The Virginia and Michigan basketball teams looked so comfortable on offense in the first half Tuesday night that it reminded UVA coach Tony Bennett of Hors d’Oeuvres hour at a wedding reception. Players freely mingling around and choosing what they wanted to try.
Bennett, who often relishes terms like knuckle-busters as game descriptors, wanted a lot more grit and tenacity after halftime from his team. The Hoos delivered. They rallied from a double-digit deficit to start the second half and pulled out a 70-68 win in the ACC-Big Ten Challenge.
“We kind of needed to take the tuxedo off in the first half,” Bennett said on the Virginia Sports Radio Network with Jimmy Miller. “We played with a tuxedo on – that’s what my dad always used to say, meaning we didn’t want to kind of get gritty and dirty. We were proper. … You’re in the Midwest, it’s where I grew up, and this was physical basketball. It’s what we want to do at Virginia. I thought we were a little too finesse to start the game in the first half defensively. Second half, the guys responded, and I’ll watch the tape, but I thought we had more grit and fight. You’ll never win a good game if you don’t have some of that so I’m glad the guys responded.”
The difference showed up in the stats. Michigan rolled to a 45-34 lead at intermission while shooting a sizzling 61.3% from the field. The Wolverines made 19 of 31 shots in the first half, which included 7 of 13 3-pointers (53.8%). They also routinely got paint points as center Hunter Dickinson caused all kinds of problems around the basket, while the perimeter players created some issues off the dribble. The Wolverines ended up with 16 points in the paint in that half to go with the hot 3-point shooting. They also attempted no free throws, perhaps a sign of the buttoned up defense that Bennett referenced above.
UVA made some adjustments at halftime to try to turn the tide defensively. The Cavaliers contested Dickinson’s catches around the blocks more and had some success moving him a little farther away on some of his touches. Bennett also said he got a little too cute coaching wise with how the Hoos approached Dickinson in the first half, mixing up coverages and trying to keep him off balance. In the second half, Virginia came much more quickly and aggressively with double teams in Dickinson’s direction, but also upped the ball pressure and walled off the paint for the guards as well.
Michigan made just 7 of 18 shots in the second half for a much lower 38.9% clip. The hosts made just 1 of 6 triples (16.7%) after intermission too. The Hoos reduced the points in the paint by half with the Wolverines getting just 8 there in the final 20 minutes. While Michigan did get more free throws (8-10), the overall dividends defensively were pretty easy to see. Dickinson hit 2 of 7 shots in the second half after he went 7-10 in the first half. That led to less space and opportunities for others.
Dickinson finished with 23 points to lead all scorers, while Jett Howard added 15 and Kobe Bufkin had 11.
“The game really was defensively in the second half – we were really poor, credit to them offensively, in the first half,” Bennett said on the Virginia Sports Radio Network with Jimmy Miller. “We were stretched. We were not bothering shots. We got after it in the second half and the guys responded.”
With the defense in better shape, Virginia was able to reel in the 11-point deficit at halftime despite having its own slight dip on offense. In the first half, UVA made 14 of 25 shots for a 56.0% clip. That dropped to 46.4% after the half as the Hoos made 13 of 28 shots. Overall, it added up to a solid performance offensively. The Wahoos shot 50.9% overall (27-53), 50.0% from 3 (4-8), and 63.2% on free throws (12-19). It added up to 70 points once again, a threshold Virginia has reached in all six games so far. That’s bad news for opponents, of course, as Bennett’s teams at UVA own a 150-11 record when scoring at least 70 in his tenure.
The balanced scoring theme from earlier games followed suit again too. Reece Beekman led the way with 18 points, 4 rebounds, and 5 assists. Most of that scoring punch came in the first half when he had 15 points as Beekman played through an ankle sprain for most of the second half. Fellow guard Kihei Clark had it going too with 16 points and 4 assists. The Cerberus frontcourt combined for 34 points as well. Kadin Shedrick and Jayden Gardner scored 12 points each. Ben Vander Plas chipped in 10 points with 9 coming in a four-minute flurry midway through the second half, which helped Virginia climb back into the lead.
“That was just a full 40-minute game,” Beekman said on the Virginia Sports Radio Network with Jimmy Miller. “We turned it on in the second half. We played how we wanted in the second half and we came out big. So we just had to stay true to ourselves and just get back to the way we know how to play.”
The biggest bucket of the game came in the final minute. After UVA had erased the halftime deficit and gotten back to the lead, Michigan moved ahead 66-65 in the final two minutes. The score stayed that way until Gardner came through with 40 seconds remaining. He caught a pass from Beekman on a short pick-and-pop play near the free throw line and knocked down the elbow jumper to lift his team into the lead for good. “JG got two really good looks and he stuck that one, which was huge,” Bennett said on the Virginia Sports Radio Network with Jimmy Miller.
That’s back-to-back solid games for Gardner, who had 26 points against Maryland-Eastern Shore last week. While he missed a couple of good looks, including one on a possession just before his go-ahead jumper, he had good numbers across the box score. Gardner pulled down 11 rebounds to go with 3 steals and 2 assists. That was enough for his 37th career double-double and to match his career high in steals.
Beekman followed Gardner’s key bucket with a steal and a free throw, while Clark converted 2 free throws too in the waning seconds. Armaan Franklin, who had just 2 points, missed both free throws in the final 10 seconds to lead to a tense final possession. Michigan pushed the ball ahead with Howard and he tried to rise up for what could have been a game-winning 3-pointer. Beekman, however, appeared to touch the ball on the way up and Gardner jumped up vertically to stop the shot where it started.
The ability to get the stop to win the game combined with the comeback effort overall caught Beekman’s attention. Virginia wrapped up the ACC-Big Ten Challenge with a 14-8 all-time record as a result; the ACC will flip over to an SEC matchup series in the future.
“Just the win and my teammates,” Beekman said. “Just the way they played down the stretch. We showed great poise and leadership from everybody. I just love how everybody stayed poised even down 11 at halftime.”
I am so proud of how we played, especially in the second half. It was yet another dynamite game putting us at 6-0.
Jim Clements