UVA escapes with 49-47 win over Wake Forest

By Scott Ratcliffe

Despite a horrible afternoon from the free-throw line, Virginia survived with a hard-fought, 49-47 victory against Wake Forest on Saturday at John Paul Jones Arena.

The Cavaliers (20-6, 11-4 ACC) did themselves no favors from the charity stripe, missing their first 10 of the contest until Isaac McKneely finally got one to drop with just 6.7 seconds left, giving his team a two-point advantage.

The Demon Deacons (16-9, 8-6), who fell to 2-7 on the road this season, raced down the court with a chance to tie or win the ballgame, but Cameron Hildreth’s last-second jumper bounced off the rim and out, and the Wahoos escaped with the win.

Senior point guard Reece Beekman delivered another spectacular, heroic performance, putting the team on his back for stretches of action and finishing just one point shy of matching his career high. Beekman totaled 20 points — 14 of which came after halftime on 6-of-9 shooting — to go along with 6 rebounds, 4 assists and a steal, while turning the ball over just twice in 33 minutes.

UVA trailed by a point at halftime, 22-21, and Beekman came out blazing to start the second half, making his first five shots — including back-to-back 3-pointers and a finger-roll layup out of the locker room — and scoring the team’s first 10 points, giving the Hoos a five-point edge, 31-26, with another easy lay-in as the clock went under the 16-minute mark.

The Deacs responded with a 6-0 run to retake the lead, but Virginia answered right back with a 10-2 spurt of its own across the next four-plus minutes, highlighted by a Blake Buchanan two-hand flush off of a perfect feed from Ryan Dunn, and capped off by a Beekman steal-and-slam.

The run gave UVA its largest lead of the day, 41-34, with 9:13 remaining, but Wake refused to go away quietly, as a Hunter Sallis triple punctuated a 5-0 spurt to pull the visitors back within a basket, 41-39, as the game entered crunch time.

The Hoos had several chances to add to their lead from the foul line down the stretch, but both Buchanan and Jordan Minor went 0 for 2 on consecutive trips, after Dunn had done the same earlier.

Beekman scored moments later to give his team a little bit more cushion, 43-39, with just over five minutes to play, but Wake freshman sharpshooter Parker Friedrichsen nailed a 3-ball to trim it back down to a point with 4:55 to go.

McKneely hadn’t gotten a 3 to fall all day until he buried a huge one from the corner  — set up by none other than Beekman — out of the final media break, pushing the Cavalier lead to 46-42 with 3:40 on the clock.

“That was a big-time pass by Reece and a big-time shot by Isaac that we needed, obviously with the way we were at the free-throw line and gave up a couple of the offensive rebounds,” said Tony Bennett after the win.

Neither side could get anything to drop until Hildreth scored from inside with 1:07 left. Beekman milked the shot clock down on the all-important ensuing possession, finally lobbing a pass to Dunn near the rim.

Dunn couldn’t get his shot to go, but Buchanan was there for the putback, and was able to draw a foul with a chance to make it a five-point contest with 39.6 ticks showing, but missed his free throw try. Dunn collected the offensive rebound, but misfired on his one-and-one attempt, leaving the door open for the Deacs, who trailed 48-44 with still 37 seconds to go.

Friedrichsen missed a triple on the other end and Beekman was fouled with 16.4 on the clock, but he too came up short on the front end of a one-and-one.

Wake couldn’t capitalize initially, as Hildreth also missed his ensuing front-end attempt, but the Deacs retained possession and kicked it out to Sallis, who sank a 3-ball with 7.8 seconds remaining to cut it to 48-47. McKneely was quickly hacked and sent back to the line, where the Hoos had struggled all afternoon.

The second-year guard from Poca, W.Va., calmly stepped to the stripe — where he was a 90-percent shooter on the season — for a pair of free throws, as UVA was in the double bonus. McKneely missed his first shot, but regrouped and swished the second, saving the Cavaliers from what would have been an embarrassing goose egg on the day.

