The Virginia basketball team earned its third trip to the Sweet 16 in the Tony Bennett era with a pair of wins in South Carolina over the weekend. The Cavaliers bumped Gardner-Webb from the NCAA Tournament on Friday, 71-56, and then ousted Oklahoma on Sunday, 63-51.
One big player in both games proved to be junior Braxton Key, who came off the bench in both games to contribute in a variety of ways. Against GW, he posted 5 points, 3 rebounds, and 2 steals in 11 minutes. Against the Sooners, he played a bigger role with 21 minutes and tallied 9 points, 9 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steal, and 1 blocked shot. That matched his 9-9 effort at Boston College from earlier in the year.
Key also made quite a few hustle plays, like diving on the floor late in the OU game to secure a possession on a loose ball offensive rebound. Those sort of hustle plays along with plugging into different roles and making varying statistical contributions have become par for the course in a lot of games this season.
“I feel like that’s just Braxton, that’s his game,” UVA freshman Kihei Clark said. “He does a lot for us whether it is getting rebounds, getting on the floor, getting loose balls, he does a lot for us. He brings a lot of energy off the bench and he was a great lift [Sunday].”
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