Beekman leads the way as Virginia sweeps Pitt, 66-61

By Scott Ratcliffe

Virginia went up to Pittsburgh and completed the season sweep Wednesday night, making it eight wins in a row against the Panthers with a 66-61 victory. Second-year guard Reece Beekman led the Cavaliers (11-7, 5-3 ACC) with 19 points, as UVA kept itself a game and a half out of first place in the conference standings.

Kadin Shedrick matched a career high with 12 points — on 6-of-6 shooting — and Jayden Gardner added 14, as the Wahoos won their third ACC road game of the season.

Armaan Franklin’s basket with 26 seconds left made it a two-possession game, and Pitt couldn’t convert on the ensuing trip, as Kihei Clark sealed the contest with a pair of free throws with 9.3 ticks left.

The Hoos connected on seven of their first 10 shots to start the second half and took a 43-36 lead on an easy Beekman jam off an inbound feed from Clark with 13:45 to play.

Pitt responded, trimming it to 45-44 as the game went under the 10-minute mark, but the Hoos turned it on offensively, scoring the game’s next nine points, capped by a Clark 3-pointer to push the lead to double digits for the first time all night.

All three Cavalier big men — Gardner, Shedrick and Francisco Caffaro — had picked up four fouls coming out of the final media timeout, making things interesting down the stretch. Both Caffaro and Shedrick fouled out, leaving just Gardner to man the middle. 

The Panthers (7-11, 2-5) wouldn’t throw in the towel, cutting it to 62-59, but Mouhamadou Gueye and Femi Odukale each missed layups with under a minute to go.

Virginia shot 60 percent in the second half (15 for 25) and 50 percent for the game (27 for 54), connecting on just 4 of 17 from 3-point land. The Hoos scored 21 points off of Pitt’s 15 turnovers.

Beekman finished the game missing only three of his 11 field-goal attempts, dishing out a career-high 8 assists in the process. He’s the first Cavalier with 19-plus points and 8-plus assists in a game since London Perrantes in 2015.

The Panthers shot 50 percent overall (21 for 42), including just 1 of 6 (17 percent) from long distance, and outrebounded Virginia, 29-25. Pitt’s John Hugley led all scorers with 23 points in the losing effort.

FIRST HALF

As the teams traded punches in the early going, the Cavalier defense forced four Panther turnovers in the first nine minutes, but couldn’t get things going on the offensive end. Virginia misfired on five of its first 16 shots to open the contest.

Pitt grabbed a 14-10 lead midway through, the largest lead for either side up to that point. The Hoos went ahead with their first 3-pointer of the night, as Beekman got one to drop after the team missed on their first five tries.

The lead continued to see-saw back and forth before Pitt went up by five, but the Hoos hung around and knotted it up at 22-all on Beekman’s second triple of the half. Gardner followed that up with a jumper, and then Beekman sank another from downtown to cap off a 10-0 UVA run to make it 27-22 with 1:12 remaining.

Beekman was 3 for 3 from beyond the arc in the first half, while the rest of the Hoos combined to miss all seven of their 3-point attempts.

Hugley converted a three-point play with 46 ticks left, but Clark’s bucket on the ensuing end gave the Cavaliers a 29-25 edge at the break, in a half that saw four ties and eight lead changes.

Team Notes

Courtesy UVA Media Relations

• Virginia improved to 11-7, 5-3 ACC
• UVA is 3-3 on the road
• UVA shot 50 percent, including 60 percent in the second half (15 of 25)
• UVA owned a 36-30 advantage in the paint
• UVA used a 10-0 run to gain a 27-22 lead
• UVA led 29-25 at the half

Series Notes

• Virginia is 19-4 all-time vs. Pitt in the series that dates back to 1957-58.
• UVA has won eight straight contests vs. the Panthers and swept the season series
• Virginia has won 15 of the last 16 games against Pitt, including an 8-3 record in Pittsburgh
• UVA is 12-1 against Pitt since 2013-14 when the Panthers joined the ACC
• The Cavaliers have a three-game winning streak against the Panthers at Petersen Events Center
• Tony Bennett is 12-2 all-time vs. Pitt

Player Notes

• Double Figure Scorers: Reece Beekman (19), Jayden Gardner (14), Kadin Shedrick (12)
• Beekman reached double figures for the sixth time (9th career)
• Beekman has an eight-game steal streak
• Beekman had a career-high eight assists
• Beekman matched career highs in 3-pointers (3) and blocks (2)
• Gardner reached double figures for the ninth time (82nd career)
• Shedrick matched a career high with 12 points
• Shedrick reached double figures for the fourth time (6th career)
• Shedrick (2 blocks) had his 14th multi-block game

UP NEXT

Virginia travels to Raleigh to take on NC State at 4 p.m. Saturday on ACC Network before returning home for a Monday-night showdown with Louisville (7 p.m., ESPN).