No stops. No scores. That’s not a good combination at any point in a basketball game, but it’s particularly problematic in a close game in the final 10 minutes. Unfortunately for Virginia, it’s the exact combination that bubbled up Saturday and it proved costly in a 63-55 loss to Wake Forest at the John Paul Jones Arena.
The loss snapped a nine-game winning streak in the series for UVA, which included six straight at the JPJ.
“I thought, for the most part, we played pretty hard defensively,” Cavalier coach Tony Bennett said. “But they made some plays down the stretch and often times games come down to can you go make a play on either offense or defense. … Again, I think they made some plays and I thought we left a lot of baskets out there too. The ability to finish some of those when we had some layups and then just a couple lapses, whether it was defensive rebounding or something at crucial times, it was just enough. The reality is, I told the guys, you play as hard as you can for as long as you can. When you’ve done that, you’ve been in possession games down the stretch. And then you’ve got to be sound and make some plays. Again, Wake Forest certainly did a better job of that, and it was tough because we had some opportunities and played good stretches of basketball.”
The Hoos entered the game’s closing stretch in good shape. They had built a 47-40 lead with 10:23 to go thanks to an 11-4 run and there were opportunities to add to that after a Bennett timeout. Instead, the hosts missed three straight shots and failed to take advantage of back-to-back Wake turnovers sandwiched in between those attempts. Those three attempts came from Armaan Franklin, who had been hot most of the day, Jayden Gardner, as part of a struggle overall for him, and Reece Beekman, who had a clean look from the corner.
It turned out to be the front end of a long drought offensively that saw the lead evaporate and eventually turn into a deficit too tough to overcome.
After Gardner’s basket at 10:23, Virginia didn’t score again until 3:35 to go when Beekman drove for a bucket. That 6:48 of game action featured 7 missed shots in a row and 2 turnovers. Two of those shots were layups, part of a bigger theme on the day as UVA finished 6-23 shooting on attempts labeled as layups in the box score. A lot of that came from the front line where Gardner, Francisco Caffaro, and Kadin Shedrick combined to shoot 6 of 26 in the game with many of those coming in the paint.
Overall, the Cavaliers shot 36.2% (21-58) but breaking that out into 2’s and 3’s shows a big part of the problem. UVA hit 5 of 13 3’s for 38.5%, but only 16 of 45 2’s for 35.6%. They did pick up assists on 17 of 21 made shots, but had 11 turnovers too and obviously the shooting woes near the rim.
Franklin led Virginia with 18 points on 7-11 shooting overall and 3-5 shooting from 3-point range. He added 3 assists, 3 rebounds, and 1 steal. Beekman chipped in 6 points, 7 assists, and 5 steals, while Gardner posted 9 points and 4 rebounds with a tough 3-14 shooting line. Kody Stattmann came in with a big lift off the bench as he tallied 11 points to match a career high.
Franklin, who sat for 3:10 during the 6:48 dry spell, said the team tries to find good shots to snap scoring droughts. The Cavaliers couldn’t break through in that second half stretch.
“I think offensively we’re always trying to look for a good shot and especially when we’re not scoring we’re trying to look for an easy shot, create easy looks,” Franklin said. “I think that sometimes they [Wake Forest] did a good job taking those away and making us force up shots late in the shot clock, but for the most part we’re looking for smart shots.”
With no scores coming on offense, the Hoos needed stops on defense. They didn’t get those either.
While UVA struggled to get the ball in the basket in the final 10 minutes, Wake Forest found a groove. The visitors scored on 11 out of 12 possessions before dribbling out the clock in the final seconds. Daivien Williamson started that closing surge with a 3-pointer at the 8:13 mark, Isaiah Mucius gave his team the lead for good with a 3 at the 6:19 mark, and Alondes Williams capped a decisive 17-4 streak with a layup at 2:31. The lone blemish down the stretch was a turnover from Williams (he had 8 in the game).
Despite that impressive closing kick, the Demon Deacons weren’t perfect in the final 8 minutes. They missed 6 shots in that time frame, but got offensive rebounds on all of those and scored on each possession. That was part of 17 second chance points in the game. Two sequences capture how those critical possessions sapped Virginia’s chances of winning. At approximately the 7:30 mark and still trailing, Wake Forest missed a 3, got the rebound, missed another 3, got the rebound, and then scored. At approximately the 5:30 mark with a one-point lead, Reece Beekman blocked Alondes Williams, but Williams got the rebound, missed a layup attempt, got the rebound again, and scored on a putback.
Jake LaRavia led four Deacs in double figures with 15 points. William had 14, while Williamson and Mucius added 12 each. The visitors shot 45.1% (23-51) overall and 33.3% from 3 (6-18). Wake Forest had 13 offensive rebounds to add its name to a growing list this season against UVA in that category. The Hoos tried to make a late run with 8 points in the final 3:35, but the lack of stops defensively eliminated the comeback hopes.
“We’ve used this term a lot since I’ve come on board but this probably has to be [one of] the grittiest, grimiest, toughest wins that we’ve had in my tenure and probably in a long time,” WF coach Steve Forbes said. “I don’t think we’ve won in this building since 2010. It was a back and forth tough affair. It was a very physical game, and I thought our guys handled that very, very well. … I thought we had some gritty plays late. Khadim Sy had an unbelievable offensive rebound, he went out of his area to get it. Isaiah [Mucius] made a big time shot at the end of the shot clock. Alondes just willed the one ball in and I think he got three offensive rebounds in one possession. He just kept going back at it. … All in all, it was a tremendous win for our team.”
