So, where does Virginia stand in terms of making the NCAA Tournament?

By Jerry Ratcliffe

Tony Bennett (Photo by Dan Grogan)

With Virginia’s loss at Virginia Tech on Big Monday, the Cavaliers’ path to the NCAA Tournament narrowed considerably.

UVA rests at 16-10 overall and 10-6 in the ACC, which puts Tony Bennett’s team in sixth place, a half game behind Wake Forest and a full game behind North Carolina and Miami. Virginia Tech, which has won its last six games in a row is 8-7, a game and a half behind Virginia.

The Cavaliers dropped in the NCAA’s NET rankings from No. 77 to 79, while the Hokies received a slight bump from 38 to 35.

Virginia is 2-5 in Quad-1 games, 4-1 in Quad-2, 3-4 in Quad-3 and 7-0 in Quad-4. Meanwhile, Tech is 0-5 in Quad-1, 4-3 in Quad-2, 6-2 in Quad-3 and 6-0 in Quad-4.

Essentially, what is hurting UVA along with a soft strength of schedule, are losses to Navy, JMU and NC State, even though the Cavaliers have a better record in Quad-1 and Quad-2.

Meanwhile, bracketologists haven’t exactly smiled on UVA’s chances. Joe Lunardi of ESPN had Virginia ranked in the “next four out,” before last night’s loss. Virginia Tech replaced the Cavaliers in that category as UVA slipped behind that.

Meanwhile, CBS bracket man Jerry Palm doesn’t have UVA or Tech listed on his bubble. Another site gives Virginia a 12-percent chance of making the field and Tech a 17-percent chance.

ESPN analyst Seth Greenberg said on this site’s podcast last Friday that he felt UVA needed to win four or five of its last six games. The Cavaliers have won one (Georgia Tech) and lost one (Virginia Tech), which means in Greenberg’s view, UVA has to win three of its next four: at Miami on Saturday, then Duke and Florida State at home before finishing the regular season at Louisville.

As Greenberg pointed out, a Miami win would help (the Hurricanes are presently No. 69 in the NET), but a win over Duke would be huge. The Blue Devils are No. 11 in the NET, and the selection committee would have to take notice of a sweep of Duke late in the season.

Games against Florida State and Louisville might not move the needle at all (FSU is No. 97 in the NET, while Louisville is No. 125). However, the Cavaliers can’t afford to lose those games either, especially if they beat Miami or Duke beforehand.

Virginia fresh out of playmakers and 3-pointers in loss at Virginia Tech

By Jerry Ratcliffe

Photo by Dan Grogan

Seth Greenberg, who has had stops at Virginia and Virginia Tech along his coaching career and is now among the best basketball analysts in the land, made a good point during halftime of Monday night’s clash between the two rivals.

Greenberg said the difference between this season’s Virginia team and most of Tony Bennett’s previous teams was that in the past, Bennett’s had pros making shots. This season?

“They don’t have any pros,” Greenberg pointed out.

The Cavaliers strutted into Blacksburg on a four-game winning streak, including back-to-back wins over the ACC’s top two teams, Duke and Miami. They knew they were headed into hostile territory and Tech’s Cassell Coliseum was lit up with disdain for the Wahoos.

Tech, the hottest team in the league – now with six straight wins in the ACC after taking down the Cavaliers, 62-53 (see related game story) – was finally playing the way Coach Mike Young had envisioned back in November. Meanwhile, Virginia, fighting for its postseason life, was walking a tightrope with a very small margin for error.

While UVA has not been a good 3-point shooting team this season, even Bennett didn’t count on his team going Oh-for-nine – the first time in 176 games the Cavaliers failed to make a triple. Their shortcomings from behind the arc had a direct impact on the rest of Virginia’s offense.

Without making the Hokies sweat the 3-pointer, they were able to clog up the middle and limit ACC Player of the Week Jayden Gardner and Kadin Shedrick. As good as Gardner was – 17 points (7-of-17 shooting) and 14 rebounds, he couldn’t battle Tech on his own, even with Shedrick contributing 11 points.

After Gardner scored 15 of his 17 in the first half, the Hokies ganged up on him.

