Wahoos thrive under pressure once again, survive against Hurricanes

By Jerry Ratcliffe

Virginia has become college basketball’s lords of crunch time over the last 47 days with its mystical ride continuing on the shores of South Florida on Wednesday night, when the Cavaliers did it again.

UVA’s 46-44 win over host Miami was its seventh straight win, 10th in the last 11, and kept alive the Cavaliers’ goal of winning out with a remote shot at the ACC regular-season title. The latter would require some help, should Virginia knock off Louisville in this Saturday’s finale. Florida State would also have to lose to Boston College, which would be improbable in most years — not this one.

Back on Jan. 15, many observers had given up on the Wahoos, left them for dead. They had lost four out of five, struggled to score, and were losing close games.

Everything changed three nights later at Georgia Tech. That’s when Virginia started its winning spree. The Cavaliers began to own what legendary Al McGuire called “White Knuckle Time,” when most chew nails as blood pressures soar, or leave the room, unable to watch.

Cliffhangers became the new norm. While opponents suffocated under duress, reached for the panic button, made critical errors under the strain of it all, Virginia learned to be comfortable when it was uncomfortable.

Close games have become business as usual for UVA’s players. Like rare species of fish discovered in the depths of oceans, the Cavaliers have adapted to their unique habitat.

Wednesday was no different. In a classic trap-game atmosphere, Virginia wasn’t playing good basketball but found a way to survive. The Cavaliers had a little help with Miami scoring machine Chris Lykes leaving the game with an eye laceration after catching the elbow from a teammate with 12 minutes to play. Lykes had 16 points on 7-of-12 shooting when he was rushed to the nearest emergency room.

Then came a stroke of luck for Virginia in the final eight seconds with the score knotted at 44-all. Miami’s Harlond Beverly fouled Kihei Clark, the Cavaliers’ best free-throw shooter, sending him to the line for a one-and-one.

Clark sank both free throws and Virginia buckled down on defense one more time for the win.

Pressure? What pressure? While opponents melt into a puddle of goo in such instances, the Cavaliers remain poised, confident. They’ve been there and done that, and if they don’t have the T-shirt, then someone should print one up.

Miami coach Jim Larrañaga, who almost always is a thorn in the Cavaliers’ saddle, fell on the sword in taking blame for the close loss.

“I messed it up at the end. I thought [Sam] Waardenburg got the offensive rebound and got fouled inside, and I was yelling to the referee, ‘He got fouled!’ [Beverly] thought that meant for him to foul. Didn’t get the chance to actually defend in that possession.”

Beverly didn’t agree with his coach.

“I saw there was a little time on the clock so I tried to make a play on the ball,” Beverly said. “It was 100 percent on me.”

Whatever the case, it was just another example of how Virginia has thrived in such scenarios while opponents continue to founder.

The Cavaliers have won six of their last seven ACC road games by a combined 17 points. They’ve won their last four overall games by a collective 10 points.

During the 10 wins in the last 11 games, nine of those contests have been decided by a grand total of 27 points. For the mathematically challenged, that’s an average winning margin of 2.7 points per game.

Two of those wins were on buzzer beaters or waning-second 3-pointers by Tomas Woldetensae at North Carolina and Kihei Clark at Virginia Tech. There were the three free throws by Mamadi Diakite in overtime against Notre Dame when the Cavaliers outscored the Irish 3-2 in the extra period. Who will forget Jay Huff’s 10th block of the game against Duke to essentially ice that game?

We could go on, but you get the point.

“I don’t think we played real solid basketball,” said UVA coach Tony Bennett, who watched his team improve to 22-7 overall, 14-5 in the ACC, and extend its program-record streak of nine straight seasons with 22 or more wins. “We kept kind of knocking.”

Jay Huff was remarkable in the first half, scoring Virginia’s first 17 points, tying his career high in points, including three 3-pointers (also tying his career high), but didn’t score again in the game.

Meanwhile, Mamadi Diakite posted his third double-double of the season with 14 points and 10 rebounds, and was critical for the Cavaliers in the second half.

“I felt like somewhere in the game we just relaxed,” Diakite said. “I put that on myself and some of the leaders. We were playing a little lukewarm. We were too relaxed against a dangerous team.

“It is one of those years that any team can win, any team can lose. Miami was playing at home. They came out with their swag. They didn’t rattle.”

Well, not until Crunch Time. Miami’s swag came apart at the seams.

And, Virginia? Eh, no sweat. Just another night in the pressure cooker.