Braxton Key Keys Virginia Road Win
Posted on Monday, Feb. 18, 2019, 11:17 pm
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By Jerry Ratcliffe
BLACKSBURG – The weight on Braxton Key’s ample shoulders was heavy heading down the home stretch of Monday night’s game at rival Virginia Tech. The pressure, mounting with each misfire during a suffocating slump from behind the 3-point arc, might bring a lesser man to his knees.
Not Key. Not on this night. Not while being surrounded by unwavering support from his teammates.
For the record, Virginia’s junior forward had made only one of his last 15 attempts from past the line. That 3-pointer was during a 1-for-3 performance 16 days ago. One must trace all the way back to the last time Key and his Cavaliers blew out Virginia Tech on Jan. 15, to uncover his previous 3.
All that frustration cast out of his body with just less than six minutes to play at sold out Cassell Coliseum, keeping the upset-minded Hokies at bay. Key, who had already missed twice from that range in the game, let fly another jumper from Bonusphere and watched it swish through for a 56-43 advantage.
His jaws opened, he pointed toward the heavens, and just like that his streak was snapped.
“I just said to myself, ‘Finally,’” Key admitted after Virginia’s 64-58 win at Tech, the Cavaliers’ first sweep of the Hokies since 2015. “You work so hard and not to get the results you want is frustrating. But you have to stay confident and stay with it.”
Just in case the Hokies had intentions of a late run, Key added another 3 – this one late in the shot clock – to open a 10-point bulge with less than a minute to play.
Those were the only two shots he made, and they came with great timing. Tony Bennett, who was highly distraught over the way his team performed in the first half, made mention of how important Key’s three’s were in his postgame.
They were not only important for the team, but big time for Key’s confidence. He had been struggling mightily in that part of his game, and everyone was starting to whisper. As one of Virginia’s X-Factors, it was important that he uphold his end of the bargain.
With Jack Salt and Kihei Clark sometimes going through scoring droughts, it was important that Key contribute. When he hasn’t, it has added more pressure onto the Cavaliers’ firm of Guy, Jerome & Hunter, to produce in overdrive.
While the shooting funk clearly bothered Key down in his soul, he wasn’t going to let it ruin his entire game. A strong rebounder at 6-8, 225, the Charlotte, N.C., guard focused on sticky defense, often against bigger bodies, and by rebounding strong to the glass.
“I knew it would come,” Key said. “Everyone is capable in this system. I had 20 [points] against Florida State. Just have to trust in the process.”
Still, it bothered Key down deep. Every single day he would work extra hard on his 3-point shot. He would put up 100, 200 from behind the arc every single day.
He was baffled by the game slump. He hadn’t experienced anything so inexplicable since his freshman year at Alabama, when they said he hit the “freshman wall.”
Yet, he never lost confidence over this recent slowdown.
“I think I’m pretty confident, so I feel like all of them are going in,” Key said. “My guys were picking me up the whole time, and the whole game tonight. I missed two wide open ones earlier in this game and Ty [Jerome], Mamadi [Diakite], and Kyle [Guy] were all telling me to keep my head up, make the next one.”
Jerome, who scored 16 points, including a huge 3 down the stretch as well, was ecstatic about Key breaking out of his shooting doldrums.
“He missed one right before [the make] and it rimmed in and out, and I passed it to him and he had his head down walking back down the court,” Jerome recounted. “I told him to keep shooting. You gotta let it go, I believe in you. To see that next one go down was big.”
No sooner did the next one go in than Jerome was giving his teammate a big congratulatory hug.
“It was huge for us,” Jerome said of Key ending the streak. “He’s been struggling a little bit and still contributed in other ways. To see those two go down at the end of the game, we needed them and he needed them for his confidence.. I was so happy for him.”
On a night when No. 3 Virginia was not playing its best basketball, was perhaps ripe for an upset in enemy territory, this poised bunch of Cavaliers found a way to win. There has to be some credit given to this team, which for consecutive weekends have had to win at home on Saturday afternoons, then go into hostile territory on Monday nights in demanding short turnarounds.
Last week it was an emotional loss to Duke in a rematch in Charlottesville, then 48 hours later playing at North Carolina. This time, it was a win at home – albeit a sloppy one – over a fired up Notre Dame team, then a game at rival Virginia Tech on Monday night.
“It speaks to the experience of this group,” Guy said. “We kept our poise. We’ve been here before.”
Jerome, who said it was difficult to remember the Cavaliers were up by three over the Hokies at halftime after the chewing Bennett gave to them at the break, said the experience is a big deal.
“We’re finding ways to win,” Jerome said. “We’ll have to go back to the drawing board and figure out how we can improve going forward, which will be big for us these next two months.”
Having Key’s shooting touch restored can’t hurt any. Key is certainly a big key down the home stretch.
