The Virginia basketball team wrapped up the ACC Regular Season Championship so early this season, it already had time to add a 2018 to the banner in the rafters of the John Paul Jones Arena ahead of the home finale. UVA unfurled the updated addition after the contest on Saturday.
The Hoos still found plenty of motivation for the showdown with Notre Dame, though. They wanted to send the seniors out with a Senior Day victory, hold onto the nation’s No. 1 ranking, become the first ACC team to win 17 league games in a season, and continue to improve with the postseason looming. The Cavaliers got all of that done with a 62-57 win against the Fighting Irish.
UVA finished the regular season 28-2 and 17-1 in the ACC, which could land as many as 10 teams in the NCAA Tournament field. The Hoos cleared the field by four games in the final standings. They’ve also won at least 28 games for the fourth time in five years.
“We don’t play until Thursday so we’ll probably have tonight and tomorrow to really reflect on the regular season and how amazing it was and really be thankful for it,” Virginia sophomore Ty Jerome said. “Our fans at every home game, they’re amazing, huge thank you to them. This team, we just didn’t give up all year; on the road, in tough environments, it was a great, great, great regular season. And we need to carry this momentum forward going into the best time of the year.”
The Cavaliers capped off the impressive run through the league with a tough battle against a Notre Dame team finally at full strength thanks to Bonzie Colson’s return after missing 15 games with a broken foot. Saturday’s contest featured eight lead changes and four ties, including four lead changes and three ties in the second half.
Each time the Irish tested the ACC leader, however, the Hoos had an answer. And often that answer was named Devon Hall. The fifth-year senior poured in 17 points on 5-of-10 shooting to go with six assists, five rebounds, and one steal in his final game at JPJ. It wasn’t just generic stat-sheet stuffing either – a lot of Hall’s production came at critical times.
With Notre Dame leading 44-41 at the 12:31 mark of the second half, Hall notched an assist on a pass to fellow senior Isaiah Wilkins for a jumper. Wilkins finished with eight points, six rebounds, two assists, two steals, and one blocked shot in his final game in his home arena. That included a pair of pressure free throws in the final three minutes.
On the trip after the pass to Wilkins, Hall picked up an assist to a cutting Mamadi Diakite for a soaring one-handed slam. That pushed UVA into the lead at 45-44 and the hosts never trailed again. Notre Dame forced one more tie after that at 47-47, but Hall responded with another assist to Jerome, a layup of his own, and two free throws to put the Hoos in the lead for good. Two more times, he kept the Fighting Irish at bay. With a three-point lead at the 6:16 mark, Hall drove for layup. With a one-point lead at 3:03, Hall got to the rim and scored again.
“You have to give Virginia credit,” ND coach Mike Brey said. “I thought [Devon] Hall was fabulous. Every time we put a little game pressure he made a big play and Tony [Bennett] has done a fabulous job with this group and they’re really good.”
While Hall came up with all those key plays in the second half, he had plenty of help as four other players tallied at least eight points. In addition to Wilkins’ eight in the scorebook, Jerome added 13 points, four rebounds, three assists, and two steals to the cause. De’Andre Hunter put in 10 points, six rebounds, two assists, and one steal as well. He also put the game away for good by making three free throws in the final 20 seconds with ND a single possession behind one last time too. Diakite also scored nine points for UVA.
Those last two led Virginia to a 19-0 edge in bench points as all five Notre Dame starters logged 33 or more minutes. Diakite has scored at least nine points in three of the last four games, while Hunter has scored in double figures 11 times in ACC play.
One player that didn’t score off the bench was Kyle Guy. He came in behind Nigel Johnson, who got the start for Senior Day. That marked the first time this season that UVA used a different starting five. Guy ended up not scoring at all, going 0-4 shooting in 18 minutes. The big story there was the fact that Guy left the game in the first half with a left knee injury that required a brace. He did return to play eight minutes after intermission, but the long-term prognosis for the injury was unknown.
“I would never have put him in the game, if he was not good to go,” Bennett said. “He was with [Head Trainer] Ethan [Saliba]. They tested him out. I asked Kyle, and he said ‘I am okay. I am good to go in.’ He seemed a little gimpy, but he was in there. He got popped [in the face] at the end so that is why he came out at the end. That had nothing to do with his knee. I really do not know [about his knee] right now. They will do some tests, and hopefully it is okay.”
With Guy going scoreless, the Hoos needed all the other production thanks to Colson’s return. He threw up 24 points, 15 rebounds, and one blocked shot for the visitors. That included a monster first half where he had 18 points and nine rebounds; he went 6-of-12 shooting with 3-of-5 shooting from 3-point range as part of that line. He scored 18 of his team’s 27 points in the first 20 minutes before Wilkins helped slow him down some after intermission. He had six points and six rebounds in the second half on 3-of-8 shooting.
Notre Dame got 14 points and 10 rebounds from Martinas Geben as well, but everyone outside of the starting frontcourt struggled shooting. Matt Farrell scored nine points, but finished just 3-of-15 shooting. TJ Gibbs added eight points, but went 2-of-7 shooting. Rex Pflueger made one of four shots for two points.
As a team, ND shot 35.8%from the field and 29.2% from 3-point range. That’s the 29th time in 30 games that the opponent failed to reach 50% against UVA’s defense.
That, of course, has been the key thread running through this season’s success. Fittingly, the regular season ended with a shot clock violation by Notre Dame in the final 25 seconds as Wilkins blanketed Colson and then leapt with both hands in the air to contest the shot. Much like Hall’s continued plays in the second half, that’s a good snapshot for a senior in his final game at the JPJ.
“It means everything. You always try to play for your seniors,” Bennett said. “There is a lot of emotion, of course, and to do what we did was special. I remember doing that with past groups, but to come to halfcourt and just look those three seniors in the eye and say, ‘Thank you’ – you could see how much it meant to those guys. That was for us to thank the crowd. Win or lose, I told them before, we are going to thank the crowd for an incredible home stand – their passion and their support.”
Virginia Basketball Final Stats
