“I’ve never been part of anything like this. It feels horrible. I’ve never lost a game like this before in my life.”
“It’s a shock to me. I’m still amazed that we’re sitting here with an L.”
Joe Harris and Jontel Evans – you’re not alone.
Sammy Zeglinski hit a late-shot-clock three with 2:57 to go to give Virginia a 48-39 lead.
“That was the dagger. But it wasn’t,” said a subdued Tony Bennett after his team inexplicably blew a 10-point lead in the final 37 seconds before losing in overtime to Miami 69-62 in the first round of the ACC Tournament on Thursday.
What gave it away: not surprisingly, poor guard play. UVa. (16-15) struggled against the full-court press all season, and it was the stunning inability of the Cavs to get the ball out of the backcourt that turned out to be the dagger.
Evans whipped a pass through Sammy Zeglinski after getting the inbounds from Sammy Z. Then Evans missed Mustapha Farrakhan underneath the Miami basket.
“We were deflated,” understated Bennett of his team’s mood heading into the OT, which was a foregone conclusion given what had happened at the end of regulation.
“You could tell those guys were kind of in shock, because they had the game,” Miami’s Malcolm Grant said.
It wouldn’t have been so bad – OK, it would’ve been, but still – had Virginia not lost in almost precisely the same way to Miami on Feb. 5. Leading by seven in the final minute and five in the final 25 seconds, Miami rallied to send the game into overtime before winning 70-68.
“It stings,” Bennett said afterward, trying to make sense of it all, “but I’d like to say that hopefully we can learn and grow from it.”
Um, well, the lesson didn’t sink in following Feb. 5.
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Chris Graham
