Franklin’s scoring ability will be needed tonight against unbeaten Providence

By Jerry Ratcliffe

Armaan Franklin. Photo courtesy UVA Athletics.

If anyone in Newark’s Prudential Center feared the capabilities of Virginia’s Armaan Franklin on Monday night, it was Georgia coach Tom Crean.

Crean, who had coached at Indiana before moving on to Georgia in 2018, had tried to recruit Franklin out of high school in Indianapolis. The now-Bulldogs coach wasn’t at all surprised when Franklin ruined Georgia’s party in the opening round of the Roman Legends Classic with a 65-55 Virginia victory.

Franklin, who transferred after last season from Indiana to Virginia, threw his own celebration, leading all scorers in the game with a career-high tying 23 points to lead the Cavaliers to a 3-2 record. UVA faces unbeaten Providence tonight for the event’s championship (7:30 p.m., ESPN2, Virginia is a 2-point underdog by the oddsmakers).

While Franklin’s 3-point shot was off its mark (1 for 7), the rest of his game was spot on. The junior guard connected on 7 of 9 shots inside the arc and grabbed six defensive rebounds.

“I love Armaan Franklin,” Crean said. “He’s a fantastic player and I always felt that he could be an NBA guard at some point. He did a lot of good things, utilizes his screens extremely well. He’s an outstanding shooter. We knew he’sd be a hard matchup because of how aggressive he is and how well he attacks the rim, not only shooting the three.”

Franklin scored Virginia’s first nine points and came up with timely baskets every time the Bulldogs attempted to get a run going in the second half. His two free throws put UVA up 51-48 with 5:50 to play, and then, after a Georgia 3-pointer that made it 53-51, Cavaliers at the 4:10 mark, Franklin scored on a driving layup for a 55-51 lead.

Teammate Kadin Shedrick swatted away Georgia’s next attempt, one of his four blocks in the game, and Franklin scored on a jumper on the other end to make it 57-51 as UVA pulled away.

“I was just taking what the defense was giving me and I’m saying thank you,” Franklin said after the game.

Virginia’s triumph was just as much defense as it was offense. After Georgia took a 46-45 lead, the Bulldogs only made four field goals from that point on (the last 9:24 of the game).

“We pride ourselves on the defensive end,” Franklin said. “In those key moments you have to rely on defense. Just to lock in on defense. I think those are very important minutes for us to come together as a team. I think we did that tonight. Just to hold on for a few of those in the last four minutes was a step in the right direction.”

Franklin was brought in to help Virginia’s offensive production, so it was comforting to fans to see that he could score even when his long distance accuracy was just off a bit.

His mid-range jumper, almost a lost art in college basketball, was spot on all night.

“This is all about my team,” Franklin said. “Whatever they need me to, I’ll do it. Some games are going to be like this, so you’ve got to find different ways [to score] in those games. But it was a good feeling.”

Tony Bennett said he was more impressed with how Franklin defended and rebounded on this particular night, rather than his scoring, because in a tight game those things made a difference.

“He had to do the job and we needed him to rebound,” Bennett said. “He got good looks and he shot the pull up. He got to the rim and he did show some completeness.”

Remember what Crean said?

You’re not going to read where Franklin boasting over his scoring because, as Bennett likes to point out, he’s such a humble young man. He can carry that attitude onto the court, so every now and then, Bennett will have to call attention to him not being aggressive.

“When you’re open and you have rhythm, greenlight, let it fly,” Bennett said. “I wish my coach would have said that to me when I was playing (poking fun at his dad, Dick Bennett, who was his college coach). My coach was really restrictive and it was really tough playing for him (followed by laughter).”

In five games, Franklin has scored in the 20’s twice already and will likely have to do it several more times to give the Cavaliers the much-needed offensive punch that they lack otherwise.

Perhaps even tonight when they battle undefeated Providence.

Virginia advances to Legends Classic title game with 65-55 win over Georgia

By Scott Ratcliffe

Virginia held on late in a tightly contested, back-and-forth affair to defeat Georgia, 65-55, in the semifinals of the Roman Legends Classic in Newark, N.J., on Monday, in a contest that featured six ties and 11 lead changes.