It was an intense battle among two of the league’s best defenses, but the Hokies, backed by a raucous crowd, managed to outlast the Cavaliers. UVA senior point guard Kihei Clark appeared out of sync all night and was only 1 of 9 from the field (0 for 5 from beyond the arc).

“He’s a heck of a player, maybe he had a rough night,” Young said later. “He’s won a national championship. I don’t think Cassell Coliseum spooked him. We just did a good job on him.”

Tech, the No. 2 team in the nation from the 3-point line, wasn’t exactly stellar either. The Hokies were a mere 5 of 20.

As Bennett has pointed out adnausem, most of Virginia’s games come down to who can make plays in a close contest at the end. This time, the script didn’t include any heroes wearing orange and blue.

After Shedrick cut Tech’s lead to 54-50 with 2:47 to go, Virginia ran out of playmakers. Down the home stretch, Gardner uncharacteristically missed from mid-range, Armaan Franklin missed two 3’s and Clark was called for a flagrant foul.

Meanwhile, the Hokies did just enough to pull away, including a dunk and a turnaround jumper at the end of the shot clock for a 58-50 cushion, from which Virginia could not recover. Those were part of his game-high 24 points (10 for 14 field goals).

“Keve likes the Cavaliers,” Young said. “He’s had three pretty good outings against them.”

It was a huge game for both teams as they battle toward a spot in the postseason.

Headed into the game, Virginia was No. 77 in the NET rankings and was listed in one national bracketologist’s “next four out.” The Hokies, No. 38 in the NET before the game, were ranked behind UVA by the bracketologist. Those positions have apparently been swapped with the Tech win.

Standing at 16-10 overall and 10-6 in the league, Virginia’s margin is even slimmer as the Cavaliers next play at Miami (Saturday), a team they defeated in Charlottesville a couple weeks ago.

In some of those close wins, they’ve had someone come through in the clutch and gutted out wins against superior teams. However, as Greenberg noted, without pros in the lineup, sometimes spinning the wheel comes up with an 0-for-9 night.

Virginia can’t afford another night like Monday.

UVA’s win streak halted with 62-53 loss at Virginia Tech

By Scott Ratcliffe

Photo: UVA Athletics

Virginia’s four-game win streak came to an end Monday night in Blacksburg, as Virginia Tech held on for a 62-53 win to split the season series.

The Cavaliers (16-10, 10-6 ACC) had taken four of the last five meetings against VT, including three of the last four at Cassell Coliseum, but Tech took advantage of poor UVA second-half shooting to extend its ACC-best win streak to six games.

Keve Aluma scored 16 of his game-high 24 points after halftime, as the Hokies (16-10, 8-7) connected on 17 of 21 free throws to seal the victory.

UVA senior forward Jayden Gardner, who was named ACC Player of the Week a few hours before Monday’s tipoff, had another big first half (15 points, 8 rebounds), but struggled in the second. He only made one of his six shots after halftime, as the Cavaliers shot 33 percent in the second half (10 for 30), and missed all nine attempts from 3-point land on the evening.

The Hokies opened the second half on a 10-2 run, capped by an Aluma and-1 with 15:38 to play, giving them a 35-31 lead.

The Wahoos came out sloppy after halftime, missing eight of nine shots to start the half, until Armaan Franklin converted on the ensuing trip down the floor. That turned out to be the last Cavalier points for over four minutes, as Tech went on to take a 38-33 lead on a Storm Murphy triple.

Kadin Shedrick threw down an alley-oop dunk to get the Hoos within two points as the clock went under 10 minutes, and then Reece Beekman’s monster slam off a Gardner steal drew his team back even, 42-42, with 8:20 to go.

Moments later, Beekman lobbed one up for Shedrick for another highlight-reel finish to knot the game up at 44-apiece, but the Hokies went back up by five on a Nahiem Alleyne 3-pointer as the game approached the six-minute mark.

Gardner got his first bucket of the second half to fall, trimming the Tech lead to 49-46 with 5:46 left, but the Hokies extended it to 54-48 on two Justyn Mutts free throws with just over three minutes to play.

Aluma sank a baseline jumper over Shedrick with 1:19 remaining to beat the shot clock, giving the Hokies a 58-50 lead, and a flagrant foul called on Kihei Clark with 56 seconds left was the final dagger for the Hoos.

