When Tony Bennett accepted the head coaching position at the University of Virginia, he came seeking “chances at title fights”. That’s part of the message he relayed to his team prior to Saturday’s 2020-21 regular season finale against Louisville, which, thanks to Notre Dame’s upset win over Florida State earlier in the day, was Virginia’s chance to win the 2020-21 ACC Regular Season title. Fueled by Sam Hauser’s 24 points and a stingy defensive effort from start to finish, the Hoos claimed the crown with a 68-58 victory over the Cardinals in the KFC Yum! Center.
“It feels great,” Bennett said. “I told them before the game, I took this job at Virginia to hopefully have chances at title fights, and we talked about that. I can go back to the regular-season game against Syracuse that first year at John Paul Jones Arena where it was one of the most special atmospheres and games. Conference this year, yeah there’s different things, but we played the majority of our games on the road, all those things. To get it how we did it, I’m so grateful. It’s not lost on me. I’m sitting right now in the locker room where we had one of the biggest celebrations when we beat Purdue to go to the Final Four. Right across the hallway was our other one, we were throwing water and just so excited I said, “Congratulations to the 2021 ACC Regular-Season Champs.’ We talked about what a title fight meant and being able to live with the results win or lose, but lay it on the line and don’t yield, and to have those opportunities and special moments in this building and to see what some of the guys did and to get the contributions from the bench. Sam (Hauser), what he did was special. Trey (Murphy III) and just a bunch of guys I think made it taste sweeter. I’m so grateful, I really am because it’s been a unique year to say the least and we will remember it always. We’ll put a mask on the ACC trophy for sure.”
ACC regular-season champions!
🔸⚔️🔹 #GoHoos pic.twitter.com/jYKV2HPMlD— Virginia Men’s Basketball (@UVAMensHoops) March 6, 2021
In February losses at Florida State and at home against NC State, Virginia suffered from poor starts. From the jump on Saturday, though, the Cavaliers played quality basketball on both ends of the court. UVA built a 10-point first-half lead. Louisville responded and closed the gap to three points twice; however, the Hoos closed out the half by holding the home team scoreless over the final 3:09. Scores from Hauser and Reece Beekman gave the visitors a 28-21 cushion at halftime.
The trio of Hauser (10 points), Jay Huff (8) and Trey Murphy III (6) accounted for 24 of Virginia’s 28 first-half points, while Virginia’s starting backcourt of Kihei Clark and Reece Beekman led the first-half defensive effort. Clark harassed Louisville’s dynamic guard Carlik Jones, who was averaging 17.6 points per game and is an ACC Player of the Year candidate, to zero first-half points on 0-of-8 shooting. Beekman had a hand in limiting Jones too while also defending guard David Johnson, who had six points on 3-of-7 shooting in the first 20 minutes. Huff frustrated the Cardinals around the basket, coming up with three first-half blocks.
Seeking his first ever championship on the collegiate level, Hauser carried the Cavalier offense in the first 10 minutes of the second half. The 6’8” senior sharpshooter scored 14 of UVA’s first 18 second-half points, including a run of 10 straight – the final five of which pushed the Virginia lead from 41-38 to 46-38 with 12:58 remaining.
The most important stretch of the game would come with Hauser on the bench. Louisville pulled to within four, 51-47, on a Jones layup at the 10:27 mark. Less than a minute later Hauser was whistled for his third foul, sending Louisville redshirt freshman forward Jae-Lyn Withers to the line for a chance to cut the deficit to two and Hauser to the bench. Huff was subbed out as well.
Rather than falter with two of their best players sidelined, the No. 21 Hoos surged. Withers missed both free throws, and by the 6:18 mark the Hoos had extended the lead to 60-49, thanks to seven points from reserves Justin McKoy and Tomas Woldetensae and a jumper from Murphy III. The unexpected spurt proved to be the knockout blow to the Cardinals, who never got closer than eight points throughout the final six-plus minutes.
“Man, those guys played their butts off,” Hauser said of the reserves who pushed the lead to double-digits. “On the defensive end they were phenomenal, and they were making really good plays on offense. I think that’s what really sealed us the game is that stretch when those guys were in and hats off to them, they played awesome tonight. We really needed everyone tonight because it was a hard-fought battle against a really good team.”
Joining Hauser in double-digit scoring for Virginia were Murphy III, who poured in 17 points on 7-of-12 shooting, and Huff, who finished with a solid stat line of 10 points, six rebounds and four blocks. Hauser led the Hoos with eight rebounds and chipped in two blocks. Murphy III had six boards and a block. The Hoos outrebounded the Cardinals, 34-30, and won the points in the paint battle, 32-22. Virginia made all 11 free throw attempts while the Cardinals finished 11-of-17.
Beekman scored six points, converting important baskets at the end of each half, and Clark scored two, but the duo combined for seven assists, two turnovers and a steal. UVA’s starting backcourt maintained their defensive intensity from beginning to end, as they limited Jones to six points on 2-of-15 shooting while Johnson finished with 14 points on 6-of-17 shooting. Louisville made 46.4% of its second-half shots but made only 36.8% from the field. Meanwhile, Virginia was only 3-of-15 from 3 but made 51.9% of its shots overall.
“I think Kihei, and then when Reece was on him, I thought they were really good,” Bennett said. “The guys helped, but I thought they took that challenge. Looking at the stats sheet, he’s a heck of a player and obviously he missed some shots, he was 2-of-15, but as it always is, can we make a really good player and their team take tough shots and earn their buckets. We caught a couple breaks. They missed a layup, they had us a few times and they could have cut it. But we’ll take it, and like I said, I thought we played tough sound basketball when we needed it most.”
Virginia received a spark from the bench for the second consecutive game. McKoy contributed four points and six rebounds in 18 minutes while Woldetensae had five points, three rebounds, one assist, and one block in 15 minutes.
Virginia basketball played one of its best games of the season when a title was on the line. As a result the Hoos (17-6, 13-4) are ACC Regular Season champs, a feat the program has accomplished now five times in the Tony Bennett era and 10 times in school history. Could this spark some postseason success and, perhaps, some more title bouts for this team? The next opportunity comes next week in the ACC Tournament in Greensboro. UVA has earned the top seed and will face the winner of Syracuse(8-seed)/NC State(9-seed) on Thursday (March 11) at noon.
“At the start of the year, this was one of our goals and check the box off, but we got a lot more to do for sure,” Hauser said. “It’s definitely great to get this championship and be a part of this program.”
“Super excited,” added Murphy III. “This is exactly what I came here for, and I wanted to play against the best competition and win championships at the highest level. I’m super excited, super proud of my guys, super proud of the coaching staff. We really put together a great game. There were stretches where they were making runs, and we just withstood those, and I was really happy about it.”
Great seasons hooo’s
I had to laugh at the Yum! Center being referred to as “JPJ West”… ha, but let’s not get cocky!