The Hoos shot just 41 percent from the field (22 for 54), 31 percent from downtown (4 for 13) and 9 percent (1 for 11) from the line, but found a way to add another important conference victory.

In addition to Beekman’s big day, McKneely had 12 points on 5-of-12 shooting (1 for 4 from deep). No other Cavaliers reached double figures, but Dunn (team-high 9 rebounds and a career-high 7 blocks) and Buchanan (7 rebounds, 2 blocks) each provided help on the glass and the defensive end, and both added 6 points apiece.

“I thought Ryan defensively was terrific with some of his blocked shots… he had 7, oh my gosh,” Bennett said after glancing at the box score.

With the win, Virginia notched its 20th win for the 12th time in Bennett’s 15 years in Charlottesville. During the first half, the future Hall of Fame coach was whistled for just his second technical foul during that span — the first in nearly 14 years, dating back to March of 2010 against Maryland — for arguing with the officiating.

In the end, the Hoos remained in the thick of what’s turning into a three-horse race for the top seed in next month’s ACC Tournament in D.C., as North Carolina (12-3 ACC) and Duke (11-3) each picked up wins on Saturday as well. Virginia hosts the Tar Heels next weekend and then travels to face the Blue Devils the following Saturday.

Wake was held to 35-percent shooting (19 for 55) for the afternoon, including 24 percent from long range (5 of 21). The Deacs were 4 for 5 (80 percent) from the free-throw line, and won the rebounding battle, 38-36.

Sallis wound up scoring 10 of his team-high 12 points in the second half (5 for 10; 2 for 4 from deep), finishing just 2 points above his season-low of 10. Sallis posted a game-high 21 points (8 for 13; 5 of 8 from 3) in Wake’s 66-47 thumping of the Hoos in the first meeting on Jan. 13 in Winston-Salem.

“We tried to make him earn because he’s such a prolific scorer, and he did torch us last time we were there,” admitted Bennett.

Efton Reid produced a double-double with 10 points and a game-high 12 rebounds, but was held to just 2 points (1 for 3 FG) after halftime. Kevin “Boopie” Miller added 9 points, as the Deacs were held to over 30 points below their season average of 80.3 points per game.

Team Notes

Courtesy UVA Media Relations

• UVA has won 20 or more games for the 12th time under head coach Tony Bennett (3rd consecutive)
• UVA is 11-23 when scoring fewer than 50 points under Bennett
• UVA is 3-3 as a ranked team
• UVA started 5 of 5, including 1 of 1 from 3-point range
• Wake Forest led 22-21 at the half
• UVA is 2-6 when trailing at the half
• UVA forced two shot clock violations (21 in 2023-24)
• UVA went 1 of 11 from the free throw line, its lowest total since 0 for 0 vs. Wisconsin on Nov. 27, 2017
• UVA is 115-2, including a 6-0 mark in 2023-24, when limiting foes to fewer then 50 points during the Tony Bennett era
• UVA had a season-high 13 blocked shots

Series Notes

• Virginia is 71-72 all-time vs. Wake Forest, including a 43-22 mark in Charlottesville, in the series that dates to 1910-11
• Wake Forest defeated Virginia 66-47 earlier this season
• UVA has won 12 of the last 14 meetings in the series
• Tony Bennett is 12-6 vs. Wake Forest as head coach at Virginia

Player Notes

• Double Figure Scorers: Reece Beekman (20), Isaac McKneely (12)
• Beekman had his fourth 20-point game of the season
• Beekman scored UVA’s first 10 points of the second half
• Beekman reached double figures for the 52nd time
• McKneely reached double figures for the 21st time
• McKneely matched a career best with two blocked shots
• Beekman (one steal) is four steals shy of setting the UVA all-time record
• Beekman (20 points) moved into 46th on UVA’s all-time scoring list with 1,078
• Ryan Dunn had a career-high seven blocked shots, moving into ninth on UVA’s single-season list with 62 blocks

UP NEXT

It’s another quick turnaround for the Cavaliers, who will make the short trip down to Blacksburg on Monday for a primetime, Commonwealth Clash showdown with Virginia Tech (7 p.m., ESPN).