The Virginia basketball team jumped out to a fast start and then held off a Syracuse rally to win 73-66 at the John Paul Jones Arena. While that flow felt familiar for this series, Saturday’s outcome had a unique difference. The victory made Tony Bennett the all-time winningest coach in program history as he moved out of a tie with Terry Holland.
The 327th victory for Bennett at UVA featured fitting ties to the level of success under his watch. For starters, Syracuse is the same opponent from when the Hoos clinched Bennett’s first ACC Regular Season Championship during the 2014 catapult season into the national elite. Bennett has compiled an 11-3 mark against the Orange. The score also hit a key indicator as Virginia improved to 152-11 when scoring at least 70 or more points under Bennett. Ann Holland, Terry Holland’s wife, attended and applauded as Bennett was recognized postgame on the court. The Bennett family stood in their familiar seats to share the moment as well.
Perhaps, the most fitting piece of accomplishing the milestone moment was that it came at home in the JPJ. Bennett told the crowd afterward about a scroll beneath the floor that contains the program’s five pillars – humility, passion, unity, servanthood, thankfulness – and the names of all those surrounding the program that made the historic total possible.
“Of course, you always want to win the game, but to be able to do it with my family, Ann [Holland], my players, the home crowd who’s been amazing to me in our time, for sure,” Bennett said. “I meant what I said. That is a we award, not a me award all the way. I’ve got some day ones that have been with me the whole time. … Again, I don’t deserve this. It’s what I told you guys before. I didn’t even know I wanted to coach this long or do this, but here I am. I kind of take a step back and say ‘Wow’ because Coach Holland’s the best.”
To add another win to the growing number, the Cavaliers had to once again solve the Syracuse zone. The approach there mirrored strategies from the past as they pieced together a blended attack. Several players took turns working in the high post area near the free throw line and the hosts found successful shooting pockets around the top of the arc and on the wings as well. A few baseline plays and transition chances (19 fastbreak points, helped in part by a late-game press) helped boost the point total too.
Of course, making some shots helped too. Virginia knocked down 12 of 26 3-pointers in the game (46.2%) as four different players scored from beyond the arc. The Hoos critically connected on some early attempts to help loosen the zone and lighten the pressure on later shots. They made 7 of their first 9 shots, which included 5 of 6 from 3-point range.
“When you play against their zone, you can’t just live and die by the 3, but you have to live a little bit by the 3 or maybe more than a little,” Bennett said with smile. “You have to make 3’s, you have to get into the high post, you gotta get it down low. They do a good job even when you get it right by the rim, you know we’ve played all these years against so many of their different quick, jumping shot blockers and we got the ball in the right spots, ran I think some sound offense, and didn’t capitalize but you have to be able to knock down some 3’s.”
Armaan Franklin had a lot to do with the early surge. He nailed a trio of treys in the first three minutes to quickly fuel an 11-2 lead. He finished 4-9 shooting from 3-point range as he posted 16 points, 6 rebounds, 3 assists, and 2 steals. Franklin has made multiple 3’s in four straight games.
“When you like to shoot 3’s, this is probably one of your favorite weeks coming in,” Franklin said with a laugh, “knowing that you’ve got good teammates that can work well inside the high post and find you whenever you’re off the ball moving when they get to the middle.”
Virginia slid Kihei Clark, Reece Beekman, Jayden Gardner, and Ben Vander Plas in and out of that free throw area the majority of the time to help put pressure on the zone. Clark proved particularly effective manipulating defenders when he got the ball in that space. Through a variety of fakes, look-away passes, and quick decisions, the senior guard piled up 11 assists. That’s his best outing in an ACC game and just two off his career-high of 13 against Navy back in December 2019. He finished with 5 points, 2 rebounds, and 2 steals as well.
Beekman, meanwhile, played a key role on both ends of passes. He tallied 13 points, 7 assists, and 2 steals in the win. That line included 2 assists on the first two possessions for a 5-0 lead as a facilitator, but also a 3-pointer, another jumper, and free throws to ice the game in final three minutes. With Clark and Beekman leading the way, UVA had 22 assists on 23 made baskets, which Orange coach Jim Boeheim pointed out as common against a zone, but it’s also been a continued theme for this year’s Hoos as they own an assist rate of 69.6% to currently rank No. 2 nationally.
Gardner and Kadin Shedrick added to the effectiveness from the Virginia starters too. Gardner had 10 points and 3 rebounds, while Shedrick posted 11 points, 7 rebounds, 4 blocked shots, and 3 steals. Vander Plas had 6 points on a pair of 3’s and 4 rebounds as a reserve. Isaac McKneely came off the bench to supply some firepower too. The freshman guard matched Franklin as he made 4 3’s in the win. McKneely recorded 12 points in his first game against the Cuse zone.
“The Syracuse zone is a lot different, especially than the high school zones I faced,” McKneely said. “They’ve got real length, especially the bigs on the two wings, they come out. So it’s really different, I’ve never seen anything like it but once you get it in the high post or the sweet spots they … did a good job of kicking it out and finding shooters. I just tried to find open spots for them and I was thankful to make four 3’s I believe.”
The team’s strong shooting built leads at 11-2, 20-9, 35-18, 47-26, 50-27, and 57-35 during the game’s first 29 minutes. The UVA defense also troubled Syracuse during that time. The Orange shot just 38.5% in the first half and missed their first three shots of the second half too.
Virginia then had to hold on through a prolonged drought, while Cuse finally found some success to eventually shoot 50% in the second half. From a McKneely triple that made it 57-35 with 11:41 remaining to a pair of Shedrick free throws with 4:02 to go, UVA did not score. The Hoos missed 11 straight shots during that 7:39 stretch and the visitors chipped away to get back to a 57-48 score with five minutes to go. The Orange threw some fullcourt pressure at UVA and tried to reduce the deficit further, but they never got closer than the final 7-point margin as Chris Bell made a 3-pointer in the last minute.
Overall, it resulted in a victory to get the Hoos back above .500 in the ACC at 3-2 with North Carolina coming to town on Tuesday.
“I thought the guys through two days of preparation and then through this tried to make the right kind of adjustments to give us the best chance,” Bennett said. “Then here you go again because the league is, it’s – Syracuse is 3-1 – such a balanced, better league. … It’s improved from last year and last year it finished strong.”
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