Virginia makes a statement with physical NIT win over Bulldogs

By Jerry Ratcliffe

After getting pounded by North Carolina in the ACC Tournament quarterfinals in Brooklyn last week, Tony Bennett decided to push his Virginia team hard in practice for its opening game with Mississippi State in the NIT.

Bennett didn’t think the Cavaliers gave their best effort against the Tar Heels and didn’t want the season to end on a sour note.

“[Carolina] took it to us and we didn’t play well, credit them,” Bennett said. “So the ability to regroup and build for this year, next year, [the NIT] was important.

“I told them, ‘Whether you win or lose this game [vs. MSU], this to me is a statement game for us, not for anyone else. What are we made of? What kind of fight will we have? This is about us.”

Virginia definitely caught a break by getting to host the game on Wednesday night, where they were technically the visiting team. Mississippi State was a No. 3 seed in the bracket (UVA was a No. 6 seed), but the Bulldogs couldn’t host because of a renovation at their home arena.

Still, with Bennett establishing the ACC-SEC clash as a statement game for his Cavaliers, he still wasn’t sure how they would respond even after hard practices.

His team made a statement by controlling the first half, bouncing back from a 15-5 Bulldogs run (7 for 7 field goals) to open the second half, and held on to win an extremely physical game, 60-57.

It was a particularly heated second half with UVA’s Francisco Caffaro having to be separated from MSU’s Garrison Brooks, a former North Carolina standout, and another Bulldog during intense action under the boards (see related game story, notes, boxscore, updated NIT bracket on this site).

The win, Virginia’s 20th on the season, earned the Cavaliers a second-round matchup against No. 2 seeded North Texas (Sunday at 6 p.m. ET at the Super Pit in Denton, Texas, on ESPN+). The Mean Green are 25-6.

Senior point guard Kihei Clark said he and his teammates readily accepted Bennett’s challenge to keep the season going.

“For me personally, I was excited to get the chance to play more basketball,” said Clark, who scored six of his eight points at the free-throw line and dished out nine assists against two turnovers. “We got lucky to be able to play here. The home crowd (5,278) definitely helps us out when we get stops or shot-clock violations. Their energy fires us up.”

Bulldogs coach Ben Howland, who may have coached his last game after seven seasons at MSU’s helm, said he felt the difference in the game was his team’s 14 turnovers, which Virginia converted into 17 points. The Cavaliers’ defense was solid at times, especially getting key stops down the stretch.

Howland said that after looking at the stat sheet, most of the numbers were fairly even with both teams shooting 50 percent from the field, but the turnovers made a difference.

“Having coached against Tony (Howland was at UCLA, Bennett at Washington State) in the past, this is the kind of game we expected and it’s not anything new for me, but new for my players because [Virginia] is so patient offensively. I think Tony is one of the best three coaches in the country. I think that’s been proven here. You guys are so blessed to have him.”

Bennett again proved worthy of Howland’s comments when making an adjustment at halftime that would get Jayden Gardner more involved offensively. Gardner, UVA’s leading scorer on the season, was only 1 of 4 from the field in the first half. The Cavaliers began to get Gardner the ball more in the high post after the break, finding soft spots in the Bulldogs’ defense.

Gardner made 6 of 9 shots in the second half, including 10 straight points, as UVA went from being down two (36-34) to up 44-38 during a four-minute span. He finished with a team-high 16 points (the 101st time in his career he has scored in double figures, 27th time in his one season at UVA).

Bennett believes that the extra basketball the Cavaliers are playing meant something to Gardner and some of his teammates.

“I think the guys that have never played in the postseason before, Armaan [Franklin] and Jayden, who are getting a lot of minutes, and then those guys who really haven’t played a whole lot, obviously Reece [Beekman] and all those other guys should be like, ‘This is something I haven’t experienced before,’” Bennett said. “No, it’s not the NCAA tournament, but it’s still the NIT. To me, I hope they’re chomping at the bit to continue on and get as ready as we can for our next game.”

Gardner was joined in double figures by Beekman, who has come on strong offensively late in the season. Beekman made 5 of 7 shots as part of his 14 points, while Franklin, who had been in a horrible shooting slump, made two clutch 3-pointers, including a big one with 1:55 to play for a 57-53 lead. It was UVA’s last field goal of the game, having to rely on free throws and defensive stops to sew up the win.

Beekman was equally impressive on the defensive end with four steals, breaking Othell Wilson’s single-season steals record with 70. He also had six assists and only one turnover.

“There’s really no break on the court when [Beekman’s] guarding you,” said MSU point guard Iverson Molinar, first-team All-SEC, who finished with 13 points, four assists and five turnovers.

Virginia made the statement Bennett wanted, but the coach wants more. He wants to be cutting down nets in New York. It wouldn’t be the nets Bennett wanted to cut.

Brooklyn would have been preferable, but Madison Square Garden wouldn’t be too bad.