Junior guard Armaan Franklin got off to a hot start and then came alive down the stretch, leading all scorers with 23 points (8 for 16 FG, 1 for 7 on 3-pointers) on the evening, tying his career high, as the Cavaliers (3-2) advanced to tomorrow’s championship game.

Trailing by three at the half, Kihei Clark knotted the game up with his second 3-pointer of the night before the Wahoos rattled off four more to grab a 38-34 lead.

Interior starters Kadin Shedrick and Jayden Gardner each picked up their third personal foul of the game by the 16:22 mark. Francisco Caffaro picked up some of the slack, but was whistled for his third foul just a few minutes later, forcing Tony Bennett to get a little creative down the stretch.

Shedrick and Caffaro each got called for their fourth by the 10-minute mark, taking the team’s tallest two players off the floor for much of the duration.

Carson McCorkle entered and connected on a triple and later came away with a crucial steal, and then another takeaway by Reece Beekman led to a pair of Franklin free throws that gave the Hoos a 53-48 advantage with just under five minutes remaining.

Franklin scored on a left-hand lay-in moments later, then after an emphatic Shedrick block on the other end, Franklin struck again, as his jumper pushed the Cavalier lead to 57-51 with 2:29 left.

With 1:43 to go, Georgia (2-3) lost its leading scorer, as Braelen Bridges fouled out, and Shedrick split a pair of freebies and then swatted another Bulldog shot, his fourth of the game. On the ensuing trip down, Shedrick got a key offensive rebound and sank two more from the line, and UVA led by seven as the game went under 60 seconds.

On the night, Virginia shot 39.6 percent (21 for 53) from the field and 25 percent (5 for 20) from long distance, forcing 16 UGA turnovers, nine of them after halftime. The Hoos recorded 7 blocks and 7 steals, and scored 14 points off of Bulldog miscues.

In addition to his scoring success, Franklin also registered 6 rebounds, 2 assists, a block and 3 steals. Clark finished with 12 points and 3 assists, while committing just a pair of turnovers. Gardner played just 27 minutes due to foul trouble, but wound up with 11 points and 6 rebounds. Beekman added 7 points, 3 assists, 2 rebounds and 2 steals.

Shedrick had just 3 points, but hauled down 7 rebounds and blocked 4 UGA shots, while Caffaro added 3 points and 5 boards in 19 minutes off the bench.

Georgia was held to 37-percent shooting (20 for 54 FG) and just 14 percent from beyond the arc (3 of 21). The Bulldogs won the rebounding battle, 42-29. Bridges led Georgia with 14 points, while Jailyn Ingram added a double-double with 10 points and 12 boards, and Kario Oquendo had 9 points. Former Wahoo Jabri Abdur-Rahim, who transferred to UGA in the offseason, made just 1 of his 6 shot attempts (0 for 3 from 3-point land), finishing with 4 points, 4 rebounds and a block in 26 minutes.

FIRST HALF

Franklin scored Virginia’s first 9 points — and 11 of the team’s first 13 — as part of a 13-2 run which included 11 straight, highlighted by a Beekman steal and score.

Ingram sank a pair of back-to-back 3-pointers to pull Georgia back within a point at 15-14 with 11:44 left in the opening half.

Igor Miličić Jr. entered the game soon after and picked up where he left off from Friday, knocking down his first triple of the game before the Bulldogs tied it at 20-20 with 8:31 until halftime.

A Clark 3 broke the brief tie before Abdur-Rahim 4:54 cut it to one with just under five minutes to go, and then Georgia took the lead on the next trip down.

Gardner immediately put the Cavaliers back in front on a nice dish from Beekman, but then picked up his second foul and had to sit the rest of the half, just like Shedrick.

A Georgia shot-clock violation out of the ensuing media timeout at the 3:42 mark led to a tough Clark layup amongst the trees with 2:56 left to give the Hoos a 29-26 edge, but Virginia misfired on its final four field-goal attempts (and 7 of its last 9) of the half.

Clark made a pair of free throws with 2 ticks left to trim Georgia’s lead to one, but a careless 3-shot by Caffaro on a desperation Jaxon Etter halfcourt heave at the buzzer gave the Bulldogs two more points (Etter missed one of his three free throws) to make it 34-31 Georgia going into the locker room.

