UVA goes cold, lets one slip away against Wake, 63-55

By Scott Ratcliffe

Virginia had a chance to make it 10-straight victories over Wake Forest Saturday, but the Cavaliers let a 7-point, second-half lead slip away as the Demon Deacons closed the game on a 23-8 run to win in Charlottesville for the first time since 2010, 63-55.

The Wahoos (10-7, 4-3 ACC) got a big game from Armaan Franklin, but misfired on 11 of their final 15 shots, including seven in a row while the Deacs (14-4, 4-3) took control of the contest.

With the game tied up at 36-all, Franklin drilled his third 3-pointer of the evening with 13 minutes left, and then split two free throws to give the Hoos a four-point cushion.

Senior wing Kody Stattmann followed with a spinning, old-fashioned three-point play, and UVA led, 43-38, as the game went under 12 minutes. Moments later off of a turnover, Stattmann scored on a nifty Eurostep move, matching his career high in scoring.

The John Paul Jones Arena crowd nearly exploded when Reece Beekman’s ensuing steal and would-be three-point play was waived off, and called on the floor, prior to the shot. UVA maintained possession and Jayden Gardner’s jumper extended the UVA lead to 47-40 midway through the second half, and that’s about the time the Cavaliers went ice cold.

The Deacs scored the game’s next 13 points, grabbing a 48-47 edge on an Isaiah Mucius 3-ball with 6:19 remaining. Jake LaRavia gave Wake a 53-47 lead with a two-hand flush, prompting a Tony Bennett timeout with 4:11 to play, as he had seen his team go over six minutes without a single point.

Beekman finally got one to fall with 3:35 left, but the Hoos couldn’t get any closer than four points the rest of the way.

On the day, the Cavaliers shot 36 percent from the field (21 of 58) and 38 percent from beyond the arc (5 for 13). Franklin led all scorers with 18 points (7 for 11; 3 of 5 from deep), Stattmann added 11 (4 for 8; 2 for 4), and no other teammates finished in double figures.

Gardner, the team’s leading scorer, had an off night, going scoreless in the first half but registering 9 points on 3-of-14 shooting. Beekman had 6 points, 7 assists, 5 steals and a pair of blocks, while Kadin Shedrick posted 4 points, 5 boards and 2 swats.

Virginia lost the battle of the boards, 35-31, but assisted on all but four baskets (17 of 21) and converted 13 Wake turnovers into 15 points. UVA committed 11 giveaways, but outscored Wake’s bench, 15-3.

The Deacons finished the game shooting 45 percent overall (23 of 51) and 33 percent from 3-point land (6 of 18), and were led by LaRavia’s 15 points.

Wake’s Alondes Williams, who came into the contest leading the conference in both scoring (20.7 ppg) and assists (5.0 apg), came alive in the second half to finish with 14 points. Mucius and Daivien Williamson added 12 apiece.

FIRST HALF

Francisco Caffaro got the start at center and picked up where he left off against Virginia Tech Wednesday. The big man scored the game’s first basket before being called to the bench after picking up an early foul.

The Deacons scored eight unanswered points in the opening minutes to take an 11-6 lead, as the Hoos missed seven-straight field goals and didn’t score for nearly six minutes, until Shedrick sank a pair from the line with 11:41 to go, during a stretch when both he and Caffaro were on the floor.

A Franklin floater with 9:55 left trimmed it to one, snapping a string of nine straight misses from the field, and then Stattmann put the Cavaliers back in front with a 3-pointer. Franklin followed with a long ball of his own, capping a 10-0 spurt and giving UVA a 16-11 advantage with 8:10 on the clock.

Franklin struck again from downtown on the next trip down, and then at the 6:15 mark, Stattmann made it a nine-point game, 22-13, with his second triple of the half.

Wake tied it up with a late 10-1 run, but the Hoos held the lead going into the locker room. As the half went under two minutes, Franklin found Shedrick for a monster slam just before Shedrick poked the ball away from Williams and dished to Beekman, who threw one down to further electrify the JPJ crowd.

Mucius trimmed it to 29-27 with 34 ticks left, and Igor Miličić couldn’t get one to drop in the closing seconds. Neither team shot the ball well across the opening 20 minutes — UVA went 10 for 30 (33 percent), Wake went 10 for 27 (37 percent) — but the Hoos connected on 4 of 7 from deep, compared to just 3 for 10 for the Deacs.

UVA assisted on all 10 of its buckets in the first half, but made just 3 of 13 shots on either layup or dunk attempts. The Cavalier defense held Williams to just 2 points at the break on 1-of-4 shooting.

Franklin led all scorers with 10 points in the first half, marking his seventh-consecutive game in double figures.

Box Score

Team Notes

Courtesy UVA Media Relations

• Virginia fell to 10-7, 4-3 ACC
• UVA is 6-4 at John Paul Jones Arena
• Wake Forest went on a 13-0 run to gain a 53-47 lead at 4:11 of the second half
• UVA had a scoring drought of 6:48 in the second half
• Wake Forest had a 32-22 advantage in the paint and 17 second chance points
• UVA started 4 of 17 from the field until back-to-back 3-pointers from Kody Stattmann and Armaan Franklin finished a 10-0 run for a 16-11 lead
• UVA led 29-27 at the half

Series Notes

• Virginia is 69-71 all-time vs. Wake Forest, including a 42-22 mark in Charlottesville, in the series that dates back to 1910-11.
• The loss ended UVA’s nine-game winning streak in the series
• UVA had won the last six meetings between the teams in Charlottesville
• Tony Bennett is 10-5 vs. Wake Forest as head coach at Virginia

Player Notes

• Double Figure Scorers: Armaan Franklin (18), Kody Stattmann (11)
• Franklin reached double figures for the 12th time (26th career)
• Franklin has a seven-game double figure scoring streak
• Stattmann matched a career best with 11 points
• Stattmann reached double figures for the first time (3rd career)
• Stattmann matched a career best with a pair of 3-pointers
• Francisco Caffaro made his first start of the season (3rd career)
• Kadin Shedrick (2 blocks) had his 13th multi-block game
• Virginia started Clark, Beekman, Franklin, Gardner and Shedrick in its first 16 games of 2021-22
• ACC steals leader Reece Beekman had five steals and tied a season high with seven assists
• Beekman has a seven-game steal streak
• Beekman matched a career high with two blocks

UP NEXT

UVA goes back on the road for a Wednesday-night tilt in the Steel City, facing Pittsburgh at 9 p.m. on ACC Network.