Virginia Posts Another Thrilling Game-Winner On The Road Under Tony Bennett

By: Kris Wright |

The Tony Bennett era at Virginia has produced some thrilling moments outside of Charlottesville for Virginia fans. Of course, the run to the 2019 National Championship featured a few nail-biting wins on neutral courts so any of the finishes against Purdue, Auburn, or Texas Tech fit the bill.

The UVA basketball team also has came through in front of tough crowds in road venues. The most recent example came Monday night when the Hoos shocked No. 7 Duke at Cameron Indoor Stadium with a last-second shot to win 69-68. Guard Reece Beekman came through in the clutch for the second time in his career as he buried a 3-pointer with 1.1 seconds to dispatch the Devils.

Here’s the play from different angles.

Beekman has lots of company from the Bennett era, though. Here are some memorable road moments for the Wahoos.

Tomas Woldetensae – Virginia Beats UNC

Here’s Tomas Woldetensae from the corner in Chapel Hill.

Kihei Clark – Virginia Over Virginia Tech

Virginia added another one at Virginia Tech when Kihei Clark nailed a 3-pointer with 2.6 seconds to go to win 56-53. Here it is:

De’Andre Hunter – Virginia Miracle In Louisville

For the buzzer-beaters, the most famous from the Wahoos in an ACC regular season game probably came on the road at Louisville. Trailing by two with just 0.9 seconds to go, UVA forced an inbounds violation defensively and then got one final chance to save its No. 1 ranking in the national polls. De’Andre Hunter delivered with a game-winner off the glass.

Darius Thompson – UVA Banks A Win At Wake Forest

One good bank shot deserves another. No one can forget the Darius Thompson banked buzzer-beater at Wake Forest in 2016 either. That miracle shot, which also came following a crazy late-game rally, broke some hearts in Winston-Salem.

Malcom Brogdon – Virginia Original Game-Winner At Pitt

Before the bank was open on those two trips, Malcolm Brogdon hit a game-winning jumper at Pittsburgh that brought out a giant smile. That one gave UVA 48-45 win in the final second.

More Memorable Road Moments

Of course, not every late road silencer has been a game-winner. Here are a few:

Look no further than Ty Jerome at Duke for a shot that’s etched into Virginia lore. Jerome faked a pass to no one, squared up a long 3-pointer, and nailed it to help UVA seal a 65-63 win with 37.6 seconds remaining.

In 2019, Kyle Guy drained a corner 3-pointer at NC State with 2:00 to go that broke a 61-61 tie in overtime and UVA went on to win 66-65.

In 2015, Justin Anderson did it at Miami by sinking an overtime 3-pointer with 12.1 seconds to go that tied the game at 71-71. UVA won in double overtime 89-80.

Check out the original version of this article here.

3 Responses You are logged in as Test

  2. Whenever I’m down about UVA basketball, I think I’ll just look at all those video clips to lift my spirits.

    2 comments:
    (1) The 2nd video, which shows the Hoos in the dressing room, reminds me of just how young these guys are. Talk about the joy of competition.

    (2) The 3rd video, with the view of the play from behind the baseline, shows how hard it was to just inbound the ball. Duke covered us well on the inbounds pass. Roach was guarding Kihei & he was unable to get around a double screen set by Jayden & Kadin, but Banchero left Kadin & picked up Kihei. Reece didn’t have much room to get the ball to Kihei. Reece tossed it softly — almost delicately — to Kihei & the pass bounced near the sideline. Kihei did a nice job of just catching that pass. (If he had dropped it, the ball probably would have hit the sideline.) In other words, the play didn’t get off to a good start, but Kihei & Reece kept their heads & improvised nicely. (I am reminded of the Rudyard Kipling quote: “If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs… Yours is the earth and everything that’s in it, And — which is more — you’ll be a Man, my son!”)

  3. Of course, we have all known since the Purdue game that Kihei keeps his head when all around him are losing theirs and that Kihei definitely knows how to improvise. The Duke game was just a reminder of his remarkable qualities.

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