Opponents’ offensive rebounding has been a challenge for the Virginia men’s basketball team in its high profile games so far this season, but late in the Fort Myers Tip-Off Tournament the Hoos turned the tables. With the game tied in the final 10 seconds Wednesday night, a pair of offensive rebounds by the Wahoos led to a 56-54 victory against West Virginia.
While it didn’t necessarily create an aesthetically pleasing product, UVA did find a way to win in a rock fight style that Tony Bennett has grown accustomed to over the years. After a tough 24-point loss in the event opener to Wisconsin, the Hoos will take it and get back to work.
“Our inexperience shows at times. We’re imperfect,” Bennett said on the Virginia Sports Radio Network. “There might be some limitations we have, size, experience, whatever, but the one limitation that can never happen is a lack of effort. We have a lack of effort, we lose always. You bring effort with trying to just do it as much as a group as you can. We talked about simplifying and being that way. The game evolves, things happen, and you’ve just got to stay in it and keep fighting.”
The last two minutes turned into an adventure and provided a test for the Cavaliers. Leading 50-48, UVA looked for offense on a possession that ended in a long 3-point attempt by Isaac McKneely that missed. On the rebounding action, Ryan Dunn crashed to the floor and did not get up. Meanwhile, West Virginia raced the other way and Seth Wilson drained a transition 3 for a 51-50 lead.
Virginia had an answer.
With 1:29 to go, Reece Beekman drove hard to the rim from the right side and neatly dropped the ball over the rim to retake the lead. When WVU tried to feed Jesse Edwards deep in the paint on the next possession, Jake Groves fouled to prevent an attempt at the rim and Edwards missed the front end of the 1-and-1 free throw trip. During that free throw exchange, Dunn checked back into the game and he made an impact play on offense when he drove, spun back to the left, and scored for a 54-51 advantage with 45 remaining.
Unfortunately for the Wahoos, that didn’t close the door. The Mountaineers’ Quinn Slazinski slipped free for a 3-point attempt and Dunn fouled him as he scrambled back to try to contest it. Slazinkski sank all 3 freebies to tie the score again with 36 seconds left. Edwards and Slazinski posted matching 17-point outings to lead WVU.
That’s when the flipped script on offensive rebounding came into play.
With the game now on the line, Beekman again took control of the late-clock possession for Virginia. He drove from the left side, drew in the defense, and fired a pass out to Dunn on the right wing. The open 3-pointer clanged off the rim, but Leon Bond III quickly jumped for the rebound with less than 10 seconds remaining and gave UVA a chance at the final possession of regulation. Beekman drove, drew a foul, and made the go-ahead free throw with 2.3 seconds on the clock.
Beekman intentionally missed the second attempt and Dunn managed to grab another offensive rebound. He too made the first and missed the second on purpose with 0.4 seconds to go and the Hoos left Fort Myers with the narrow win. Given the Hoos’ troubles with opponents’ offensive rebounding to date – Florida had 21, Wisconsin 20, and WVU had 12 – there was a little bit of payback in those final plays to secure this victory.
Individually, Dunn led Virginia with 13 points on 5-11 shooting. He added 5 rebounds, 2 steals, and 1 blocked shot. Beekman chipped in 12 points on 5-11 shooting as well; he also had 4 rebounds, 5 assists, and 4 steals. Bond came off the bench for 8 points, 7 rebounds, and 2 assists in 21 minutes. McKneely had 8 points, 5 rebounds, and 2 assists.
“Reece has improved so much and some of the plays he made down the stretch off the dribble in the lane, that’s high level stuff,” Bennett said. “You need that. The game comes down to making plays at certain times.”
Those tense two minutes matched what generally unfolded as a back-and-forth contest. The game featured 11 ties and 16 lead changes.
Each team managed some statistical advantages in different spots. WVU took the rebounding battle (41-28 with those 12 O-Boards included) and also had the edge in fastbreak points (8-4), assists (12-10), and 3-pointers made (7-4). UVA led in turnovers plus points off turnovers (18 points off 16 Mountaineer turnovers vs. 4 points off 9 Cavalier turnovers), steals (8-3), bench points (15-12), and points in the paint (24-16).
Neither team shot the ball well. The Mountaineers made 37.3% of their shots (19-51) and 33.3% of their 3’s (7-21). That included 32.1% shooting overall (9-28) in the first half. The Hoos, meanwhile, made 40.4% overall (21-52) and 22.2% from 3-point range (4-18). That included 37.0% shooting in the first half (10-27).
That offensive line actually told the story of the entire Thanksgiving week trip for Virginia. In short: a slog.
Against Wisconsin, UVA made 32.61% of its overall shots (15-46) and 28.6% of it’s 3’s (4-14). Combined with the Wednesday’s showing, the two-game package settled at 36.7% overall (36-98) and 25% on 3’s (8-32). The Hoos managed just 20 assists in the outings after posting 65 in the season’s first 4 games (16.25 per game down to 10.0).
There were struggles getting paint touches, driving lanes, or open looks. That will send the Cavaliers to the drawing board and practice floor as games against Texas A&M and Syracuse loom next week.
“We’ve got a tough stretch coming up,” McKneely said on the Virginia Sports Radio Network. “Texas A&M is no joke. Syracuse I think is our first ACC game. We’ve got a lot of good games coming up so we’re going to enjoy this one for now, but then get back to work for sure.”
Congratulations, Wahoo’s! Thank you, Reece Beekman for answering the call and deciding the winner.
Another nail biter in the final seconds. Whew, I was getting nervous…Great job!
I need a few days to allow my nails to regrow and prepare for the challenges of watching my fav basketball team, our beloved ‘ Hoo’s for the challenging games next week. I have full faith you’ll prevail. Let’s go, ‘ Hoo’s! You’ve got these next games!🏀🏀🏀🏀😍😍We ❤️our Hoo team!