Virginia shot 44 percent on the night (22 of 55), making 9 of 12 from the free-throw line and outrebounding Tech, 33-26. The Cavaliers committed 10 turnovers while forcing 6 by the Hokies.

Gardner led the team with 17 points and 14 rebounds. Shedrick had 11 points and 6 boards, while Beekman added 10 points and 4 assists, and Franklin scored 9 points.

FIRST HALF

After two quick baskets by Aluma, the Hoos knotted it up at 4-4 with a pair of putbacks — one by Gardner, one by Francisco Caffaro.

Gardner followed a Franklin miss with an emphatic jam to give Virginia its first lead, and then after a Maddox triple on the other end, Caffaro spun around Mutts and flushed one home as the teams traded punches.

Franklin put the Hoos ahead and then scored again on a mid-range jumper to cap a 6-0 run as UVA held a 14-11 advantage with 10:45 left in the half.

Just as the Hokies cut it to one, Gardner answered with consecutive buckets to make it a five-point Cavalier lead, but Tech struck right back to tie it at 18-all as the half went under six minutes.

Franklin briefly broke the tie with another basket before Hunter Cattoor connected from deep, and the Hokies led 21-20 at the final media timeout. The lead continued to change hands, as Gardner’s three-point play with two minutes remaining gave Virginia a 25-23 edge.

Gardner, who led all scorers with 15 points in the half, sank one from just inside the 3-point line with 49 ticks left, then in the closing seconds, Beekman drove, drew a foul and knocked down two free throws as the Hoos took a 29-25 lead into the locker room.

Clark, who finished the game without just 2 points (1 for 9, 0 for 5 from downtown), picked up his second foul with 5:47 on the clock and watched from the sideline the remainder of the half, with Malachi Poindexter providing minutes off the bench.

There were four ties and nine lead changes in the opening stanza alone, as Virginia shot 48 percent (12 for 25) and the Hokies shot just 36 percent (10 for 28).

Tech, one of the top 3-point shooting teams in the country, made 3 of 13 (23 percent) from long range by halftime, while the Hoos misfired on all three of their first-half attempts from beyond the arc.

Box Score

Team Notes

Courtesy UVA Media Relations

• Virginia fell to 16-10, 10-6 ACC
• UVA is 2-2 against the Commonwealth this season (1-1 vs. Virginia Tech)
• UVA is 74-18 against teams from Virginia since 1999-00
• UVA outrebounded VT 33-26
• VT used an 8-0 run to gain a 35-31 lead
• UVA shot 10 of 30 from the field in the second half and finished 22 of 55 (40%)
• UVA led 29-25 at halftime, falling to 12-2 when leading at the half
• UVA failed to make a 3-pointer (0 of 9) for the first time in 176 games
• The last time UVA failed to make a 3-pointer was on Nov. 15, 2016, vs. St. Francis Brooklyn

Series Notes

• Virginia Tech earned a half point in the Smithfield Commonwealth Clash
• The Hokies lead this year’s Clash 5.5-1.5
• Virginia is 96-58 all-time vs. Virginia Tech in the series that dates back to 1914-15
• The Cavaliers are 23-32 all-time at Cassell Coliseum
• Head coach Tony Bennett is 17-8 all-time vs. Virginia Tech

Player Notes

• Double Figure Scorers: Jayden Gardner (17), Kadin Shedrick (11), Reece Beekman (10)
• Gardner (14 rebounds) recorded his 36th career double-double (6th at UVA)
• Gardner tied a season high with 14 rebounds
• Gardner had 15 points and eight rebounds in the first half
• Gardner has made 26 consecutive free throws dating back to Jan. 19 at Pitt
• Gardner reached double figures for the 21st time (94th career)
• Gardner has a nine-game double figure scoring streak
• Shedrick reached double figures for the eighth time (10th career)
• Beekman reached double figures for the ninth time (12th career)
• Beekman’s steal streak ended at 15 games

UP NEXT

The Cavaliers remain on the road for another important conference rematch Saturday at Miami (5 p.m., ACC Network). The Hoos defeated the Hurricanes, 71-58, on Feb. 5 in Charlottesville.