We kept waiting for the Jayden Gardner that averaged 18.0 points and 8.7 rebounds a game in three years at East Carolina, and finally, we got him.
Gardner had 23 points and seven rebounds in Virginia’s 74-71 win at Miami on Saturday, the latest in a stretch of big games from the 6’6” senior as the Cavaliers continue their push at an NCAA Tournament at-large bid.
Virginia has won six of its last eight, with Gardner averaging 18.5 points and 7.9 rebounds per game, shooting 51.2 percent from the floor and 96 percent (24-of-25) at the free-throw line.
He came up particularly big in the second half, with 15 points and five rebounds, shooting 6-of-9 from the floor and 3-of-4 from the line.
His contributions down the stretch: an end-of-shot-clock fadeaway with 1:39 to go to stretch the lead to eight, a pair of free throws with 1:06 to put Virginia up seven, then the back end of a two-shot foul with 29 ticks left to make it 69-65.
Franklin’s time reduced by toe injury
Armaan Franklin got only 16 minutes Saturday night because of a toe injury that he was nursing in warmups and wasn’t able to shake.
Franklin finished with five points on 2-of-5 shooting, 1-of-3 from three.
He went to the bench with his third foul at the 18:00 mark of the second half and never returned.
Kody Stattmann subbed in for him and was quite effective, scoring eight points on 3-of-3 shooting from the field, 1-of-1 from three, 1-of-2 at the line, with two rebounds, an assist and a block, and a +8 plus/minus in his 18 second-half minutes.
Streaky shooting
Remember how Virginia shot 60 percent for the game in the 71-58 win over Miami in Charlottesville on Feb. 5?
The ‘Hoos were just 37.0 percent (10-of-27) from the floor (and 1-of-8 from three) in the first half, but in the second half, Virginia connected on 15-of-24 (62.5 percent), and was 4-of-8 from three.
The defensive numbers were a lot better than what we saw in Charlottesville. Miami shot 54.0 percent (27-of-50) in the defeat two weeks ago.
Tonight, the ‘Canes shot 41.8 percent (28-of-67).
Gotta start Shedrick again
Kadin Shedrick had 13 points and 13 rebounds – and a team-best +14 plus/minus – in 30 minutes off the bench Saturday night.
Shedrick, a 6’11” sophomore, was the starter at the five spot until Francisco Caffaro nudged his waey into the starting lineup with a 16-point, nine-rebound effort in the 54-52 win over Virginia Tech on Jan. 12.
Shedrick may have played his way back into the starting lineup tonight.
His numbers over the past six games: 10.2 points per game, 6.7 rebounds per game, 71.0 percent shooting from the floor (22-of-31).
Lots of attacks, not a lot of finishes
Miami had 33 layup or dunk attempts on the night, and made 19 of them (57.6 percent).
Coming in, the ‘Canes had averaged 20.7 attempts at the rim, and shot 65.2 percent on those.
Virginia had been allowing 19.2 rim shots per contest, and opponents were shooting … 57.8 percent.
NCAA stuff
The win is Virginia’s third Quad 1 win (Providence, at Duke, now at Miami). The computers that matter (ESPN BPI, NET, Sagarin and KPI) won’t update until tomorrow.
Will be interesting to see where the Cavaliers go from here.
Right now, Virginia (17-10, 11-6 ACC) is 61 in BPI, 82 in NET, 61 in Sagarin and 73 in KPI.
Virginia Tech (16-11, 8-8 ACC), with an 0-5 record in Quad 1 games and a schedule ranked 81st nationally (Virginia’s schedule is ranked 63rd), is 21 in BPI, 37 in NET, 29 in Sagarin and 75 in KPI.
The Hokies lost on Saturday at home to North Carolina, 65-57.
But it was a good loss …
Story by Chris Graham
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