The old saying goes “it’s not how you start, it’s how you finish” but that’s certainly not true for this season’s Virginia basketball team. In fact, how the Cavaliers play in the first half has been a significant indicator of results this season. On Saturday at Notre Dame, UVA fell behind before intermission and never caught up in a 69-65 loss to the Irish.
That marked the 10th time this season that the Hoos trailed at the half and they now own a 2-8 record in those games. They have a 9-1 record when leading at halftime.
“We’ve not been able to be that efficient offensively against their program, against their defense. … We’ve had a hard time playing against that,” Notre Dame coach Mike Brey said. “It’s a grind playing against that system and we were pretty mentally and physically tough to figure it out tonight.”
Given Virginia’s success rate when trailing at intermission, the final nine minutes of the first half turned out to be critical at Purcell Pavilion. The game stood tied at 19-19 with 8:44 to go thanks to a Jayden Gardner layup as part of a big outing, but 50 seconds later the Irish had the lead again. Paul Atkinson Jr. hit a hook and a layup in the same minute, while Dane Goodwin knocked down a 3-pointer as the hosts uncorked a 7-0 run. Virginia spent the rest of the night trying to catch up, but only got within one possession three times – once at 2:55 in the first half and twice in the final 14 seconds of the game as part of a frantic finish.
Otherwise, Notre Dame controlled the contest after that key flurry. The lead steadied at seven points again by halftime and grew to 15 points in the first nine minutes of the second half. Goodwin had a lot to do with that surge too. He drained back-to-back 3-pointers at 12:57 and 11:50 to push his team ahead 52-37.
Goodwin finished with 16 points on 4-6 shooting from 3-point range, but had plenty of help as the Irish placed four players in double figures. Nate Laszewski matched his total with 16 points to go with 6 rebounds, 2 steals, and 1 blocked shot. Atkinson added 14 points, 9 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 blocked shots, and 1 steal. Blake Wesley also had 14 points plus 7 assists, while Prentiss Hubb chipped in 7 points and 3 assists too. All five of those players logged 28+ minutes in the win.
ND shot 46.8% (22-47) for the game, which included 43.5% (10-23) from 3-point range. The Irish scored 12 fastbreak points. It all added to a key story in Bennett’s mind: the Hoos simply didn’t get stops with any consistency.
“They’re a hard one [to guard]. At times good, at times not good,” UVA coach Tony Bennett said on the Virginia Sports Radio Network. “We got split on the ball screen. We tried to switch a little bit one through four – we were trying just to get in front. There was enough breakdowns I think that will frustrate us. … From a defensive standpoint, stretches of good and stretches where we didn’t communicate well. A team that does not communicate, all the years I’ve coached, if you don’t communicate on offense or defense, you will be very streaky and mediocre. I didn’t see quality out of timeouts when it was really important of good communication – hey we’re switching this, this is the call or what we’re doing. That’s part of college basketball. We’ll keep working at that.”
With cracks appearing frequently in the defense, the Hoos’ hopes of getting another ACC road win needed a boost from the offense. They didn’t get that in the first half as they shot just 34.5% with 6 turnovers, due in part to a 1-1-3 zone look from ND. They got on track quickly in the second half by making 5 of their first 8 shots, but that unfortunately turned out to be a trading 2’s for 3’s scenario. Laszewski hit a pair of treys during that hot start and Goodwin’s aforementioned 3-pointers followed en route to the 15-point lead.
Virginia made three straight shots in response and kept trying to claw back in the final 10 minutes. The visitors ended up shooting 56.7% (17-30) in the second half and landed at 45.8% (27-59) for the game as a result. They also had four players in double figures for scoring. Gardner led the charge with 22 points and 10 rebounds as part of a one-two punch on the interior with Francisco Caffaro. He too had a double-double, the first of his career, with 11 points and 12 rebounds.
Reece Beekman tallied 13 points, 2 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal, and 1 blocked shot. Kihei Clark put together a late surge with two layups, a 3-pointer, and a free throw in the final minute to finish with 12 points, 3 rebounds, 6 assists, and 1 steal. Clark’s points in the final minute came as part of a last-ditch rally fueled in part by a pair of Notre Dame turnovers. The Irish nearly had another after a Beekman dunk to cut the lead to 65-62, but Cormac Ryan tiptoed the sideline to save the ball and tossed it all the way toward his basket where Goodwin ran it down. He made two free throws with 14 seconds left and Clark’s lone 3-pointer to answer wasn’t enough because Hubb put the game away with two final free throws.
Ultimately, the trading 2’s for 3’s theme prevailed. Clark hit 1 of 5 attempts from downtown, while Beekman went 1-3. Armaan Franklin made 1 of 5 triples and Kody Stattmann missed his only attempt. The Hoos posted 21.4% shooting from 3-point range (3-14) and even after getting a few more stops in the second half than the first, Notre Dame still made 6 triples after halftime to cancel out the Virginia surge on the interior.
“We got some turnovers. We kind of went down the floor and pressed them, scrambled a little bit, made some shots, drove hard, got a few stops,” Bennett said. “I told the guys, a valiant comeback to get them in that spot. … We battled in there and fought our way back, again by turning them over at the end to close it but there was some good execution down the stretch and we had just a couple of thinking breakdowns and then missed a few easy layups that you just need if you’re going to make a comeback in that setting and we didn’t quite have enough.”
