Gardner’s game-winner with 0.9 seconds left gives Virginia 57-56 win over Pitt in ACC opener

By Scott Ratcliffe

In the ACC opener for both teams Friday night, Virginia and Pittsburgh delivered a tight, entertaining contest for fans at John Paul Jones Arena that featured 14 lead changes and came down to the final second.

The defending regular-season champion Cavaliers were staring defeat in the face after giving up 11 straight Panther points in the closing minutes, but Jayden Gardner’s baseline jumper dropped in for the game winner with just nine-tenths of a second on the clock, sending JPJ into a frenzy.

A desperation pass was intercepted by Kihei Clark as the final horn sounded, and UVA (6-3, 1-0 ACC) hung on for a thrilling, 57-56 win. The Panthers (2-6, 0-1) dropped their fourth-straight contest overall, and lost to Virginia for the seventh-straight time.

The Wahoos trailed by four, 56-52, with just 11.3 seconds left, as Gardner scored on an and-one inbounds play, cutting it to one with 9.7 ticks to go.

“Down four is kind of tough,” Clark said afterwards. “I mean, it’s two possessions at that point, but just run with what the coaches say and just try to do the game plan and just try to go through the game. I mean, anything can happen. We’ve seen it. I’ve been through them, so that’s what my mindset was.”

The Panthers were unable to get the ball inbounds themselves, thanks to solid on-ball defensive pressure by Reece Beekman, giving Tony Bennett’s squad one last crack at it.

Taine Murray had a good look at a 3-pointer in the waning seconds, but his shot caromed off the rim and Gardner gathered it with one hand along the baseline. The East Carolina transfer, who led all scorers with 15 points on the night, stepped back and got his shot off with about three seconds left, as the ball bounced four times on the rim before falling in.

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“Kihei was getting us together, telling us to stay in it,” Gardner said of the intense crunch-time sequence. “That’s what we did and we willed the win out.”

Virginia missed six of its first eight shot attempts of the second half until Murray hit a 3-pointer, and then Gardner’s basket 40 seconds later gave UVA a 39-38 lead with 13:30 to play. The Cavaliers would not trail again until the final minute.

Leading 44-42 midway through the second half, Beekman registered one of his poke-away steals and dumped it off on the fast break to Kadin Shedrick, who jammed it through for two.

Gardner scored from inside on the next trip down to push the lead to six, 48-42, as the Hoos made good on six of seven field-goal attempts to create some separation after the sloppy shooting start to the half.

“I told some of the guys before the game — Jayden, we need you to score, Armaan, look for your shot, Reece and Kihei, be aggressive, Kadin, do the little things, and get all over it,” Bennett said. “I just want to keep trying to empower these guys to play beyond mistakes and be assertive and aggressive, and I think there were good stretches of that. All of a sudden you get into stretches and games and then they tighten up the zone and then you can just feel it change, and that’s part of working our way through it.”

Clark lobbed one up for Shedrick on an alley-oop finish at the 7:21 mark before the big man picked up his fourth foul with 7:01 to play, with Virginia ahead, 50-45.

The Hoos went cold over the next four minutes and change, misfiring on their next four shot attempts as Pitt pulled within two, 52-50, as the game went under the three-minute mark.

Pitt’s Mouhamadou Gueye had a chance to tie it at the free-throw line with 2:56 left, but split his two tries. After misses by both teams, Shedrick turned the ball over along the baseline, giving it back to the Panthers with 1:30 to go, still trailing by one, 52-51.

Onyebuchi Ezeakudo, a Pitt senior walk-on starting for just the second time in his career who had only scored 12 points all season, put his team in front with a 3-ball with just 52 seconds to go, 54-52.

Armaan Franklin’s 3-point attempt on the ensuing possession was way off the mark, and Gardner was forced to foul Jamarius Burton, who nailed two free throws with 24 seconds left to make it a two-possession affair, but the Hoos had the last laugh.

Virginia shot 46 percent from the field (24 for 52), but just 19 percent from downtown (4 of 21) on the evening, forcing 10 Panther turnovers. The Cavaliers assisted on 18 of their 24 baskets.

Gardner pulled down 5 rebounds (tied for a team high) and dished out 4 assists and blocked a shot to go along with his 15 points on 7-of-10 shooting.

“It takes time because we have a lot of new pieces, a lot of new parts, guys playing different positions, different roles,” Gardner said. “It’s all about chemistry, and you want to be playing your best basketball come March, so we’re going to keep building to get better day by day.”

