Share and shoot it well. That’s a simple-sounding formula, but it worked the Virginia basketball team on Saturday.
The Cavaliers dished out a season-high 23 assists and all five starters shot 50% or better individually for the first time this season as UVA dispatched Miami, 71-58, at the John Paul Jones Arena. The Hoos have won three straight home games by double digits after adding the 13-point win to previous 12-point victories against Louisville and Boston College. They led for the final 33:35 after shaking off a few turnovers early. They now own a 14-9 record overall with an 8-5 mark in the ACC.
“We started a little sluggish, I felt we were a little out of sorts early,” Virginia coach Tony Bennett said. “We had four turnovers before the media timeout, they got down on the floor, and then from that point on, I thought we established some real quality basketball on both ends. And the guys worked. We knew before, playing against Miami, with teams like that you’re going to have to beat them, they’re not going to lose.”
The Wahoos did exactly that as they carved up the Hurricane defense throughout the game. They piled up the aforementioned 23 assists on 30 made baskets. Those helpers included a combination of pocket passes, alley-oops, and kickout looks that led to dunks, layups, and open jumpers on possession after possession. The sharp passing led to a 60% shooting performance as the hosts made 30 of 50 shots in the win.
This wasn’t a case of a hot shooting night for just a couple of players upping the percentage either. All seven players in the regular rotation made 50% of their shots or better. Armaan Franklin led all scorers with 22 points on 8-16 shooting, which included a key 3-point shot just before halftime. He added 3 rebounds, 4 assists, and 4 steals as well. Jayden Gardner and Kihei Clark joined him double figures. Gardner made 6 of 9 shots to finished with 12 points, 7 rebounds, 4 assists, and 1 steal, while Clark made 4 of 8 shots to post 11 points, 2 rebounds, 3 assists, and 3 steals.
Reece Beekman just missed a double-double with 9 points and 10 assists, the second time in four games that he’s had double-digit assist numbers. He added 2 rebounds, 2 steals, and 1 blocked shot. That’s the eighth time in nine games that Beekman has had at least one steal and one block; he’s currently on a 13-game steal streak. Francisco Caffaro rounded out the strong shooting night for the starters as he made 4 of 4 shots to post 8 points and 5 rebounds. Kadin Shedrick had a perfect night from the field too as he made 3 of 3 attempts for 6 points and 4 rebounds. Finally, Kody Stattmann made 1 of 2 shots for 3 points, 1 assist, and 1 steal.
“I feel like today was a good day for us as a team,” Beekman said. “We were all on the same page, and we were all really clicking. I feel like when we are all together as one team we are hard to beat and we showed that today.”
An example of being on the same page came during a critical final minute in the first half. Virginia held a 30-26 lead after a Miami 3-pointer with 48 seconds to go, but doubled that advantage by intermission. The Hoos came out of a timeout with one of their ball screen looks that set up a quick high-low connection between Gardner and Shedrick that led to an easy dunk. The Hurricanes missed on the other end, perhaps shooting a second or two too early in the shot clock, and the Cavaliers raced down for a final shot. Beekman dropped a trail pass to Franklin and he nailed a buzzer-beating 3-pointer near the top of the key for a 35-26 halftime lead.
After being within four points just 48 seconds earlier, Miami never got within two possessions again. In fact, Beekman made his only 3-point attempt at the 16:43 mark of the second half to push the margin to 42-30 and the lead never fell into single digits again. The pair of 3-pointers helped build the lead and Virginia made 8 of 15 long-range attempts in the win (53.3%).
“We as a trio we [Kihei Clark, Armaan Franklin, and Reece Beekman] spend a lot of time together, on and off the court,” Franklin said. “Our chemistry and confidence in each other keeps continuing to grow game by game. As we continue to play with each other more and more, I think it’ll show more on the court.”
The defenses’ best results came outside of forcing missed shots, though. Both teams had 13 turnovers as a result of take-aways. Miami logged 13 steals to create those 13 turnovers, while UVA had 11 steals too. Neither team fouled much either so the Cavaliers had three late free throw attempts and Miami had none. That essentially led to a game where both teams either made a lot of shots or turned the ball over on most of the possessions.
The Hurricanes actually matched Virginia’s hot shooting night thanks to a really strong second half. They made 15 of 23 shots in the second half (65.2%) to finish at 54% shooting for the game. Kameron McGusty led the way with 21 points on 9-13 shooting, while Charlie Moore added 17 on 8-13 shooting. The Canes had 14 assists too. Ultimately, however, the visitors couldn’t keep up behind the arc. While UVA made 8 of 15 triples, Miami made just 4 of 17 (23.5%).
“Teams in the ACC they’re all very good basketball teams. When you play in the ACC every team is a very good team and especially at home where teams play very, very well. Virginia played a very good game tonight,” Cane coach Jim Larranaga said. “They shot the ball extremely well. Not only from two but from three-point range and we didn’t. We went 2 for 12 at halftime, 4 for 17 from the game against Virginia because they pack it in so much and we’re not a post-up team anyway. You got to make threes and at 4 for 17, it’s not very good. If you look overall we shot 54 percent from the field because we made our two-point shots, we just didn’t make our threes. We struggled defensively to keep pressure on them.”