Box Score

UP NEXT

The Cavaliers will face Providence (5-0) in the championship game on Tuesday night (7:30 p.m. on ESPN2). The Friars defeated Northwestern in Monday’s second semifinal, 77-72.

Team Notes

Courtesy UVA Media Relations

• Virginia (3-2) improved to 4-4 vs. Georgia
• Virginia is 2-0 vs. Georgia in the modern era
• UVA is 149-43 in nonconference action under head coach Tony Bennett
• The Cavaliers outscored the Bulldogs 34-21 in the second half
• UVA had a season-low four turnovers
• The Cavaliers will compete for their seventh November tournament championship in the last eight years tomorrow night vs. Providence

Player Notes

• Double Figure Scorers: Armaan Franklin (23), Kihei Clark (12), Jayden Gardner (11)
• Franklin tied a career high with 23 points, his second 20-point effort of the season
• Franklin matched a season high with three steals
• Clark handed out three assists to move into a tie for 10th on UVA’s career list at 401
• Kadin Shedrick matched a career high with 4 blocks
• Shedrick registered his fourth straight multi-block game

Croatian Milicic impresses JPJ crowd as he continues to adjust to U.S. basketball

By Jerry Ratcliffe

It didn’t take long into this new season for newcomer Igor Milicic Jr. to have his coming out party as a Virginia Cavalier.

With Tony Bennett tinkering with lineups, experimenting with team chemistry, he called on the true freshman early in Friday night’s 68-52 win over visiting Coppin State. Milicic didn’t disappoint.

The 6-foot-10, 224-pound Croatian nailed a 3-pointer within seconds after he entered the game with just under 11 minutes to go in the first half, then drilled a perimeter jumper less than two minutes later and led UVA in scoring at the half with seven points. Milicic finished with 11 points, a couple of rebounds, an assist and a blocked shot.

For a team looking for additional scoring, Milicic certainly raised some eyebrows as he connected on 3 of 6 field-goal attempts, 2 of 4 shots from the arc and 3 of 4 from the free-throw line.

He instantly became a crowd favorite much in the vein of how Cavalier faithful immediately began a love affair with a young Jay Huff several years ago.

“I was a little nervous when Coach Tony called my name for me to come in, but when I stepped on the floor I knew exactly what I had to do, I just played my game: came off of two screens and hit a jumper, then another,” Milicic said.

If he was nervous, it didn’t show.

“I was just playing my game,” the Croatian said. “Confidence has nothing to do with it. I just played how I know how to play.”

Just as his father, Igor Sr., who has coached his team to three of the last four Polish championships, trained him.

While Junior said after his first double-figure scoring game in American hoops that he’s nowhere close to where he wants to be, he certainly made a good impression. He had played a total of 5 minutes, 21 seconds in mop-up duty in two previous games this season and hadn’t scored. Against Coppin, he clocked almost 14 minutes of floor time.

“Yeah, [Milicic] is a good shooter, big kid, made some threes early for them,” Coppin coach Juan Dixon, a former Maryland star, said. “I think he’s definitely going to have a bright future here at UVA.”

Coach Tony also liked what he saw from his European prospect.

“I was happy for Malachi (Poindexter, who scored 2 points in 15 minutes), one of Charlottesville’s own, and Igor,” Bennett said after watching the Cavaliers improve to 2-2 and bouncing back from a setback at No. 15 Houston on Tuesday. “I thought they were a bright spot in the game.

“For international players, there’s an adjustment more than any new guy to your program, either transfers, or a new guy from the States that’s in his first year. For the international players I think it takes longer and in Igor’s case, he didn’t get to come here this summer. He missed the 8-to-10 weeks that we get, because he was graduating [back home].”

That meant Milicic arrived at UVA right at the start of the first semester, which meant he had a lot of catching up to do.

“I think that’s been tough, and boy, is he a hard worker,” Bennett said. “He sees a shot and he’s not bashful to take it, which is good. I loved that he came in and let it go.”

Bennett likes Milicic’s size, but realizes he must adjust to a faster-paced style of basketball in the U.S., even though UVA doesn’t exactly set the world ablaze with it’s more deliberate pace. The European game is slower and more physical.

Milicic gets all that, and acknowledges he has a lot of adjustments to make.

