Hoos fight back late, but fall for first time at Notre Dame, 69-65

By Scott Ratcliffe

Virginia rallied from behind and made it interesting down the stretch, but ultimately dropped its first ACC regular-season loss to Notre Dame Saturday, losing for the first time ever at Purcell Pavilion, 69-65.

The Cavaliers (12-9, 6-5 ACC) fought all the way back to within three points in the final minute after trailing by double digits in the second half, creating havoc and crunch-time turnovers, and converting on the opposite end.

Reece Beekman’s emphatic jam with 14 ticks left cut it to 65-62, but Dane Goodwin was able to chase down the ensuing inbound pass and draw a foul and sink a pair of free throws with 11 seconds remaining.

Kihei Clark buried a long-distance 3-pointer on the other end to make it a two-point game, but Prentiss Hubb knocked down the game-clinching points from the charity stripe with four seconds showing and Notre Dame held on for its 10th win in its last 11 games.

Ahead by a dozen with 12 minutes left, the Irish (14-6, 7-2) extended their lead to 52-37, the largest lead of the game, with a Goodwin 3-point bomb.

The Wahoos took advantage as Notre Dame went cold over the following three-plus minutes, trimming the deficit to seven with eight minutes remaining.

A Jayden Gardner jumper with 5:40 left made it a two-possession affair, then back-to-back dunks by Beekman and Francisco Caffaro, respectively, made it 57-53 with three minutes to play, and the Cavaliers were closer than they had been on the scoreboard since the 2:55 mark of the first half.

Notre Dame suffered through another four-minute scoring drought to allow the Hoos back in it, but Goodwin head-faked to get Gardner in the air before drilling a late dagger, his fourth 3-pointer of the night, with just over a minute left to make it a nine-point contest.

UVA had won seven in a row against the Fighting Irish, including all 11 regular-season conference meetings since Notre Dame joined the ACC in 2014, and each of the previous six in South Bend.

Virginia shot 46 percent on the night (27 of 59), making only 3 of 14 (21 percent) from downtown. UVA dominated the glass, 39-26, including grabbing a dozen offensive rebounds, committing 10 turnovers and forcing eight.

Both Gardner (game-high 22 points, 10 rebounds) and Caffaro (11 points, game-high 12 rebounds) double-doubled in the losing effort. It was Caffaro’s first career double-double. Beekman had 13 points, while Clark added 12 points and a team-best 6 assists.

The Irish shot 47 percent (22 for 47) overall, 44 percent from beyond the arc (10 of 23), and 68 percent (15 of 22) from the free-throw line (Virginia was 8 for 12 from the stripe). Goodwin and Nate Laszewski each posted 16 points to lead the Irish in scoring, while star freshman guard Blake Wesley and Paul Atkinson Jr. each added 14.

FIRST HALF

Neither team could get much going offensively early on, as the teams combined to miss nine of the game’s first 11 shot attempts. The Hoos secured four offensive rebounds in the first five minutes, converting a pair of second-chance buckets to take a 6-3 lead before Wesley’s second triple tied it up by the first media break.

Virginia misfired on seven of eight shots before Armaan Franklin tied the game at 10-all with a 3-pointer. The Irish responded with a 9-2 run, but UVA answered right back with seven unanswered points, as a Beekman 3 and a Gardner drive knotted it up at 19-19.

Goodwin didn’t attempt a shot until he drained a wide-open 3-pointer with five minutes left in the half to cap another 7-0 Irish run.

Gardner was seemingly the only Wahoo that could put the ball in the basket, scoring the last 10 Cavalier points of the half, as his teammates finished 0 for 7 from the field over the final 10 minutes, and Virginia trailed, 34-27, at halftime.

UVA shot 34 percent (10 for 29) in the half, including just 20 percent from deep (2 for 10), scoring 14 second-chance points on 9 offensive rebounds.

Box Score

Team Notes

Courtesy UVA Media Relations

• Virginia fell to 12-9, 6-5 ACC
• UVA is 3-5 on the road
• UVA forced one shot clock violation (23 in 2021-22)
• UVA trailed 34-27 at halftime (2-8 when trailing at the half)
• UVA had a 14-0 advantage in second chance points
• UVA outrebounded Notre Dame 39-26 (7-2 when outrebounding opponents)

Series Notes

• The loss ended UVA’s six-game winning streak vs. Notre Dame
• Virginia is 16-3 all-time vs. Notre Dame, including an 11-1 ACC regular-season record, in the series that dates back to 1980-81
• UVA is 6-1 against the Irish in Notre Dame
• Head coach Tony Bennett is 12-2 all-time against Notre Dame

Player Notes

• Double Figure Scorers: Jayden Gardner (22), Kihei Clark (12), Francisco Caffaro (11), Reece Beekman (13)
• Caffaro had his first career double-double with a career-high 12 rebounds
• Caffaro reached double figures for the second time (3rd career)
• Caffaro had a career-high two steals
• Gardner reached double figures for the 16th time (90th career)
• Gardner added 10 rebounds for his fifth double-double (35th career)
• Gardner recorded his second 20-point, 10-rebound game at UVA (22 career)
• UVA had two players (Gardner and Caffaro) with double-doubles for the second time this season (Gardner and Kadin Shedrick vs. Coppin State)
• Beekman reached double figures for the eighth time (11th career)
• Beekman extended his steal streak to 11 games
• Shedrick’s nine-game block streak ended
• Clark reached double figures for the 10th time (44th career)

UP NEXT

Virginia hosts Boston College Tuesday at 6 p.m, (ACCN), with five of the Cavaliers’ eight contests scheduled in February being played at John Paul Jones Arena, including three of the next four.