OK, well, that happened. Virginia went 1-of-11 at the free-throw line, including, in the final 38 seconds, a missed and-one, the front end of two one-and-ones, and the front end of a two-shot foul.
That 49-47 win over Wake Forest almost needs an asterisk.
Yeah, of course, you take what you can get – this is one that buttresses Tony Bennett’s old adage, defense.
That’s it. That’s the adage.
Defense.
Wake (16-9, 8-6 ACC) really could have used the W for its NCAA Tournament resume. A win at Virginia (20-6, 11-4 ACC) would have been what the metrics-obsessed call a Quad 1 win, and those are in short supply with the schedule being where it is.
The Deacs won the first matchup between the two last month in Winston-Salem by 19, holding Virginia to 47 points on 31.6 percent shooting.
The productivity would have been loads better today if not for the 1-of-11 at the line. Virginia shot a respectable 40.7 percent (22-of-54) from the floor in this one, and, you know, factoring in even modest success at the line, there’d have to be seven-, eight-ish points that were left on the court there when all was said and done.
The zebras called this one, by and large, like they had a plane to catch – 24 total fouls, three of those from Wake to stop the clock in the final 38 seconds.
The extra physicality given to Wake on Virginia’s screen action got the attention of Bennett, who spent good portions of a couple of the first-half media timeouts trying to get the point across that, you know, can’t do that, let them tackle my guys trying to get through screens, that is.
Shocker of all shockers, the discourse eventually led to a technical foul on Bennett, his first in a game that counts in 14 years, dating all the way back to his first season in Charlottesville, in 2010.
Incidentally, droves of people searching the AFP archives landed on a story about another one, which came in a game in Italy on Virginia’s summer tour of Europe in 2022.
That one doesn’t count, though, since it was on a vacation.
The tech in this one didn’t help matters for Virginia: the three stooges, er, ACC officials assigned to the game – Bill Covington, Tony Henderson and Mark Schnur – still let Wake defenders grab and clutch the UVA guards through the screening.
It’s hard for a team running a motion offense predicated on getting guards open on screens and bigs open on pocket passes and pick-and-pops to be able to do much.
Maybe that explains the 48.0 points per game that Virginia put up in the two games with Wake Forest this year?
I digress.
With the offense stifled by the touchy-feely Wake D, it became the Reece Beekman show.
Beekman, averaging 18.2 points per game in the five games coming into this one, had 20 points on 9-of-16 shooting and four assists today.
The bulk of his offense was dribble-drives into the lane, creating for himself.
Virginia, fourth nationally in assist-to-field goal ration coming in, at 64.3 percent, had just 11 assists on its 22 made baskets today – obviously 50 percent.
Beekman, Malcolm Brogdon-like, had 14 of his 20 in the second half, on 6-of-9 shooting, 2-of-2 from three.
The big buckets, though, came from Isaac McKneely and Blake Buchanan.
McKneely finished with a quiet 12, and just one made three – but that made three, at the 3:41 mark, gave the ‘Hoos a 46-42 lead.
Buchanan had six points and seven rebounds in 21 minutes off the bench. His make, a putback of a Ryan Dunn miss at the rim with 38 seconds left, pushed the lead back to four.
Buchanan would miss the and-one free throw, and then Dunn, who grabbed the offensive rebound and was fouled, miss the front end of a one-and-one.
Ugh.
Parker Friedrichsen missed a three with 20 seconds left, and Beekman got the board, and was fouled.
And missed the front end.
Here we go.
Hunter Sallis made a three off an offensive rebound with eight seconds left to get the game to one.
McKneely got the inbounds pass, was fouled.
This time, it was a two-shot foul.
McKneely, an 89.5 percent shooter at the line, missed, yes, the front end.
At that point, Virginia was 0-of-10 at the line.
He made the second, so, it’s a two-point game there.
Steve Forbes had long since burned all of his timeouts, so his guys had to run a scramble play.
The ball got into the hands of guard Cam Hildreth, one of the two guys that I’d want in that situation – the other being point guard Kevin Miller.
Hildreth tried to attack the paint, but met with resistance from McKneely, then Dunn, and ended up taking an extreme fadeaway inside the last two seconds.
The shot had no chance, and the buzzer sounded.
The defense saved the day: Wake shot 34.5 percent from the floor, was just 5-of-21 from three, and had 12 turnovers on its 58 possessions.
Sallis, who had 21 in the win over Virginia last month, led the Deacs with 12 points.
Miller, who had 14 points and seven assists in last month’s win over UVA, nine points, two assists and four turnovers.
The D was anchored by Dunn, who had just six points on 3-of-8 shooting, pulled down nine rebounds and blocked seven (7!) shots.
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Chris Graham
