Clark shows leadership as Virginia’s defense helps shut down BC

By Jerry Ratcliffe

Tony Bennett could see it in his point guard’s eyes. There was an unmistakable fire, the kind Bennett was calling upon from his team as it heads down the home stretch of the season.

Coming off a close loss at Notre Dame, the Virginia coach knew his team needed to win its home game against Boston College on Tuesday night. Projected on the outside of next month’s Big Dance, every win is precious at this time of year.

Senior point man Kihei Clark clearly got Bennett’s pre-game message.

“I said, ‘Give everything you got on defense,’” Bennett shared with media in the postgame of UVA’s 67-55 over the Eagles. He continued, “This cannot be a lukewarm defensive game. You’re going to have to give all you got.”

His team responded, once again avoiding back-to-back losses for the season. Clark and his teammates pressured BC into 10 turnovers, leading to 20 UVA points, the deciding factor in a physical game. It was exactly what everyone expected, yet another rock fight between two teams not as offensively blessed as some of their ACC neighbors.

Boston College coach Earl Grant knew that committing 14 turnovers (UVA only scored off 10 of those, so it could have been worse) in a 57-possession game spelled doom for his squad (9-12, 4-7), which has struggled to win on the road.

Meanwhile, BC couldn’t pressure the Cavaliers into similar miscues. UVA had nine turnovers, but only three in the first half.

“Yeah, there weren’t a lot of live-ball turnovers, but that’s what you’ve got to expect when you’ve got a senior point guard running the show for them [Clark],” Grant said. “I thought he did a good job keeping them poised and staying to the offensive actions.”

If there were ever a time that Virginia needed leadership from its most experienced player, it’s now, and Clark didn’t disappoint. He has a calming effect on his teammates, and while he might not be the most vocal leader, he certainly made up for it with his action.

Clark led four Cavaliers in double-figures scoring with a season-high 19, including a career-high 10 for 10 free throws to go along with one of only three Virginia 3-pointers on the night (UVA’s seven 3-point attempts were the team’s lowest in six years).

“I thought Kihei came in with great energy, great ball pressure at the pickup point,” Bennett praised his point guard. “Sometimes you just look in a guy’s eyes, and you see their posture and you can hear it in their voice. I thought he was terrific in that way.”

In what Bennett described as a “blue-collar” game between two of the nation’s slower-paced teams (Grant actually said that Virginia tried to speed BC up at times in the game), there were plenty of bumps and bruises. Flagrant fouls were exchanged, with Francisco Caffaro slamming into the floor after getting a cut from BC big man James Karnik.

Rugged defense — Bennett has said that Virginia is at its best when it plays that way — kept the team in the game early until the offense finally came alive. The Cavaliers went on a 16-5 run late in the second half for a 26-19 lead, sparked by Clark’s triple, back-to-back inside buckets by Kadin Shedrick and two jumpers by Armaan Franklin.

From there, UVA never looked back, with four Cavaliers scoring in double digits, the third straight game that has happened.

Clark thought that both Shedrick and Franklin bounced back from mediocre performances that drew some Bennett ire (he addressed that to both of them before Tuesday’s game). Neither had lived up to Bennett’s expectations in South Bend, but responded well against BC.

“They’re players, they know what it is,” Clark said. “You just have to bounce back. I mean you can’t dwell too much on the past. We are in the ACC and at this rate, anybody can beat anybody. We just forget about the past and try to bounce back strong. That’s what good ball players do.”