Credit Florida State, which came in with a 1-8 record, but had played fifth-ranked Purdue tough earlier in the week. The ‘Noles gave third-ranked Virginia everything it could before the ‘Hoos were able to finish off the 62-57 win in the teams’ ACC opener on Saturday.
It took forever for UVA (7-0, 1-0 ACC) to just about shake off FSU (1-9, 0-1 ACC), and then the Seminoles made it very interesting late.
An ugly first half – Virginia, which had been shooting a conference-best 50 percent from the floor coming in, was just 6-of-26 from the floor in the opening 20 minutes – ended with Florida State leading 22-21 at the break.
Virginia hit five of its first six and eight of its first 12 to go up 12, 43-31, on a Jayden Gardner layup with 11:16 to go.
The lead was 55-45 when Reece Beekman missed a driving dunk attempt with 1:25 to go, and FSU took advantage of the slip-up.
The ‘Noles would get as close as three after an and-one from Caleb Mills with 7.6 seconds left.
Reece Beekman, after being fouled in the backcourt, hit both ends of the free-throw opportunity to salt the game away.
Inside the Numbers
Virginia ended up shooting 35.3 percent (18-of-51) for the game, 12-of-25 in the second half.
The 1.033 points per possession was a low for UVA on the young season.
Kihei Clark had the scoring lead, with 18 points, 4-of-9 from the floor, 9-of-10 at the line.
The only other guy in double figures was Gardner, who had 10 on 5-of-9 shooting, and a team-best seven rebounds.
Armaan Franklin had nine points on 3-of-7 shooting. He only had one shot attempt in the second half, a made three at the 18:17 mark.
Kadin Shedrick had by far the best plus/minus – a +17 in his 24 minutes, with three points, six rebounds and four blocks.
His playing time was limited a bit by foul trouble – he had four – and by an elbow to the neck that forced him to the sidelines for a nearly eight-minute stretch in the second half.
First-years Isaac McKneely (19 minutes, four points on 1-of-5 shooting, five rebounds) and Ryan Dunn (15 minutes, four points, all at the line, five rebounds) got valuable rotation time.
Ben Vander Plas (27 minutes, 3-of-11 shooting, four rebounds) got more minutes at the five when Shedrick was off the floor.
Francisco Caffaro, who started 16 games last year, only got four minutes off the bench, contributing two rebounds to the cause.
Florida State got 17 points from Darin Green and 11 from Matt Cleveland, who had made the game-winning, buzzer-beating three last February that effectively eliminated that Virginia team from NCAA Tournament contention.
The ‘Noles shot 32.8 percent (21-of-64) from the field.
Stat of the day: FSU was 10-of-25 on shots at the rim, as the ‘Hoos as a team finished with 10 blocked shots.
Commentary
Ugly win over a team with a 1-8 record, but again, FSU might finally be coming around, based on the efforts against Purdue and then here today.
Virginia only had a good nine or so minutes of offense, but the defense was solid throughout, holding the Seminoles to 0.864 points per possession.
For a comparison game, this one reminds me of the 60-54 win by the 2019 UVA team over a bad Notre Dame team that year – that Irish team would go on to finish 14-19.
Virginia led that one by 10 with 3:07 to go and then held on by the skin of its teeth.
You have to be able to win games like this – when your shooting is off, when the ball doesn’t bounce the right way, the rest.
It’s better to narrowly beat a 1-8 team than to lose to said 1-8 team.
Take it and get ready for JMU on Tuesday.
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Chris Graham
