The Virginia basketball team has played numerous close games this season, but at this time of the year a close loss can end your season. For the second straight game, the Cavaliers lived up to the ‘survive and advance’ billing of postseason play with a close win in the NIT.
After ousting Mississippi State by three points in the tournament opener, the Hoos overcame a late regulation surge and a final shot at the overtime buzzer from host North Texas to prevail 71-69 on Sunday. That pushed UVA into the NIT Quarterfinals.
“We had really good stretches of ball, but certainly some of our warts, or whatever, showed,” Virginia coach Tony Bennett said. “Missed some free throws, don’t secure a rebound, untimely or unsound fouls, not snatching a ball. Again it’s so good to be in this position, to be in this setting and to have to grow and learn from it. Of course, you advance and you’re thankful for that. But every game goes up, you’ve got to tighten the screws with a level of soundness and at times, we get unsound. We’ve got to keep going. A lot to learn from, a lot to be thankful for and again good play from some key guys. I think everybody gave us some great boosts.”
Sunday night’s victory featured the survival theme in numerous ways.
The Cavaliers built a 10-point lead early in the second half, but clung to a four-point lead entering the final three minutes. The Mean Green, however, turned an offensive rebound into a 3-pointer plus a foul with 2:30 to go. That disqualified Kadin Shedrick with 5 fouls. The four-point play from Tylor Perry tied the game at 55-55 and gave the hosts all the momentum. UVA missed its final four shots of regulation and committed a shot clock violation to stay stuck on 55, but North Texas couldn’t score either and Perry’s final shot fell well short to send it the extra session.
Then came overtime. Thanks to a trio of 3’s from Armaan Franklin, Virginia again had a two-possession lead entering the final three minutes at 64-58. This time, Francisco Caffaro got whistled for a foul at the rim and then reacted toward the official to earn a technical too. That sent Caffaro to the bench with 5 fouls too. UNT made 3 of 4 free throws to slice the deficit in half. The Hoos responded to get the lead back to 68-61 on a Reece Beekman layup at the 1:39 mark.
There was drama to come in the final minute, though. Jayden Gardner and Kody Stattmann missed shots near the rim, while Mardrez McBride (21 points) canned a 3-pointer for the hosts to get the lead down to four. Beekman and Stattmann each missed the front end of a 1-and-1 free throw opportunity before Perry (16 points, 4 rebounds, 2 assists) scored to make it 68-66 with 16 seconds to go. Momentarily, Gardner calmed the concerns with two makes at the line but UVA gave up an offensive rebound, a putback, and fouled with the four-point lead to bring the stress level up again. Thomas Bell (12 points, 12 rebounds) finished the old-fashioned 3-point play for UNT to make it 70-69 when the Mean Green sent Kihei Clark to the line with 4 seconds to go.
Clark missed the first free throw, but made the second. So much like the Florida State game at the John Paul Jones Arena late this season, Virginia needed to survive – there that word is again – a final length of the court possession. Perry caught the baseball pass, made a move, and fired but the buzzer-beating attempt hit too high and hard on the backboard so the Hoos won despite the late-game jitters.
“Just being able to play in the postseason and figuring out how to win games like this is big for our team going forward,” Franklin said. “It’s a privilege to be playing in March. Some teams are already at home so to be able to keep playing and gel and mesh more as a team is always good.”
UVA had a similar experience late against Mississippi State with three missed free throws in the final 20 seconds.
“We fixed it after the game. We got it all solved so don’t worry about it – we did a little exercise so we’re good to go,” Bennett said with a smile. “I think we could have certainly made it easier on ourselves, but you have to come up with stops and to be put in those spots, not ideal, but that was the craziness of the ending of the game in so many different ways.”
The late-game sequences obviously had a lot to do with the final outcome, but so did a balanced scoring effort from the Wahoos. They had four players with at least 9 points in the win, including double-digit performances from Gardner (17), Franklin (17), Beekman (13), and Clark (11). Stattmann just missed with 9 points, but got double digits in rebounds with a career-high 10 boards.
Interestingly, the scoring was balanced but a lot of it also came in individual bunches after halftime.
After a Stattmann 3-pointer and a dunk by UNT’s Abou Ousmane (16 points, 4 rebounds), Beekman started the trend with 7 straight points in a minute early in the half. The first bucket came when he stole the ball and raced down for a layup. The second was a spot-up 3-pointer on the right wing. The third followed a steal by Clark, who took the ball downcourt and missed the transition layup but Beekman hustled behind the play for the putback at the 17:01 mark that forced a North Texas timeout with Virginia ahead 36-26.
That little flurry was part of another big night for Beekman. Already the newly minted single season steals leader for the program, he added 3 steals in this game to get to 73. He finished with 13 points, 7 rebounds, and 9 assists too. Those helpers moved him into 8th on the program’s single season assists list just one behind Clark’s 176 in 2019-2020. In the two NIT games, Beekman has 27 points on 11-16 shooting with 10 rebounds, 15 assists, and 7 steals.
Right after the Beekman burst, it was Gardner’s turn. He scored the Hoos’ next 8 points with a pair of jumpers and a pair of layups. He had 17 points, 3 rebounds, 2 assists, and 1 steal. He has scored in double figures in 28 games this season at Virginia.
Neither of those scoring strings matched what was to come from Franklin. The guard scored the final 8 points for UVA in regulation, which included 2 triples. He wasn’t done. In fact, he started overtime on fire with another 3 3-pointers in a row. The first couple broke scoreboard ties, while the third gave the team a 6-point lead at 64-58.
Combined, Franklin connected regulation and overtime with 17 straight points in his best Bryant Stith impersonation. Stith, of course, ripped off 19 straight points against Notre Dame back in 1991. Franklin ended up with all 17 of his points during his personal flurry as well.
“We really challenged him at halftime because I said he did not come out ready,” Bennett said. “Coach [Jason] Williford said it – ‘We need you, these guys need you. You’re a better player than you showed in that first half.” – Not just missed shots, I’m talking about a couple of things. Boy did he ever respond. And that says something. You challenge someone and they respond. That was good to see. We needed those shots and he played some good defense so I was so happy for him.”
The Cavaliers’ ninth non-conference win of the year pushed their record to 21-13 and set up a date with St. Bonaventure in the NIT Quarterfinals. The Bonnies upset top seed Oklahoma on the road Sunday night as well and are 22-9 on the season. With the top four seeds out in this quadrant, the game is scheduled for 7 p.m. on Tuesday at the John Paul Jones Arena. Tickets go on sale Monday morning at 9 a.m.
The winner earns a trip to Madison Square Garden in New York for the semis.
Let’s not forget Jay Huff’s crazy start against Miami a couple seasons ago. Scored first 17 points in a game that only got into the 40s. We needed every one of those!
Glad to see Coach Bennett like a fire under Franklin. He played up to early expectations. Go Hoos!