The last two meetings with Florida on a neutral court did not go well for the Virginia basketball program, but Friday night’s early season matchup in the Hall of Fame Series flipped that script in the Hoos’ favor. The Cavaliers erased an early deficit and then won a back-and-forth duel in the final four minutes to prevail 73-70 at the Spectrum Center in Charlotte.
While the ACC-SEC Challenge actually takes place later this month, Friday’s matchup provided an entertaining prelude for that inaugural event. The two teams filled different areas of the box score to create a good early season basketball game. Florida, for example, recorded a 47-30 rebounding advantage with 21 offensive rebounds and 19 second chance points. The Gators also held a slight 38-30 points in the paint edge. Virginia countered with a 15-4 advantage in steals, the highest total since 2015, and a slight 11-6 edge in points off turnovers. The Hoos’ bench also outscored Florida 26-4.
“It was game where it wasn’t an ‘excuse me’ game and at times when we did play ‘excuse me’ basketball, we kind of got crushed whether it was on the glass or at the rim or when we were not alert early on to protecting the paint,” Virginia coach Tony Bennett said. “Really, kind of last man standing and outlast. I think if you can have that mindset of being relentless defensively and offensively, that’s the name of the game. You’re going to make mistakes and over the course of the game that will take it’s toll. … It was just a hard, competitive game.”
Ultimately, both clubs came up with some highlight plays and key shots, both competed throughout, and both had a chance to win in the final moments as a result. The contest featured 11 lead changes and 9 ties. That included 4 ties in the final four minutes.
The Hoos and Gators arrived at those final 4 ties thanks to some clutch shot-making and play-making.
First, Florida’s Riley Kugel drove hard to the rim for a bucket that tied the game at 62-62 with 3:29 to go. That basket followed a missed free throw from Kugel, but an offensive rebound by Micah Handlogten kept the possession alive. Isaac McKneely, celebrating his 20th birthday, answered on the other end with a jumper in the paint as Virginia retook the lead. McKneely had an earlier jumper that broke a tie too as his 3-pointer at the 6:36 mark meant the Hoos either led or tied the rest of the way.
The next tie came at 65-65 courtesy of a Thomas Haugh free throw with 2:13 on the clock. A one-minute flurry followed. Reece Beekman quickly drove and scored a layup and Kugel burst back the other way 10 seconds later to tie it again. With 1:27 to go, Ryan Dunn posted a putback to give the Cavaliers a brief lead but Florida’s Walter Clayton Jr. knotted things again with a drive 9 seconds later. Kugel finished with 17 points, while Clayton had 9. The Gators also placed Handlogten (14), Will Richard (16), and Tyrese Samuel (10) in double figures, but they didn’t get much help off the bench.
Virginia finally took the lead for good on a pair of Blake Buchanan free throws with 1:02 to go. The Wahoos did have to hold on though as Buchanan and Beekman each split free throw trips in the final 11 seconds. Fortunately for the Hoos, Beekman broke up a late-game set that Florida had in motion for a potential look at a go-ahead 3-pointer in between those misses to help secure the win.
“I kind of knew he was going to come down at a fast pace so I tried to get him squared up and he ended up fumbling it,” Beekman said. “We kind of preach on that when the ball is dead to attack the ball and I ended up getting a steal. Kind of just outlasted him on that one.”
It certainly was fitting for both Beekman and Buchanan to be involved in the final moments. Both had monster games for the Cavaliers.
Beekman followed up his strong outing against Tarleton State with another against Florida. He finished with 13 points, 3 rebounds, 5 assists, 1 block, and 3 steals in the win. After two games, he now has 12 assists with only 1 turnover while averaging 14.5 points.
Buchanan, meanwhile, emerged as the leading scorer in the game with 18 points. He made 4 of 7 shots and 10 of 16 free throws to reach that total. The freshman also had 7 rebounds in 27 minutes. Buchanan also helped settle things for Virginia after it fell behind 14-7 in the opening five minutes. Prior to his substitution, the Gators had been getting easy baskets around the rim but the defense got on track with is first turn in the rotation and stabilized for most of the night other than the rebounding issues. Florida, after all, shot only 40.0% (26-65) in the game.
The Cavaliers got balanced contributions elsewhere too. McKneely posted 9 points and 6 rebounds, while Andrew Rohde had 7 points, 2 assists, and 2 steals. Jake Groves scored 12 points with 2-3 shooting from 3-point range boosting his cause. Dante Harris and Dunn each added 6 points; Harris had 2 assists and 2 steals, while Dunn tallied 8 rebounds, 2 assists, and 7 steals. For Dunn, that steals number set a career high and tied the school record for single game steals set on six other occasions (Scott McCandlish, Othell Wilson twice, Richard Morgan, Curtis Staples, and Sean Singletary).
Virginia ended up at 44.8% (26-58) shooting overall and a solid 38.9% (7-18) from 3-point range. The Hoos did struggle with consistency at the line as they converted only 58.3% (14-24). They also dished out 15 assists against just 6 turnovers.
All in all, it was a good test and a good result for the Hoos as they completed week one of the season. The victory pushed UVA to 2-0 on the season and leveled their record to 4-4 at the home of the NBA’s Hornets, the one-time franchise of Bennett. The Hoos are now 167-50 in non-conference action in his tenure.
“It’s great, just to be in those positions with a new team, I feel like that’s going to take us a long way,” Beekman said. “You’ve got to go through things. Even if we lost, it still would have been a good opportunity just to learn from that and be in those positions so later down the road, we’ll be a little more comfortable. But I’m glad we stuck with it today and came out with the win.”
“I like that they just kept their composure, they battled through some mistakes, and a couple of breakdowns and then had to make some plays,” “Even making some free throws. We struggled our first game from the line, weren’t great this game, but then made some key ones down the stretch. Those are invaluable experiences, especially, you know we have one starter back and so many new guys and only three guys who played so that’s important to be in those situations.”
Nice win. Go Hoos!
Big win and we finally have a “big” who can score!
Go Hoos