’ll have to be right. We’ll have to be right because they defend well.”
Free Throw Shooting
The Cavaliers rank 43rd in the nation in free throw shooting percentage, making 74.9% from the charity stripe. However, UVA made just 10-of-18 (55.6%) against UNC and 7-of-12 versus Virginia Tech (58.3%). Bennett was asked by a fan how the team can get back on track.
“Didn’t you see Jack Salt make that shot,” Bennett said with a smile. “I thought we did great.”
“It’s been good overall, but you want to make ‘em, especially in those crunch times,” Bennett said. “It’s just putting yourself in those spots and working at it. I wish I had the answer for the perfect way, because those little areas – offensive rebounds, getting to the line, making ‘em, not missing front ends of bonuses – that you want to. Hopefully we’ll keep improving in that one.”
It should be noted that the Cavaliers, after making 2-of-4 in the first half against Notre Dame, drained 12-of-13 free throws (92.3%) in the second-half to close out the Irish this past Saturday.
Has the success of former Hoos such as Joe Harris, Malcolm Brogdon and Mike Scott paid dividends for Virginia on the recruiting trail?
“When I first got here, the recruiting pitch against us was, ‘Why would you go to Virginia? They’ll never win. You can’t win. You can’t compete in the ACC against the likes of those teams,’” Bennett said. “And then when we started to have success, it was, ‘Well, if you go there, you know you’re going to have to play defense, and you might not score as many points and it’s going to hurt your chances to go play in the NBA or professionally, so why would you go there?’ Well, we’ve had success as a team and there is some individual success where guys are going on to have impressive careers, whether it’s overseas in Europe, and of course the guys that are doing well in the NBA. These are guys who coming in weren’t ranked nearly as highly as some of the so-called high-ranking guys. They’re developing, they’re playing well, and then have that success. It’s the whole package. It’s not just basketball. It’s the men they’re becoming, and I think that’s the best thing we can sell.”
Harris, Brogdon, Scott, etc., “They’ve paved the way, so that’s good,” Bennett said. “You can’t say [you can’t get to the pros at Virginia] anymore because a lot of guys are starting to get those [professional basketball] opportunities.”
Coach Bennett discussed more recruiting: “I just think we’ve been blessed, we really have, to have the players our staff has recruited and to have the success the program has had. The good exposure. To see the young men come to John Paul Jones Arena and see the crowd and see the facilities. All those things are positive. Why wouldn’t you want to come to UVA? That’s what I say. Your players, they sell the program. It’s not the right place for everyone. You get the right guys and we try to find the right guys. We want them to love this place. We want them to be about this program and their own careers and understand the value of what UVA brings academically. All those things.”
Three pieces of good news from Coach Bennett
Bennett was happy to report three things to the crowd at Birdwood Grill …
–Joe Harris winning the NBA 3-Point Shooting Contest. He gets a trophy for the title as well as $60,000 according to UVA SID Erich Bacher.
–Malcolm Brogdon, whose nickname is “The Prez,” becoming the Vice President of the NBPA Executive Committee.
-Bennett’s friend, PGA golfer Steve Stricker, being named the United States Ryder Cup Captain in 2020. The event will be held at Whistling Straits Golf Course in Wisconsin.
More notes
– Bennett mentioned his team did some “uncharacteristic” things in the first half against Virginia Tech that put them out of position, enabling some easy baskets for the Hokies. He was asked why his players switched more on defense in the first half.
“That’s a great question,” Bennett said. “That was our halftime discussion.”
– More on Virginia’s performance in the second half versus the Hokies.
“First half, [Virginia Tech] missed some open looks,” Bennett said. “Second half, I thought we were there and bothered them better.”
Bennett said his team was left to hope Virginia Tech would miss in the first half. In the second half, the defense was in proper position and therefore not as much hoping the other team would miss.
“That’s a good feeling. That means the defense is ahead of the offense,” Bennett said.
– Bennett on Kyle Guy’s put-back dunk in the first half.
“He hustled down and he got it. Those are things, just those little plays that ignite a team,” Bennett said. “I thought De’Andre had a nice block. Certain things that happen. De’Andre in the second half, remember he missed a shot, he got the offensive rebound once or twice. That was a strong, physical play. That stuff ignites your team. Kyle did that for us in the first half with his offense, and obviously the put-back dunk.”
– Who would Bennett take in a 3-Point Contest that included himself, Guy, Klay Thompson (who CTB coached at Washington State), and Joe Harris?
“In college I’ll shoot ‘em all down, but not in the pros,” Bennett joked.
“Joe has improved his shot. Klay, that’s a different animal right there,” Bennett later said. “Kyle, when he gets it going, special. They’re all terrific. All have quick releases. I could talk about those guys forever and their shots.”
–Mamadi Diakite was the culprit on the wide-open missed dunk at the end of the Virginia Tech game. Dave Koehn said Mamadi told him he took a little extra time going over to Coach Bennett once the game was over. He wanted to let his coach calm down.
“That’s a veteran move,” Bennett joked.
– Bennett was asked if we’ll see more of the lineup of Jerome, Guy, Hunter, Key and Diakite.
“I think it’s just based on the feel, but that is a good lineup for sure and I thought they finished [the Virginia Tech] game well,” Bennett said.
“We’ve got an 8-man rotation. It could be any of those guys based on the team and how they are playing in that game and what’s needed. It’s a feel thing, too,” Bennett added.
– Bennett commented briefly on the upcoming opponent, Louisville, which plays host to the Hoos this Saturday at noon.
“They’re really good. They’re really good defensively and their physical,” Bennett said. “Very impressed with how they play. It’ll be hard fought.”
“They’re very physical,” Bennett said. “They try to guard hard defensively. They just look physical. A couple of the kids have really improved. They have a transfer that’s big and was really good against Duke.”
