Virginia fresh out of playmakers and 3-pointers in loss at Virginia Tech

By Jerry Ratcliffe

Seth Greenberg, who has had stops at Virginia and Virginia Tech along his coaching career and is now among the best basketball analysts in the land, made a good point during halftime of Monday night’s clash between the two rivals.

Greenberg said the difference between this season’s Virginia team and most of Tony Bennett’s previous teams was that in the past, Bennett’s had pros making shots. This season?

“They don’t have any pros,” Greenberg pointed out.

The Cavaliers strutted into Blacksburg on a four-game winning streak, including back-to-back wins over the ACC’s top two teams, Duke and Miami. They knew they were headed into hostile territory and Tech’s Cassell Coliseum was lit up with disdain for the Wahoos.

Tech, the hottest team in the league – now with six straight wins in the ACC after taking down the Cavaliers, 62-53 (see related game story) – was finally playing the way Coach Mike Young had envisioned back in November. Meanwhile, Virginia, fighting for its postseason life, was walking a tightrope with a very small margin for error.

While UVA has not been a good 3-point shooting team this season, even Bennett didn’t count on his team going Oh-for-nine – the first time in 176 games the Cavaliers failed to make a triple. Their shortcomings from behind the arc had a direct impact on the rest of Virginia’s offense.

Without making the Hokies sweat the 3-pointer, they were able to clog up the middle and limit ACC Player of the Week Jayden Gardner and Kadin Shedrick. As good as Gardner was – 17 points (7-of-17 shooting) and 14 rebounds, he couldn’t battle Tech on his own, even with Shedrick contributing 11 points.

After Gardner scored 15 of his 17 in the first half, the Hokies ganged up on him.

It was an intense battle among two of the league’s best defenses, but the Hokies, backed by a raucous crowd, managed to outlast the Cavaliers. UVA senior point guard Kihei Clark appeared out of sync all night and was only 1 of 9 from the field (0 for 5 from beyond the arc).

“He’s a heck of a player, maybe he had a rough night,” Young said later. “He’s won a national championship. I don’t think Cassell Coliseum spooked him. We just did a good job on him.”

Tech, the No. 2 team in the nation from the 3-point line, wasn’t exactly stellar either. The Hokies were a mere 5 of 20.

As Bennett has pointed out adnausem, most of Virginia’s games come down to who can make plays in a close contest at the end. This time, the script didn’t include any heroes wearing orange and blue.

After Shedrick cut Tech’s lead to 54-50 with 2:47 to go, Virginia ran out of playmakers. Down the home stretch, Gardner uncharacteristically missed from mid-range, Armaan Franklin missed two 3’s and Clark was called for a flagrant foul.

Meanwhile, the Hokies did just enough to pull away, including a dunk and a turnaround jumper at the end of the shot clock for a 58-50 cushion, from which Virginia could not recover. Those were part of his game-high 24 points (10 for 14 field goals).

“Keve likes the Cavaliers,” Young said. “He’s had three pretty good outings against them.”

It was a huge game for both teams as they battle toward a spot in the postseason.

Headed into the game, Virginia was No. 77 in the NET rankings and was listed in one national bracketologist’s “next four out.” The Hokies, No. 38 in the NET before the game, were ranked behind UVA by the bracketologist. Those positions have apparently been swapped with the Tech win.

Standing at 16-10 overall and 10-6 in the league, Virginia’s margin is even slimmer as the Cavaliers next play at Miami (Saturday), a team they defeated in Charlottesville a couple weeks ago.

In some of those close wins, they’ve had someone come through in the clutch and gutted out wins against superior teams. However, as Greenberg noted, without pros in the lineup, sometimes spinning the wheel comes up with an 0-for-9 night.

Virginia can’t afford another night like Monday.