“I still think I’m not even close where I have to be,” the freshman said. “I just have to keep working and getting better. It’s a big adjustment from coming from Europe to here because the game is so different.”

Off the court, his adjustment to freshman college life hasn’t been as challenging because of his schedule.

“I’m a college student, so I’m pretty much at school and JPJ all the time,” Milicic chuckled. “I go to my dorm and just to sleep. Just trying to practice as much as I can and get some sleep.”

Bennett can vouch for that. Milicic is a relentless worker, always getting up extra shots at the gym.

“He’s practiced well and he can guard the ball,” the coach said. “He’s strong and he spreads out and he shoots the ball well. He’s trying to learn and understand. He’s really been a perimeter player his whole life.”

That means Bennett can trust Milicic to play the four spot or on the perimeter, as long as he can keep his opponent in front of him. Bennett knows the freshman has been well-coached back home and knows the game as a coach’s son. He just needs to get accustomed to the nuances of the American game.

Milicic doesn’t lack confidence.

“In today’s basketball, there is no position,” the European said. “I think I can play one, two, three, four or five. You put me on the floor and I will do exactly what you want, and do the best I can.”

His father, who played professionally at a high level in Russia, Croatia, Turkey, Greece, Belgium and Poland, was always hard on him in order to build a complete player. Junior said that Bennett is equally hard on him and he likes it.

“I’m trying to do everything like Coach Tony says and like my dad said,” Milicic said.

Because of the six-hour time difference between Virginia and Poland, he only gets to talk to his father once a week, usually on the weekends because by the time classes end and basketball practice ends, Igor Sr., is usually asleep.

“He’s the biggest influence in basketball for me,” Junior said. “He played, he knows the game, he teaches me, he runs practice for me and my younger brothers. He made me as a player, and I’m really grateful.”

He became connected to Virginia as a teammate of former Cavalier Isaiah Wilkins on a German Pro B league team. Wilkins, who has since returned to Charlottesville as one of Bennett’s graduate assistants, alerted Bennett on Milicic, noting that he might want to take a good look at the young European.

“We had a great connection,” Milicic said of his relationship with Wilkins. “Obviously, he’s the only person I knew here (when he arrived a couple of months ago). He’s my mentor here. He’s helping me all the time, texting me, talking to me what I can do better. He pushes us every day and he does a great job.”

At the beginning of the season, Bennett sat down all his newcomers, Milicic, Poindexter (a walk-on from St. Anne’s-Belfield in Charlottesville), Taine Murray and Carson McCorkle, and explained that with a 10-man scholarship roster, he wasn’t set on positions 7-through-10 and encouraged them to keep working to find playing time in those spots.

“I may play eight, I may play nine, I may play 10,” Bennett told them. “You guys just stay encouraged and keep working. It might be one guy’s turn one week.”

Bennett just felt that it was Milicic’s turn Friday night and the youngster made the most of it. 

If the European keeps pushing hard, it certainly won’t be his last turn.

Gardner, Shedrick double-double in Virginia’s 68-52 win over Coppin State

By Scott Ratcliffe

Virginia got back to its defensive mentality and back in the win column Friday night at John Paul Jones Arena, as the Cavaliers took care of Coppin State, 68-52.

The Wahoos (2-2) put Tuesday’s 20-point loss to 15th-ranked Houston in the rear-view with an impressive showing on both ends of the floor against the Eagles (1-6).

Jayden Gardner and Kadin Shedrick each posted a double-double — Gardner with a team-high 14 points and game-high 12 rebounds, Shedrick with 10 points and 10 boards to go along with a game-best 3 blocks — to lead the way.

UVA recorded three steals in the first two minutes and change of the contest, as CSU coach (and former University of Maryland guard) Juan Dixon had to pause the early Cavalier onslaught, down 8-0 with 17:28 on the clock. Gardner scored on a floater on the opening possession to spark his offensive production.

Reece Beekman highlighted the early spurt with a nice drive right through the heart of the defense before finding Armaan Franklin soon after for a perfect assist and dunk to get the JPJ crowd energized.

The Eagles’ first basket didn’t drop until the 15:48 mark, as they misfired on their first four attempts, but the Hoos extended the lead to 16-2 on a Kihei Clark corner triple before Coppin’s next bucket fell with just over 10 minutes left in the opening half.

