Memphis’ halftime adjustment turned tide on Virginia

By Jerry Ratcliffe

Penny Hardaway has been around the block, and has the ultimate respect for what Tony Bennett built at Virginia and how the ‘Pack-Line’ defense, created and developed by the Bennett family, created chaos for opponents.

He realized that Memphis was going to have to change things drastically at halftime or his No. 21-ranked team was going to go down the tubes vs. the ‘Pack Line,’ on Wednesday night at John Paul Jones Arena. Hardaway’s Tigers, one of the nation’s top five 3-point shooting teams, made only 2 of 14 attempts vs. the ‘Pack Line’ in the first half and trailed at Virginia by a 30-21 margin.

Hardaway decided to slap a fullcourt press on Virginia for the second half in order to speed up the slowest-paced team in major college basketball. But the press did even more, forcing some UVA turnovers and helping kick-start the Memphis offense, guard PJ Haggerty in particular.

The change in strategy worked like a charm, and for at least a while, the Cavaliers looked like they didn’t know what hit them.

Memphis quickly erased its deficit, sped Virginia up, forced turnovers and unleashed Haggerty, who scored 21 of his game-high 27 points in the second half. The Cavaliers had no defensive answer — no Kihei Clark, no Ryan Dunn or Reece Beekman with lockdown defense — against the speedy Haggerty.

The result was Memphis avoiding an upset and exiting JPJ with a 9-2 record. Left in its wake was a 6-5 Virginia team, taking another loss to a nationally ranked, nonconference opponent with ACC play looming in the not-too-distant future.

For a nuts and bolts breakdown of the game, see related game story, boxscore, notebook and schedule on this site.

“I’ve studied this [Virginia] program for years, even before I started coaching because I wanted to know how special the ‘Pack Line’ was, because they’re holding people to crazy numbers,” said Hardaway, a former NBA star player. “And then I’ve been a part of it for two years and I understand why.

“Our guys haven’t played against this program (Memphis has 12 new players on its roster), you just don’t get it until you get in the fire. When you get in the fire, it’s way more difficult than you expect because [Virginia defenders] are in the gaps, in the ‘Pack Line.’”

Because UVA’s defense is relentless, opponents are often bewildered because they can’t get their normal shots and the fast break usually isn’t an option.

Take last Saturday as an example, when Memphis shell-shocked Clemson with a barrage of 3-pointers, when the Tigers’ three-guard lineup of Haggerty, Tyrese Hunter and Colby Rogers combined for 57 points and shot 61 percent from the arc.

Ron Sanchez’ defense just wasn’t going to allow that on Wednesday night. At the half, the Tigers’ trio was a combined 4 for 17 from the field and 1 for 11 from Bonusphere.

The second-half press changed everything. Sanchez was forced to go with four guards at times to prevent getting overwhelmed. Still, after only four turnovers the first half, UVA gave it away seven times in the second half, translating to 10 Memphis points in a 2-point loss.

Virginia admirably fought to the finish, despite being outscored 43-32 in the second half, including a critical 14-2 run starting with just over 13 minutes left in the game. UVA was up 37-34 — it’s last lead of the contest — and by the end of the run, trailed 47-39.

The Tigers were 4 of 4 from the field, 6 of 8 at the free-throw line, led by Haggerty’s 8 points during that span, which included a UVA goaltend and a technical foul on Dai Dai Ames for kicking or tripping while lying on his back after being hammered by a Memphis player.

“I don’t know what happened on the technical, I really don’t know,” said Sanchez, who apparently didn’t get an explanation from the officiating crew of Lee Cassell, Bert Smith and Terry Oglesby. “They said somebody pushed someone and then someone raised their foot or somebody was falling and that cost us multiple free throws. I mean it was a two-point game and I think they scored six points in that stretch.”

With all those factors weighing on Virginia, the Cavaliers remained within striking distance but couldn’t make it a one-possession game until the final 30 seconds, with Haggerty icing it with two free throws with 9 seconds to play for a 4-point lead.

Sanchez believed his team took a major step forward in the game, taking Memphis to the wire. He got unexpected, strong performances off his bench from senior guard Taine Murray, who matched his career-high with 14 points (5 for 9) in 26 minutes and some rebounding from Anthony Robinson, who had six rebounds in 8 minutes in the first half. Robinson can give UVA some added and much-needed physicality as the season develops, while Murray can add to a sometimes-anemic offense.

Sanchez compared the game to a 12-round boxing match, and that Memphis couldn’t deliver the knockout punch.

“We kept fighting,” the coach said.

“This team has been tested this season … this is one of the toughest nonconference schedules that I remember at this university during my time here and my time away (as Charlotte’s head coach),” Sanchez said. “To have this many top-25 teams in a nonconference schedule challenges, but we had some good stretches against the Tennessee’s and others.

“Today, I feel like we kind of put it together. This team is on this journey to becoming the best version of itself. What it’s going to be, I don’t know. Only time will tell, so at this point, I’m really happy with the fact that we competed hard.”

Virginia’s defense did force Memphis to find another way other than the 3-point shot in order to win. The Tigers were only 5 of 23 on the night, but endured.

“We’re going to put all our chips on the defensive side,” Sanchez said. “We’re going to take the whole stack and we’re going to put it on ‘D.’ That’s what we’re going to do. You’ve just got to win two or three more defensive possessions. That’s the margin of a victory in most games.”