Franklin was the only other Wahoo in double figures with 10 points, as he continued to struggle from the perimeter (0 for 6 from 3-point range). Clark added 9 points, 6 assists and 5 boards, while Beekman didn’t score (0 for 5; 0 for 4 from deep), but also dished out 6 dimes and grabbed 3 rebounds and a steal.

Shedrick and Francisco Caffaro each scored 6 points, as both battled with foul trouble throughout the contest. Shedrick didn’t record a rebound in his 20 minutes, but had a pair of blocks and a pair of steals. Caffaro, who fouled out late in the contest, was 3 for 4 from the floor in his 17 minutes.

Pitt shot 39 percent (18 for 46) for the game, but made half of its 3-pointers (8 for 16) and won the rebounding battle, 30-27. John Hugley led the Panthers with 12 points, while Burton added 11.

FIRST HALF

The Panthers connected on four of their first six from long range in a back-and-forth first half that saw seven lead changes in the opening 10 minutes of play.

The Hoos, meanwhile, misfired on their first five attempts from downtown until Clark patiently swished one from the corner with 8:20 on the clock, giving UVA a 19-18 advantage.

Moments later, Clark froze his defender on a slick hesitation move in the lane and dropped it off for Gardner for a floater, stretching the lead to three. Shortly after, Beekman delivered a dime to Caffaro for a two-hand flush, and then Igor Miličić Jr. knocked down a 3-pointer to cap a 12-2 run and give the Hoos their largest lead of the half, 28-20, causing Pitt coach Jeff Capel to call for a timeout with 5:40 remaining.

A Franklin jumper extended the lead to double digits, 30-20, with 4:26 to go, which turned out to be the Cavaliers’ final points of the half.

The Panthers, who were playing without starting guard and second-leading scorer Femi Odukale, missed eight field-goal attempts in a row — across over seven minutes of action — until 2:24 to go, as a Dan Oladapo layup was the first made Pitt bucket since the 10:07 mark, trimming the Virginia lead to 30-24. Oladapo then jammed one home with under a minute to go, as the Hoos took a 30-26 edge into the halftime break.

Virginia shot 50 percent (13 for 26) in the half, making just 2 of 10 from 3-point land, while limiting the Panthers to 35-percent shooting (8 for 23). Over half of UVA’s first-half points (16 of 30) came from inside the paint.

“I thought we fought,” said Capel. “We called a timeout and we talked about some of the things that we weren’t doing well defensively, namely giving up penetration. We got back to the principles of backing off, and understanding who the shooters and the non-shooters are. Which guys we needed to get out too, which guys needed space, and guys we could play off of and give help. I thought our guys did a good job of executing it. Then we were able to score a little bit.”

Pitt, which had only made 27 triples on the season in its seven games, sank 4 of 10 from beyond the arc in the opening 20 minutes Friday.

Box Score

UP NEXT

Virginia makes the short trip to Harrisonburg Tuesday to take on in-state foe James Madison (6:30 p.m., CBS Sports Network) before an 11-day exam layoff.

Team Notes

Courtesy UVA Media Relations

• Jayden Gardner’s 3-point play with 9.7 seconds and ensuing five second in-bounds violation set up the game-winning shot by Gardner with 0.9 seconds left in regulation
• Virginia (6-3, 1-0 ACC) has a 14-game winning streak in ACC openers
• UVA improved to 13-0 in ACC openers under head coach Tony Bennett
• Virginia is 34-35 all-time in ACC openers
• UVA went on a 9-0 run to gain a 30-20 first half lead
• The Cavaliers led 30-26 after 20 minutes
• UVA was held scoreless for 6:53 spanning halftime
• UVA had a season-high 18 assists

Series Notes

• Virginia is 18-4 all-time vs. Pitt in the series that dates back to 1957-58
• UVA has a seven-game winning streak vs. the Panthers
• UVA is 11-1 against Pitt since 2013-14 when the Panthers joined the ACC
• Tony Bennett is 11-2 all-time vs. Pitt

Player Notes

• Double Figure Scorers: Jayden Gardner (15), Armaan Franklin (10)
• Clark had six assists to move into ninth on UVA’s all-time list with 424
• Clark has an 11-game 3-point streak dating back to last season
• Gardner matched a career high with four assists
• Shedrick (2 blocks) recorded his seventh multi-block game