First-year 6-foot-10 forward Igor Miličić Jr. sank his first points as a Cavalier — a 3-pointer — out of the ensuing media timeout before scoring again on a jumper the next trip down to stretch the lead to 21-6.

Coppin State’s Jesse Zarzuela drilled a 3-pointer to trim the Virginia lead to 10 with 3:38 to go in the first half, but that’s about as close as the Eagles would get. Miličić blocked a shot in the closing seconds and kicked it ahead to a streaking Franklin for an old-fashioned, 3-point play to beat the buzzer, and Virginia led 35-20 at halftime.

UVA held CSU to 26-percent shooting (7 for 27) over the opening 20 minutes, including just 18 percent (3 for 17) from deep.

Shedrick converted an and-one jam of his own early in the second half to extend the lead to 20, 42-22, but the Eagles wouldn’t go away quietly, cutting it back down to 10, 46-36, with just over 12 minutes remaining.

From there, Tony Bennett’s Cavaliers were able to close strong, aside from a few minor hiccups, scoring 13 of the game’s next 15 points and ending the game with the starters cheering on comfortably from the sideline.

For the night, the Eagles shot 31 percent from the field (16 for 52) and 26 percent (9 of 34) from 3-point land. Each team turned the ball over 11 times. Daniel Titus, who sank a game-high four 3-pointers,  led the Eagles with 17 points, while senior forward Sita Conteh — who knocked down three triples of his own — added 10 off the bench.

The Hoos, who outrebounded Coppin, 42-33, didn’t have an outstanding shooting night, but looked much better than they did Tuesday, finishing Friday’s game at 42 percent (23 for 55) and 28 percent (5 for 18) from beyond the arc. UVA was 17 of 24 (71 percent) from the free-throw line and dominated in the paint, 28-12, converting 17 points off of CSU turnovers and getting 21 points from non-starters.

Two other Hoos finished in double-figures scoring, as Clark had 12 points, while Miličić finished with 11 (2 of 4 from 3-point range) in just 13 minutes off the bench, an encouraging sign moving forward for a team looking for more offensive firepower.

Senior guard Kody Stattmann followed up his 8-point performance at Houston with another solid outing Friday, finishing again with 8 points on 3-of-5 shooting (2 of 4 from long range).

Beekman didn’t have his best night offensively, posting 4 points (2 of 8 FG), but contributed in other ways with 6 rebounds, 6 assists, a pair of steals and a block. Franklin added 7 points (0 for 4 from deep), 3 rebounds and 3 assists in 28 minutes.

Sophomore guard Malachi Poindexter, a graduate of nearby St. Anne-s-Belfield School playing in his fifth collegiate contest, scored his first career points on a jumper with 3:10 left in the second half, in a career-high 14 minutes.

Box Score

UP NEXT

The Cavaliers head north to Newark, N.J., for the Roman Legends Classic, which begins Monday against Georgia (2-2) at 7 p.m. on ESPNU. The Hoos, based on the outcomes of Monday’s games, will take on either Providence or Northwestern — each of which entered the weekend with a perfect 4-0 record — on Tuesday.

Team Notes

Courtesy UVA Media Relations

• UVA is 148-43 (.775) in nonconference action under Bennett, including an 84-8 record at John Paul Jones Arena
• UVA is 21-0 all-time vs. current Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference opponents
• Virginia is 3-0 all-time against Coppin State in the series that dates back to the 1993-94 season
• UVA started the game on an 8-0 run
• Coppin State’s first basket came at 15:45 of the first half
• UVA led 35-20 at the half, limiting the Eagles to 7 of 27 field goals and 3 of 17 3-pointers
• UVA outrebounded Coppin State 42-33
• UVA had a season-high 21 bench points

Player Notes

• Double Figure Scorers: Jayden Gardner (14), Kihei Clark (12), Igor Miličić Jr. (11), Kadin Shedrick (10)
• Gardner (14 points, 12 rebounds) had his second double-double of the season (32nd career)
• Shedrick (10 points, 10 rebounds) registered his first career double-double
• Shedrick (3 blocks) had his third straight game with three or more blocks
• Malachi Poindexter (2 points) played a career-high 14 minutes